THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 WORCESTERSHIRE: 
 
 INCH [>I\G 
 
 LIVES OF PERSONS. NATIVES OR RESIDENTS, 
 
 EMINENT EITHER FOR PIETY OR TALENT: 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADO! I'. 
 
 \ LI*T OF LIVING AUTHOR* OF THE COUNTY 
 
 BY JOHN CHAMBERS. ESQ. 
 
 4ITHOII OF THi: KISXORIKS OF MALVERN UIB WORCK5TFR. 
 
 " Dalla cuna alia tomba non ve che un breve passo."' 
 
 Ariosto. 
 
 WORCESTER: 
 Printed fiat WM. WALCOTT, High-Street; 
 
 4VD Ml>-Rv LONGMAN. HIRST, RETS, ORM1. UTB BRnWs, 
 
 39, PatrrnoMer Roit. I.i.ndnn. 
 1820.
 
 Printed by H. B. TYMBS, 
 Journal Office, High-Street, Worcester.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 fBo?ceste?sf)t?e. 
 
 •
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IT was my original intention to have attached 
 to the History of Worcester, published in 1819, 
 lives of the eminent men of the county. But as 
 the materials accumulated became too much en- 
 larged for this purpose, and have since received 
 the addition of much original matter, politely 
 communicated by individuals connected with the 
 county, I have ventured to consider them of suf- 
 ficient importance to form a separate volume. 
 
 The local Biographer has many opportunities 
 of correcting the mistakes of the author distant 
 from the scene of action, and thus preventing the 
 perpetuity of error, and I am not conscious of 
 leaving a point uncertain through fear of trouble 
 or a feeling of indifference. 
 
 Truth is the goal I have endeavoured to arrive 
 at, considering that the advantages of Biography, 
 as teaching by example, cannot be promoted by 
 the omission of facts, or by indiscriminate pane- 
 gyric.
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 If I shall be considered by some to have fallen 
 into the same errors as the conductors of the Bio- 
 graphia Britannica, who are so wittily reproved 
 by Cowper, I offer in extenuation that the history 
 of minor characters often involves dates and cir- 
 cumstances of considerable importance. 
 
 In recording the lives of persons of general 
 notoriety, I have usually been very concise., 
 confining myself principally to such matter as 
 is not generally known, or lies scattered in 
 many books ; but of such as have been natives 
 of the county, I have copied from every source 
 of information to prevent reference to any other 
 work. 
 
 The rule I have adopted in the present publi- 
 cation has been, with few exceptions, to exclude 
 all persons who have not been authors of some 
 publication. 
 
 In the arrangement of these lives it has been 
 deemed preferable to follow a chronological 
 rather than an alphabetical order, — the dates of 
 birth have been the rule of precedency. 
 
 TYTHING, WORCESTER, MAY, 1S20.
 
 TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM, EARL BEAUCHAMP. 
 
 Cine Soofc 
 
 IS. BY PERMISSION, DEDICATED, 
 
 BY HIS 
 
 MOST OBEDIENT 
 
 AND OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 JOHN CHAMBERS.
 
 Biographical Illustrations, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Tatfrith or Tadfrid, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 680*, 
 
 VV AS a monk in Hilda' si" famous monastery at 
 Streaneshalh, now called Whitby, in Yorkshire, which at 
 that time was the greatest school of learning in all the north. 
 He was the first Bishop of Wiccia or Worcester, but was 
 taken away by an untimely death before he could be conse- 
 crated. » 
 
 Bosel, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 680, 
 Was bred in the famous monastery founded by Hilda — 
 (See Tatfrith.) He was consecrated by Theodore, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and sat in the see eleven years, when 
 growing too infirm to continue his functions, he resisrued the 
 bishopric A.D. 691. 
 
 Oftfoe alias Ostfor, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 691, 
 Was bred also at Hilda's monastery, and improved 
 
 * The dates affixed to Ihc names are always those of the prefer- 
 ment. 
 
 t In a synod held G6t, in that monastery of which Hilda was the 
 foundress and first ahbess, she opposed the tonsure of the priests and 
 the celebration of Easter according to the Roman ritual. 
 
 B
 
 by a journey to Rome. He was ordained by WiliVide, 
 Archbishop of York. He died before he had sat in this 
 see a year. 
 
 Egwine, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 692, 
 To whom the monkish historians have given the title of Saint, 
 was not consecrated until the year after his election. In 
 the year 708 he went to Rome with King Coenred, and Of- 
 fa, King of the East Saxons. At this time Egwine obtain- 
 ed from Pope Constantine, epistolam privilegii, or a charter 
 of confirmation of his newly-founded monastery of Evesham ; 
 which with King Ethelred's leave he began to build about 
 702, and on his return to England finished. Soon after re- 
 signing the bishopric of Worcester, he became the first ab- 
 bot of Evesham, and died there Dec. 30, 717- A monk of 
 the name of Brithwald (not the Archbishop) wrote his life. 
 
 Wilfred, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 710, 
 
 Was coadjutor to St. Egwine, whom he also succeeded, 
 and sat in the see till about 743. 
 
 Mildred or Milred, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 743, 
 Was one of the eleven suffragan bishops who attended the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury at the Council of Cloveshoe, 747, 
 in which the English clergy asserted their own right, and 
 disclaimed dependance on any foreign bishop. In his time 
 King Ethelbald freed all churches and monasteries of his 
 kingdom, (Mercia,) from paying any taxes, except to the 
 building of forts and bridges. He died 775. 
 
 Weremund, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 77o. 
 He sat but three years, and died in 778. 
 
 Tilhere, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 778, 
 
 Abbot of Berkeley, was consecrated 779- In 780 he 
 made a great feast for King Offa at Fladbury, where, among 
 other gifts the King presented to the Church of Worcester
 
 a very choice bible, with two clasps of pure gold. He died 
 in the beginning of 781. 
 
 Eathored, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 782, 
 Presided in this see seventeen years, and died in 798. 
 
 Denebert, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 Was at the famous synod of Cloveshoe, in 803, where 
 Lichfield was decided no longer an archbishopric, and Can- 
 terbury was restored to its ancient rights. He was also at 
 the council of Celchyth, 816; he sat in this see twenty-four 
 years, and died in 822. 
 
 Eadbert, or Heabert, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 822, 
 
 Who was consecrated by Wilfred, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, died 848. 
 
 Alhune, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Built an oratory or chapel at Kemsey, in 868, and dedi- 
 cated it to St. Andrew : he died in 872. 
 
 Werefrid, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 873, 
 Was trained up in the college of Worcester, and was con- 
 secrated in 873. King Ceolwulf, at the request of Were- 
 frid, in 875, exempted the diocese of the Wiccians from 
 providing food for the King's horses and their leaders. When 
 the Danes over-ran Mercia, this bishop fled to France. 
 About 885, King Alfred recalled him, and placed him among 
 the first class of the learned whom he had invited to his 
 court. At the request of the King, he translated, out of 
 Latin into Saxon, the pastoral of St. Gregory; which the 
 King published, with a preface of his own, and sent to 
 every bishop's see in his kingdom a copy of it, with an a'Stell, 
 or style, worth fifty marks, and with an injunction, that it 
 should not be taken away from the book, nor the book from 
 the church. Many of the clergy were at this time unable to
 
 4 
 
 understand it. This bishop died in 915, having sat in this 
 see forty-two years. 
 
 jEthelhtjn, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Abbot of Berkeley, sat here about seven years, and dying 
 in 922, was succeeded by 
 
 Wilfrith, or Wilferth, as Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 Kinewold, Bishop of Worcester. 
 He was sent by King JEthelstan, with a present to the 
 monasteries of Germany. He arrived at St. Gall, Oct. 15, 
 and on the second day after, being the feast of St. Gall, he 
 entered the church with an offering of money, part of which 
 he laid on the altar, and gave the remainder to the use of the 
 brethren. He died 957. The Benedictines lay claim to 
 him as a monk of their order. 
 
 Dunstan, Bishop of Worcester. 
 This celebrated man was abbot of Glastonbury, and was 
 canonized by the monks. He was their champion against 
 the secular clergy. In his own abbey he set the first exam- 
 ple of expelling the old society, and introducing monks of 
 the Benedictine order in their stead. He had a great as- 
 cendant at court in the reign of Edred, whom he governed 
 as a child. But his successor, King Edwy, would not be 
 tyrannized over by this haughty abbot : he took Elgiva to 
 wife in spite of his invectives ; and banished Dunstan for his 
 barbarities, which were monstrous, towards that princess. 
 Dunstan passed not many months in exile before Edwy, by 
 the revolt of the Northumbrians and Mercians, lost half his 
 kingdom. Edgar was set up king of the revolting provinces, 
 and Dunstan, recalled from banishment, and placed in this 
 see, then vacant by the death of Kinewold ; and the year fol- 
 lowing he had the accession of the see of London. Both 
 these he held m conjunction about a twelvemonth ; when
 
 Edgar, then becoming master of tlie whole kingdom, trans- 
 lated him to the see of Canterbury.* 
 
 Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 Was of Dutch extraction, and nearly allied to Odo, the 
 predecessor of Dunstan in the archbishopric of Canterbury*, 
 being his brother's son. In his younger years he was one of 
 the secular canons of Winchester, and afterwards dean of 
 the minster there. About the year 9-32, by the persuasion of 
 his uncle, who himself, when archbishop, had submitted to 
 receive the monastic habit from Fleury on the river Loire, 
 he resigned his preferment at Winchester, and took the vow 
 of Benedict's rule, in that famous French abbey ; w here he 
 continued till he was ordered into England by Odo in his last 
 illness. Odo was dead when he arrived ; but the credit of 
 the monks was now high. Dunstan, who already governed 
 Edgar's half of the kingdom (Edgar himself being young), 
 had formed the plan for bringing these religieux from their 
 deserts into cities, and enriching them with the endowments 
 of secular colleges. Finding in Oswald both abilities and 
 zeal, he made him his confidant, and advanced him to the see 
 of Worcester. He succeeded in converting the priests of his 
 cathedral, and forming their college into a monastery, bv 
 
 * Dunstan was a man of great ingenuity, and excelled in paint- 
 ing, engraving, and music. He was an excellent workman also in 
 brass and iron; and, according to the monkish accounts, it was 
 when employed at his forge that the devil had the ill luck to visit 
 him in a female form, for which he got pulled hy the nose with a 
 pair of red hot tongs till he roared out for mercy. In Goldsmith's 
 hall, London, there is a painting on canvass of St. Dunstan, with 
 his unfortunate devil, over whom the heavenly host are exulting 
 to see him in the power of the saint. 
 
 Mr. Pennant, in his "London," remarks on this picture, that " it 
 would seem Dunstan was conversant in works of gold as well as of 
 iron, and in a place where the irritamenta malorum so much abound- 
 ed, it was not strange to find the devil at hand." In the British 
 Museum is a MS. tract by Bishop Dunstan on the philosopher's stone, 
 on the back of which is written tracts on alchemy. No. 3737.
 
 6 
 
 the union of it with St. Mary's convent. Secular clerks had 
 got possession of the abbey of Evesham ; but Oswald re- 
 stored it to the monks, whom he also replaced at Winchcumb 
 and Derehurst, in Gloucestershire. He reformed the con- 
 vent at Pershore, which before was collegiate, by settling 
 monks on that foundation. He was a benefactor to the ab- 
 bey of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, which Earl Ailwin 
 founded in 968. Oswald himself may be esteemed (with 
 King Edgar's assistance) the founder of Westbury, in Glou- 
 cestershire, which had, indeed, been an ancient monastery, 
 but had long been impropriated and annexed to the lands of 
 the cathedral of Worcester. These reformations endeared 
 him to Dunstan, and gained him great favour with Edgar, 
 who granted at his request considerable privileges to the ma- 
 nors possessed by the bishop and church of Worcester, unit- 
 ins them all, viz. three hundred hides of land, and for the 
 most part lying contiguous in one hundred, whose court was 
 appointed to be held under the bishop at a place about four 
 miles to the east of Worcester, called, in memory of the 
 bishop, Oswaldes lawc, or Oswald's mount.* This was 
 creating a small palatinate in the county, exempt from all 
 jurisdiction of the civil magistrate. Out of these three hun- 
 dred hides of land, Oswald granted away no less than one 
 hundred and ninety to his friends, relations, thanes, artificers, 
 and servants, generally for three lives, and with slight ser- 
 vices reserved. In 971 the archiepiscopal see of York became 
 a second time vacant in the same year, and Oswald was raised 
 to that dignity, but held his bishoprick in commendam with 
 it, and spent most of his time in Worcester. He died sud- 
 denly there, on Monday, Feb. 28, in the year 992, having 
 sat thirty-two years in the Wkxian see, and near twenty in 
 that of York, of which he was the nineteenth archbishop. 
 He was buried in his cathedral which he had built at Wor- 
 cester. Oswald invited learned men from abroad to settle in 
 the monasteries which he favoured. His meekness and most 
 
 * Between Spetchley and Wolverton.
 
 exemplary piety, above all, his zeal for the monastic rules, 
 and the miracles ascribed to his relics, have raised him into 
 the rank of monkish saints. A solemn day is accordingly 
 appointed in commemoration of him in the English calendar 
 on Oct. 10th. 
 
 Adulf, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Abbot of Peterburg, succeeded Oswald in both his sees. 
 He obtained the abbey of Evesham of Ethelred, brother of 
 Edward the Martyr, and deprived it of its liberties. April 
 15, 1002, attended by a great assembly of his bishops, &c. 
 &c. &c. he translated the bones of Oswald from his tomb 
 to a shrine which he had prepared for it. He died May 6 of 
 the same year, and was buried in the cathedral of St. Mary. 
 
 Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Surnamed the Reprobate ; but why, we know not. lliis 
 bishop died at York, May 28, 1023, and was carried to Ely 
 to be interred : his time was remarkable for the general mas- 
 sacre by the Danes, to purchase a peace from which all the 
 church valuables were sacrificed. 
 
 Leoffius, oi Leoferth, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Abbot of Thorney. He sat therein 10 years and three 
 months, dying Aug. 19, 1033, at his manor-house at Kenip- 
 sey, and was buried in his cathedral at Worcester. 
 
 Brightegus, or Brihteage, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 Abbot of Pershore, Mas born in Berkshire. Cnut the 
 Danish usurper, sent this bishop, with his daughter Gunnilda, 
 into Germany, to give her in marriage to the Emperor Con- 
 rad, by some said to his son Henry. He died December 
 20, 1038. 
 
 Limngus, Bishop of Worcester, 
 A nephew of Brithwold, Bishop of St. German. He 
 was first a monk, then abbot of Tavistock ; and, as such,
 
 8 
 
 accompanied King Cnut to Rome, who on his return made 
 him Bishop of Crediton, or Kirton, Devon, 1032, and on 
 the death of his uncle lie had the bishopric of St. German 
 given him. When promoted to this see by King Harold, 
 surnamed Harcfoot, he held all in commendam with Wor- 
 cester, contrary to the canons ; for which Malmsbury be- 
 stows on him many hard names. He was accused to Har- 
 dycnute as being accessary to the death of Alfred, Ethelred's 
 eldest son, for which the King divested him of his sees, which 
 were afterwards restored to him. He died March 23, 1046, 
 and was buried at Tavistock, to which monastery he had been 
 a great benefactor. 
 
 Aldred, or Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester, 
 First a monk of Winchester, and afterwards Abbot of 
 Tavistock. In 1049, Griffin, King of South Wales, burnt 
 the town of Dymenham, near the Wye ; when Aldred at the 
 head of the men of Worcester and Gloucester attacked the 
 pirates, but were put to flight. In 1055 he was sent by the 
 King to the Emperor's court, to negotiate the return of 
 Prince Edward from Hungary. In 1056 he was preferred 
 to the bishopric of Hereford, which he held with this till the 
 latter end of 1060. In 1058, he dedicated the abbey church 
 of Gloucester, which he had re-built from the ground. In 
 1060 he was promoted to the archbishopric of York, and 
 resigned the see of Hereford, with an intent to hold this of 
 Worcester in commendam with York. But on his going to 
 Rome to receive the holy pall, at a synod called there against 
 clerks guilty of simony, he was, by his own confession, found 
 guilty, and divested of all honours. Aldred, under this dis- 
 grace, in company with others was returning to England, but 
 fortunately for him, falling into the hands of robbers, who 
 stripped them of all but their clothes, they were through ne- 
 cessity obliged to return to Rome, where by the remon- 
 strance of Earl Tosti and others, the Pope was persuaded to 
 let him have the archbishopric and his pall, which he granted 
 on condition that he should resign the see of Worcester.
 
 9 
 
 Aldred remonstrated with Urso D'Abitot for building a cas- 
 tle on the ground of the monastery, but without effect, and 
 dying September 11, 1069, was buried at York or Glou- 
 cester. 
 
 Urso de Abitot. 
 
 A Norman Captain, on whom William the Conqueror, 
 about 1066, bestowed 40 hides of land, in the county of 
 Worcester, with two manors in Warwickshire and another in 
 Gloucestershire, and who held, under that king and Rufus 
 his son, the chief civil and military trusts in the county of 
 Worcester, being constituted sheriff and constable of the 
 Royal Castle, with the very honourable appointment that 
 these offices should descend hereditarily in his family. He 
 is sometimes called Urso de Wircestre, doubtless from his 
 residing here. He and his brother Rodbert, otherwise 
 called Robert Despencer, who was the king's steward, were 
 troublesome neighbours to the convent of St. Mary, and 
 found pretences for dispossessing the monks of several of 
 their manors ; Urso especially was greedy in grasping what- 
 ever lands he could reach, and sufficiently tenacious of his 
 prey ; yet he was no enemy of the monastic institute. This 
 robber of the church was pleased to be founder, or rather he 
 assisted the foundation of an hermitage at Great Malvern, 
 which Bishop Wulstan improved, and, by the aid of con- 
 siderable benefactions, converted into a priory of monks — 
 vide History of Malvern. Urso carried on the building and 
 moat of Worcester castle nearer to the cathedral than the 
 members of it could well brook, and of which they com- 
 plained to their old prelate and patron Aldred, Archbishop 
 of York, who meeting with the Sheriff played off his artillery 
 of imprecations pointed in the manner of devotive charms 
 with rhyme — 
 
 " Highest than Urse ? Have thou God's curse, 
 
 and mine, and that of all holy men, unless thou remove thy 
 castle ; and know assuredly that thy posterity shall not inherit 
 
 c
 
 10 
 
 the patrimony of St. Mary." This curse, says Malmsbury, 
 seemed to take effect, for Ursus died soon after. For an ac- 
 count of the Constables, Earls, and Marquises of Worcester, 
 see Nash and Green. 
 
 Wolstan, or Wulstan II, Bishop of Worcester, 1062, 
 Surnamed the Saint ; was born at Long Ichington, War- 
 wickshire. His father's name was iElfstan, and his mother's 
 name Ulgeva, from whence he had his own name, Wulstan, 
 compounded of both theirs. They separated by consent ; 
 the husband putting on the religious habit in the monastery 
 at Worcester, and the wife taking the veil in the religious 
 house of the same city. Wulstan took the habit and order 
 of a monk of this church from Bishop Brihteage, by whom 
 he was also ordained both deacon and priest. His first pre- 
 ferment was that of being master and guardian of the chil- 
 dren, next chanter, then cyrcward, or keeper of the church 
 treasure, at length prior, by the favour of Bishop Aldred, 
 on his advancement to the see of York. He was pre- 
 sent at- the dedication of St. Peter's Church, Westminster, 
 built and endowed by King Edward the Confessor, and hav- 
 ing submitted to William the Conqueror, was present at his 
 coronation, and also was obliged to bear the pillage of the 
 church at Worcester, from which the Conqueror carried off 
 immense spoils under pretence of its belonging to his ene- 
 mies. In 1084, Wolstan began to build the present Cathe- 
 dral of Worcester ; three years afterwards he assisted in 
 crowning William Rufus, and in 1083 opened his new cathe- 
 dral, which was finished, and he held a synod here in 1092. 
 Great encomiums are given of Wolstan, especially by Wil- 
 liam of Malmsbury, who wrote a book of his life and mira- 
 cles. He was doubtless an extraordinary man, a persuasive 
 and powerful preacher, though his attainments in literature 
 were mean ; he was remarkably humble in an age when the 
 prelatic character was haughtiness : meek and patient, yet 
 on proper occasions he wanted not spirit. He died January 
 19, 1095, aged about 87, having sat in this see 32 years.
 
 11 
 
 He was canonized by Pope Innocent III, from the miracles 
 pretended to be wrought at his shrine in Worcester Cathe- 
 dral, and was the last Saxon Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 Aldewine, or Alwin, 
 Probably a native of this comity, was made a monk of the 
 Benedictine order, by Bishop Woistan ; he was chosen by 
 his brethren of the cathedral of Worcester prior of the re- 
 ligious house for seculars at Great Malvern, of which he 
 bagged of others to perfect the foundation, and which was 
 afterwards dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Woistan per- 
 suaded Alwin from going a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as he 
 had intended, with assurances that the place of Malvern, 
 which he had chosen for his habitation, would be wonder- 
 fully favoured by God ; which Alwin in some measure saw 
 fulfilled, living to have 30, or according to some 300 monks, 
 of his order, under him, who were all plentifully supplied by 
 the neighbouring people, who thought themselves happy in 
 assisting them. Alwin is said to have lived till 1140. 
 " This," (says the Author of Reflections, relative to the Mal- 
 vern Hills, p. 44, corrections) " unless we suppose Alwine to 
 have resigned, is disproved indubitably, by the date on the 
 tomb of Walcher ; he was prior after Alwine, and died 1 1 35 ." 
 
 Sampson, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 1090', 
 A noble Norman Canon of Baieux m his native country, 
 Dean of the Collegiate Church of Wolverhampton. He 
 was consecrated in this see in 109G. He conferred on the 
 prior and monks of Worcester, his rich church of Wulfrun- 
 hampton, with all its territories ; of which, however, after 
 his death, Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, dispossessed them. 
 But he disobliged the whole monastic order, by re-placing 
 secular canons at Westbury, annulling the constitution of 
 Oswald, who had settled monks in that ancient college. 
 He dedicated the great church at Gloucester, and died at 
 Westbury, May 5, 1112, and was buried before the rood- 
 loft in his Cathedral of Worcester.
 
 12 
 
 Theulf, Thewold, or Theulphus, Bishop of 
 Worcester, A. D. 1113, 
 
 A Prebendary of Baieux, and Chaplain to the King. He 
 was elected December 28, 1113, but not consecrated till 
 June 27, 1115. In 1121 he consecrated the great Church 
 at Tewkesbury, and died at his manor of Hampton, October 
 20, 1123, and was interred near his predecessor. 
 
 Florence, 
 
 A Native of Worcester, was a Monk of the Cathedral 
 Priory, and held, by his cotemporaries, in high esteem, 
 for his diligent application to literature, both sacred and 
 profane. His most celebrated performance is the Chronicon, 
 a sort of general history, commencing with the beginning of 
 the world and carried down to the last year of his own life, 
 A. D. 1 1 18. It is an epitome of the historical work of Ma- 
 rianus Scotus, enriched with faithful collections out of the 
 Saxon Chronicles, and other writers. Florence left some 
 other MSS. of less note, relating to the histories and genealo- 
 gies of kings. The continuator of Florence, who carried 
 down the above-mentioned Chronicle to the year 1141, was 
 also a Worcester Monk, but his name is not known. These 
 united Chronicles were published from a faulty MS. by Wil- 
 liam Howard, Earl of Northampton, London, 1592. 
 
 Simon, Bishop of Worcester, 1125, 
 Chaplain or Chancellor to Queen Adelaide, of Louvain. 
 This bishop restored Westbury to the monks, and was a 
 very considerable patron to the Church of Worcester, by re- 
 storing to it many lands and effects. He died March 20, 1 149. 
 
 John de Pageham, orPAGiiAM, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 A.J). 1151, 
 Was Chaplain to Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and by him consecrated to this see, March 4, 115 J. He 
 died at Rome, 1158.
 
 13 
 
 Altjred, or Alfred, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 1 153. 
 King Henry the First's chaplain, enthroned April 13, 1 158. 
 The accounts of his death vary considerably. 
 
 Roger, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 1164, 
 
 Son of Robert Earl of Gloucester, natural son of King 
 Henry I. was chosen in March, 1 163, being then but a youth, 
 and consecrated August 23, 11 64. He was called one of 
 the lights of England, by Pope Alexander III. who delegated 
 him to most of the causes that came before him in this king- 
 dom. He was firmly attached to Thomas a Becket, and 
 was dispatched to the Pope by Henry II. to assure him of 
 that king's innocence. He was present at the Lateran Coun- 
 cil in Rome, 1178, and in his return died at Tours, August 
 9, 1179, and was there buried. That he was of undaunted 
 spirit is evident, for as he was celebrating mass at the high 
 altar of St. Peter's, Gloucester, one of the great towers fell 
 down with a terrible noise, while he continued the service 
 unmoved. He was remarkable for many virtues, and much 
 esteemed for his regular life and strict discipline. 
 
 Baldwin, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 1180, 
 Was born of mean parents at Exeter, where he was some 
 time school-master. Upon his entering into holy orders, he 
 was presented to an archdeaconry, which he resigned ; and 
 taking upon him the habit of a Cistercian monk, was chosen 
 Abbot of Ford, in Devonshire ; and in a few years was from 
 thence promoted to the see of Worcester, to which he was 
 consecrated at Lambeth, August 10, 1180, and in 1184 was 
 translated to the archbishopric of Canterbury. In accom- 
 panying King Richard to the Holy Land, he died there at 
 the siege of Aeon, A. D. 1191. 
 
 William de Norhale, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Was Prebendary of St. Paul's, London, and Archdeacon 
 of Gloucester. He was consecrated in St. Catherine's, 
 chapel, Westminster, and died May 3, 11 90.
 
 14 
 
 Robert Fitz Ralph, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 1191, 
 Was Prebendary of Lincoln and Archdeacon of Notting- 
 ham. He obtained a mandate from Pope Clement that he 
 might be consecrated by William Bishop of Ely, his legate 
 at Westminster, but the monks of Canterbury insisted on the 
 performance of this solemnity in their church, which was 
 accordingly done May 5, 1 191. He died June, 1 193. 
 
 Henry de Soilli, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 1193, 
 
 Prior of Bermondsey and afterwards Abbot of Glastonbury, 
 was elected December 3, consecrated at Canterbury Dec. 
 12, and enthroned January, 1 194. He died Oct. 25, 1 195. 
 
 Senatus, 
 Surnamed Bravonius ; a prior of Worcester monastery in 
 1189, who voluntarily resigned his precentorship. He was 
 not less esteemed as a literary character than for his careful 
 discipline and zeal for the honour of his monastery. He 
 wrote the Lives of the Saints Oswald and Wolstan, a Tract 
 concerning the pontifical pall, and a Book of Epistles. That 
 he was also a most excellent penman, the MS. Bible written 
 by him in the cloisters of this church, is a convincing evi- 
 dence. See page 215, Chambers's Worcester. On his 
 death, in 1 170, he was interred in Worcester monastery. 
 
 Hemingus, 
 
 A monk of Worcester, with great labour compiled a com- 
 pendious chartulary, which greatly elucidates the ancient his- 
 tory of the see of Worcester, and which particularizes many 
 valuable donations belonging to it : many of them were col- 
 lected by the late ingenious Mr. Graves, and published by 
 Heamc, in 2 vols. 8vo. at Oxford, 1723. 
 
 Walter Odimgton, or Walter of Evesham, 
 A monk of that monastery in Worcestershire, was eminent 
 in the early part of the 13th century, during the reign of
 
 15 
 
 Henry HI. not only for his profound knowledge in music, 
 but astronomy, and mathematics in general. The translator 
 and continuator of Dugdale's Monasticon, speaks of him 
 anions; learned English of the order of St. Benedict. For 
 an account of Odington and his works, detailed at some 
 length, see Tindal's Evesham, p. 254 ; see also Burney's 
 History of Music. 
 
 John de Constantiis, or de Coustances, Bishop 
 of Worcester, A. D. 1198, 
 
 Was Archdeacon of Oxford, Dean of Rouen in Normandy, 
 and nephew to Walter, Archbishop of that city. He was 
 consecrated at Stratford, near London, by Hubert Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and dying September 24, 1198, was 
 interred in Worcester cathedral. 
 
 Mauger, or M alger, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Was Archdeacon of Evreux, in Normandy, Physician to 
 King Richard I, and Dean of York. His election was re- 
 jected by the archbishop, because he was not lawfully be- 
 gotten, upon which he went to Rome, where Pope Innocent, 
 admiring the elegance of his person, confirmed and conse- 
 crated him. In 1204, Bishop Mauger replaced the bones 
 of the blessed Wulstan in the same grave from whence they 
 had been irreverently removed, by his predecessor John de 
 Constantiis. In 1208, after having laid the kingdom under 
 an interdict by command of the Pope, lie, with the Bishops 
 of London and Ely his associates, Med to France, where he 
 died, July 1, 1212, at Ponthieu. 
 
 Randulph, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Prior of Worcester monastery, was chosen by the monks 
 on the death of Mauger in France; but at the instance 
 of Nicholas the Pope's legate, he receded from the election, 
 and was made Abbot of Evesham. 
 
 Walter de Grey, Bishop of Worcester, 1214, 
 Was then Chancellor of England. He was of the family
 
 16 
 
 of the Greys, which afterwards was ennobled, and greatly 
 distinguished in the English peerage. He had been chosen 
 Bishop of Lichfield by the canons of that church, in oppo- 
 sition to Josbert, whom the monks of Coventry had elected ; 
 but both their elections were annulled by the legate, and 
 he was made Bishop of Worcester, January 20, 1214. In 
 1215 he was translated from hence to the see of York. See 
 a very facetious reason for his being elected, in Drake's 
 York, p. 425. 
 
 Silvester de Evesham, Bishop of Worcester, 1216, 
 First a monk, and in 1215 prior of this church, succeeded 
 Walter de Grey in the bishopric, April, 1216 ; he was con- 
 secrated in Italy the same year. In 1218 Bishop Silvester 
 solemnly consecrated his church of Worcester, which had 
 been now repaired after the injuries it had sustained by lire 
 in 1202, and dedicated it anew to Saints Mary, Peter, Os- 
 wald and Wulstan; he died July 16 following, at Ramsey, 
 and was brought to Worcester for interment. 
 
 William de Blois, Bishop of Worcester, 1218, 
 Archdeacon of Buckingham. In 1220 he consecrated the 
 bells, which had been newly cast for the use of the cathedral, 
 and put up in the leaden steeple. In 1224 he laid the 
 foundation-stone of a new front, or nave to the church*, and 
 in the same year he built the chapel of the charnel-house. 
 He died at Allchurch, August 18, 1236, and was buried hi 
 his cathedral. 
 
 Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, 1237, 
 Son of Lord Cantelupe, was consecrated in the presence 
 of the King and Queen of England, Queen of Scotland, &c. 
 lie was a man of spirit, and proved himself a strenuous ad- 
 vocate for the liberties of the English Church, against the 
 overbearing power of the see of Rome. He founded the 
 
 * It is presumed, in opposition to Mr. Green's opinioi, that he 
 buill oue side only of the nave. — See Chambers's Worcester, p. 207.
 
 17 
 
 nunnery of the White Ladies, and in 1255 dedicated its 
 church to St. Mary Magdalen. He augmented the chapel of 
 the charnel-house, and about 1263 began to fortify the manor- 
 house of Hartlebury. He joined the Barons against K. Henry 
 III. for which, in 12(35, he was excommunicated by the le- 
 gate ; and dying at Blockley in the next year, was buried in 
 his cathedral. 
 
 Alexander de Hales. 
 The town of Hales Owen probably gave birth, says Dr. 
 Nash, to this famous schoolman ; or perhaps he was a 
 monk of the abbey there. Camden, indeed, places him at 
 Hales in Gloucestershire ; but that was a very inconsiderable 
 hamlet till the founding of the great Cistercian Abbey there 
 in 1246, the year after Alexander's death : whereas Hales 
 Owen Abbey was founded anno. 12 IS. Dr. Nash is in- 
 clined rather to think he was a native only of Hales Owen, 
 as he went to France, and studied school divinity and canon 
 law in the University of Paris, in both which he became so 
 very famous as to be commonly called Dr. Irrefragabilis : he 
 flourished about 1230, and having entered himself in the or- 
 der of Franciscans, died at Paris, August 27, 1245. He 
 lies buried in the body of the church of Cordeliers in Paris, 
 with a monument and epitaph, which last may be seen in 
 Pitt's Angl. Script. 
 
 Nicholas, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Archdeacon of Ely, Chancellor and Treasurer of England. 
 He was one of the 12 persons appointed to settle the peace 
 of the kingdom. He gave b^ will 60 marks, ,for the re-edify- 
 ing of the tower of his cathedral, and was translated to Win- 
 chester, 1268, having satin this see nearly two years. 
 
 Godfrey de Giffard, Bishop of Worcester, 1268, 
 Lord Chancellor of England, brother of Walter Giffard, 
 Archbishop of York, elected to this see in 1268. King 
 Henry granted him leave to carry on the Castle of Hartle- 
 
 D
 
 18 
 
 bury, as begun by his predecessor, Walter de Cantelupe ; 
 this bisliop finished it : he made several churches of the 
 patronage of his cathedral prebendal to Westbury in Glou- 
 cestershire, where a college for a dean and canons Mas 
 founded, A.D. 1288. He was strongly but ineffectually op- 
 posed in this measure by his Chapter. He seems to have 
 been a man of a high spirit, overbearing, and litigious, was 
 involved in tedious contests with the priory of Worcester, 
 and made his visitations very burdensome by the great num- 
 ber of horse (not less than a hundred) that formed his retinue. 
 He died January 26, 1301-2, and lies buried in Worcester 
 cathedral. 
 
 John de Sancto Germano, Bishop of Worcester, 12G8, 
 Was chosen Bishop by the monks of Worcester by licence 
 granted to them by Edward I. upon the deaths of Godfrey 
 and Giffard ; but the Archbishop of Canterbury found eva- 
 sions for delaying his consecration : upon this, the Bishop 
 elect applied to the Court of Rome, with letters recommend- 
 atory from the King, and the Prior and Convent, but to no 
 purpose, he being there obliged to renounce his right to the 
 bishopric for want of money ; and, October 22, the Pope 
 promoted 
 
 William de Gaynesberuwe, or Gainsborough, 
 Bishop of Worcester, 
 A Franciscan Friar, who had been lecturer of that order 
 in Oxford, then reader of divinity in the Pope's palace. After 
 he had been consecrated by his Holiness he left Rome, and 
 came to London, 1302-3. The King, exasperated at his 
 obtaining the bishopric in this manner, withheld his tempo- 
 ralities from him some time, and on his granting them obliged 
 him to renounce, in writing, the Pope's authority in this see. 
 On his arrival near Worcester he was received, at Redhill, 
 by a numerous procession of clergy, and at the door of St. 
 Wulstan's hospital by the minor or grey friars ; there he 
 alighted, and to gain the people by a show of humility, walked
 
 19 
 
 barefoot to St. Michael's church, where he was robed ; thence 
 proceeding up the choir of St. Mary's, he was, with the usual 
 solemnity, enthroned. In 1307 he was sent by the King of 
 France on a marriage treaty for his son, which he accom- 
 plished, and died on his return at Beauvais, Sept. 17, 1307- 
 
 Hugh de Evesham, Archdeacon of Worcester, 1275, 
 
 Was a Native of this county. He was either born 
 at, or was a monk of Evesham, probably both, and was 
 accounted the first physician of his age. A dispute arising 
 at Rome concerning some medical question, he was sent 
 for by Martin IV. who was so well satisfied with his 
 skill as to create him a Cardinal, in the year 1280. The 
 Italians however envied him his preferment, and are said to 
 have poisoned him about 1287- He was buried at Rome. 
 In the early part of his life he had passed through the prefer- 
 ments of archdeacon of Worcester, rector of Spofford, York- 
 shire, prebend of York, and proctor for the Archbishop of 
 York, at Rome. Some medical and theological MSS. of 
 his were, according to Leland, extant in the Bodleian 
 Library. 
 
 John of Malvern, 
 
 A Benedictine Monk of Worcester, who flourished in 
 
 1342, and wrote a continuation of " Polychronicon," is said 
 
 to have been the author of " The Vision of Pierce Plowman ;" 
 
 this poem is given by others to Robt. Langland. See Wood. 
 
 Elias de Evesham, 
 Flourished about the end of the twelfth century: he 
 was an eminent biographer and historian, of a good family, 
 and expected an ample patrimony ; but, either through some 
 disappointment in his expectations, or perhaps from merely 
 a love of study and retirement, he became a monk of Eves- 
 ham. He wrote a Chronicle, and the Life of Becket, which 
 latter work Leland affirms that he met with in Whitley Ab- 
 bey. A person of the same name, or probably the same
 
 20 
 
 man, is known to 1 ave been presented, in the 18th of King 
 John, to a prebend of Hereford. Two other monks are men- 
 tioned by historians as of some eminence considerably after 
 this period, but few particulars are handed down to us. One 
 of them is, by Heame, supposed to have written the life of 
 Richard II. which that antiquary found among the Cotton 
 MSS. and published in 17^9. The other, whose name is 
 known to have been Joseph, wrote a collection of letters, 
 two of which Heame published at the end of the biographi- 
 cal work above-mentioned. 
 
 Lazimon, or Lazamon, 
 A Native of this county, being born at Astley, — see 
 Nicholson's Historical Library, page 31 ; he was an his- 
 torian and a priest, and wrote the History of England 
 from Brute to Cadwallader. Bishop Tanner takes no 
 notice of him : some think Lazamon only translated Geoffry 
 of Monmouth's Book into Norman-English, though he says 
 he had it from one Walter, a Erench clergyman. See Nash, 
 p. 41, vol. 1. 
 
 Walter Reginald, or Reynold, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Canon of St. Paul's, was Chaplain to Edward I. and Pre- 
 ceptor to the Prince, afterwards Edward II. ; and although 
 made Chancellor and Treasurer of England by that King, he 
 basely aided the Queen and Mortimer against him, and went > 
 into all the popular and violent measures which finally brought 
 that unhappy monarch to the grave. In 1313 he was trans- 
 lated from this to tlie see of Canterbury. He is said to have 
 been a baker's son at Windsor, 
 
 Walter de Maydenston, Bishop of Worcester, 1313, 
 Was also a canon of St. Paul's, and one of the King's 
 agents at the Pope's Court. He was consecrated by the 
 Pontiff, Feb: 3, 1313. Dr. Thomas has very successfully 
 rescued the character of this prelate from the aspersions of 
 some of his enemies, He died beyond sea, March 28, 1317,
 
 21 
 
 Thomas Cobham, Bishop of Worcester, 1317, 
 
 Prebendary of St. Paul's, Archdeacon of Lewes, and Chan- 
 cellor of the University of Cambridge — a man of eminent 
 learning, and adorned with many amiable virtues, insomuch 
 that he was commonly distinguished by the name of the good, 
 or the honest Clerk. In 1313 he had the honour of being 
 chosen Archbishop of Canterbury by the unanimous suffrage 
 of the chapter there ; but that election was over-ruled by the 
 Pope, at the instance of Edward II. To make Cobham 
 some amends, the see of Worcester was then offered him, 
 which, at that time, he refused ; but upon Maydenston's 
 death he accepted this bishopric, and was consecrated at 
 Avignon, 1317- He began a library over the old Congrega- 
 tion-house at Oxford about 1320, but did not live to finish 
 it, dying at Hartlebury, August '27, 1327- He however left 
 money enough to complete it, and gave many books to the 
 University to furnish it, when erected. He also vaulted the 
 roof of the north aisle of his cathedral at his own expence — 
 and close to the wall of that aisle was his tomb. " Under 
 the window, next below Jesus Chapel, was a raised embattled 
 tomb beneath an ornamented arch within the wall, and about 
 four feet from the ground, to the memory of Bishop Cob- 
 ham. His effigy was cumbent thereon, mitred and vested 
 for the altar, his hands elevated in prayer, and at his feet an 
 angel" — now gone. Vide Dr. Thomas's Survey, p. J 04. 
 
 William de Chyryton, 
 
 Abbot of Evesham, 131 6. He built that most stately 
 gate of the abbey, with its chapels and apartments, &.c. and 
 died 1344. 
 
 John de Ombreslye 
 
 Was also a great benefactor to the Abbey of Evesham. 
 See Tindal's Evesham, pages 2G2, 2(J3.
 
 22 
 
 Wolstan de Braunsford, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born at Braunsford, and 
 became Prior (equal to Dean on any other foundation) of 
 Worcester, and Bishop, upon the death of Bishop Cobham ; 
 he was chosen by the monks, and his election was confirmed 
 by the young King Edward III. It is said, he was also 
 confirmed by the Archbishop, who durst not consecrate him ; 
 nor after the Archbishop's death, durst the Prior and Convent 
 of Canterbury, in obedience to the King's command, call to- 
 gether any of the suffragan bishops of the province to do it, 
 being afraid of the Pope, who, by virtue of his reservation of 
 the bishopric, gave it to 
 
 Adam de ORLTON r or Horleton, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, 1329, 
 
 Bishop of Hereford and a native of that city, 4th cal. Oct. 
 1324. He was enthroned 19th June, 1329, and was trans- 
 lated to Winchester, 1333. He appears to have been alto- 
 gether an infamous character, if not concerned in the murder 
 of Edward II. 
 
 Simon de Monteacuto, or Montague, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 
 A Bishop put in by the Pope, whose Chaplain he was in 
 sub-deacon's orders, and Archdeacon of Canterbury. He 
 was advanced to this bishopric at the request of Edward II. 
 who speaks of him as his kinsman. In 1336 he restored to 
 the Prior and Convent the manor of Croule, which had been 
 formerly taken from them, and was then held of him in 
 capite ; for which they made him partaker of all their prayers, 
 and ordered that the day of his death should be inserted in 
 their martyrology, and his anniversary to be kept with mass 
 and chant in their choir. In 1337 he Mas translated to Ely, 
 by Benedict XII.
 
 23 
 
 Thomas Heminhale, or Emeniiale, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 
 
 Was named from the place of his birth, a village near 
 Norwich, of which city he was a monk ; and upon the death 
 of William Ayremin, their bishop, he was by his fellow-monks 
 chosen to succeed him ; but the Pope promoted him to the 
 see of Worcester, having reserved that of Norwich for An- 
 thony de Beck. He sat here but a short time, dying at 
 Hartlebury Castle, in December, 1338, and was buried in 
 Worcester Cathedral. This see having been supplied with 
 bishops by the Pope's provision for the last seven successions 
 (Reginald's excepted), the monks resumed their right of 
 choosing their diocesan; and having obtained the King's per- 
 mission so to do, they elected for bishop, a second time, 
 
 Wolstan de Braunsford, Bishop of Worcester, 1339, 
 Their prior, now old and infirm, was consecrated at 
 Canterbury, March 28, 1339- He died at Hartlebury, Aug. 
 (i, 1349- While he was prior he built the guesten-hall, 
 now the audit-house, adjoining the present deanery, in 1320. 
 He is also said to have built a bridge at Braunsford, near 
 Worcester, over the river Teame, called by Bishop Godwin 
 the Tweed. — See page 22 of this Work. 
 
 John de Thoresby, or Thursby, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, 1349, 
 Was chosen in preference to the then prior, John de 
 Evesham, chosen by the monks of Worcester. He was 
 translated, by Pope Clement, from the see of St. David's, 
 hither, by virtue of his bull, Sept. 4, 1349. He had been 
 Master of the Rolls, and in 1350 was made High Chancellor 
 of England. In 1352 he was preferred to York. This pie- 
 late had the honour of settling the precedency of the Arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury and York, winch had been disputed 
 for near 200 years. Pope Innocent, to gratify both the par- 
 ties, invented that nice distinction of Primate of England,
 
 24 
 
 and Primate of all England ; which last was given to Simon 
 Ishp, then Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Reginald Brian, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Had before succeeded Thoresby at St. David's. Brian 
 was honoured with the personal regard and friendship of the 
 renowned Edward the Black Prince, and was one of the 
 persons to whoin he dispatched the first account and particu- 
 lars of the battle of Poictiers ; see this letter, &c. in Nash, 
 vol. 1, p. 34. In 13.61 he was advanced from this see to that 
 of Ely, but died of the plague at Alvechurch, in December 
 of that year, before he could take possession of it, and was 
 buried in Worcester Cathedral. 
 
 John Barnet, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 I)i virtue of the Pope's provisory bull, was Chaplain to 
 Thomas de L'Isle, Bishop of Ely, residentiary Canon of St. 
 Paul's, Archdeacon of London and then of Essex, from 
 whence he was promoted to Worcester. In 1362 he was 
 constituted Treasurer of England, and the year following 
 was translated to the see of Bath and Wells, and from thence 
 to Ely, 1366. 
 
 William Wittlesey, Bishop of Worcester, 1363, 
 Translated to Worcester from the bishopric of Rochester, 
 by the Pope's authority, March 6, 1363. He was a sister's 
 son of Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury : and educat- 
 ed at Cambridge. Wittlesey was Master of Peterhouse Col- 
 lege there, to which he left his library ; he was also Archdea- 
 con of Huntingdon. From the University he was sent by 
 his uncle to the Court of Rome as his proctor, and was trans- 
 lated to the see of Canterbury, 1368. 
 
 William Lynn, Bishop of Worcester, 1368, 
 Then Bishop of Chichester, and translated to Worcester 
 by Pope Urban V. He died Nov. 18, 1373, having been 
 taken with an apopletic lit as he was mounting his horse to 
 go to Parliament.
 
 25 
 
 John Wallis, or Welch, 
 Was a Native of this county, where he became a Fran- 
 ciscan of Worcester. Leaving Oxford, he lived at Paris, 
 where he was commonly called the " Tree of Life," in re- 
 ference to what Solomon calls " a wholesome tono;ue." — 
 Fuller, in continuation, says, " his works amounted to no 
 fewer than 20 volumes, which are not so practical for their 
 use, as curious in their speculations ; they were preserved in 
 the Ancient Libraries of Baiiol and Oriel Colleges. He 
 died and was buried at Paris, A. D. 1216. 
 
 Richard de Burford, 
 Was a Native of this county, being born at Droitwich. 
 He was afterwards Bishop of Chichester. He studied at 
 Oxford, Paris, and Bologna : was appointed Chancellor to 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards Chancellor of 
 Oxford : he was consecrated Bishop of Chester, March 5, 
 1245. Burford was a man of extraordinary learning and in- 
 tegrity, an eloquent preacher, and so eminent for his good 
 life, that after his death, 1253, he was canonized by Urban 
 IV. 1262. The inhabitants of Droitwich long held his me- 
 mory in veneration, on account of some good offices he was 
 supposed to have done them. Mr. Leland mentions a fabu- 
 lous report, that the principal salt springs " did fayle in the 
 tyme of Richard de la Wich, or Burford, Bishop of Chi- 
 chester ; and that after, by his intercession, it was restored 
 to the profit of the ould course : such (he adds) is the su- 
 perstition of the people. In token whereof, or for the hon- 
 our that the W ichemen and saulters bear unto this Richard, 
 their countrieman, they used of late tymes on his daye to 
 hange about the sault springe or well, once a yeere, with 
 tapestrie, and to have drinking games and revels at it." Mr. 
 Habingdon allows that he might have been especially hon- 
 oured in Wich, if for no other reason, because it was the 
 place of his birth ; and as a similar instance mentions the 
 respect shewn to St. Thomas of Canterbury, in London, 
 
 E
 
 26 
 
 where the house he was born in was consecrated for a chapel; 
 but at the same time is persuaded, " this feaste begun fyrst 
 for some benefyt bestowed on these springs, because the 
 chiefest showe of this solemnity is at the salt wells." His 
 family had lands in Droitwich, that retain the name of Bur- 
 ford to this day. In a grant of the salt-pits by Henry VIII. 
 they are styled Sir Richard's Vautes. 
 
 William Packington, 
 A Native of this county, according to Fuller, was 
 Secretary aud Treasurer to Edward the Black Prince, and 
 whose long living in France had made the language of his 
 nurse more natural to him than the tongue of his mother. 
 Hence it was that he wrote in French the Story of " Five 
 English Kings,"— King John, Henry III. Edwards I. II. III. 
 and a book of " The Atchievements of the Black Prince." 
 He flourished A. D. 1330. 
 
 Henry Wakefield, Bishop of Worcester, Oct. 28, 1375, 
 
 Archdeacon of Canterbury, whom Pope Gregory XI. put 
 
 into this see in preference to Walter Leigh, Prior, chosen by 
 
 the Prior and Convent of Worcester with the approbation 
 
 of the King. It is said that he was appointed to this see as 
 
 some amends for being disappointed of Ely. In 1377, he 
 
 was constituted High Treasurer of England, and in this year, 
 
 April 23, we read in Smith's Antiq. of Westminster, "that 
 
 by order of Richard II. he visited the Chapel of St. Stephen, 
 
 to see and report the management of the building." In 
 
 1386, he finished the additions to his Cathedral, commenced 
 
 by Bishop Blois — See his Article ; when, in contradiction to 
 
 Mr. Green, he is presumed to have built one side of the 
 
 nave, and completed the building as it now appears — Vide 
 
 Chambers's Worcester, p. 206. He died at Blockley, March 
 
 1 1 , 1394 or 5, and lies interred between the lowermost pillars 
 
 at the west end of the nave of the Cathedral. This Bishop 
 
 had a controversy with his Prior about the use of the Bishop's 
 
 attire. — See Green's Worcester, p. 193, Note.
 
 27 
 
 Tideman de Winchcomb, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 Bishop of Llandaff ; had been Physician to the King, and, 
 before his promotion, was one of the companions of Richard 
 II. in his nocturnal rambles. He was his firm adherent, and 
 opposed, with all his influence, the usurpation of Henry IV. 
 He died June, 1401, and was buried in his Cathedral. 
 
 Richard Clifford, Bishop of Worcester, 1401, 
 Dean of York, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Chaplain 
 to King Richard II. Bishop elect of Bath and Wells, was 
 elected by the Monks of Worcester to this see, and to which 
 he was confirmed 1401. In 13Q6 he was made Master of 
 Hastings College, which he resigned 1398. He was Canon 
 of St. Stephen's, Westminster, and Keeper of the Privy Seal 
 of Henry; and was sent by the King into Germany, to treat 
 with the Emperor about a marriage between his son and 
 Lady Blanch, the King's eldest daughter. In 1407 he was 
 translated to the see of London. 
 
 Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born at Salwarp, Jan. 
 28, 1381. He assisted at the coronation of Henry IV. 
 and made such a distinguished figure by his art and courage 
 at tournaments, that the King created him Knight of the 
 Bath, and bestowed upon him many other marks of his 
 favour. At the battle of Shrewsbury his proofs of courage 
 were so conspicuous that the King employed him against 
 Owen Glyndwr, whom he put to flight, and took his banner 
 with his own hand. Henry IV. left him guardian to his 
 infant son, afterwards Henry V. whom he accompanied to 
 France. He was present at the battle of Agincourt, where 
 he behaved with astonishing bravery. After the death of 
 Henry IV. he was appointed Regent of France, which high 
 employment he enjoyed only four years, and died in Nor- 
 mandy, A. D. 1439. — See a further account of him in Fuller's 
 Worthies, and a very long life of him in Kippis's Biog. Britt.
 
 28 
 
 Thomas Peverell, Bishop of Worcester, 1407, 
 Descended of an honourable family in Suffolk, was bred 
 at Oxford, and became a Carmelite Friar. In 1398 he was 
 made Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland, by King Richard II. 
 In 1399, removed from thence to Llandaff, in Wales ; and 
 in. 1407 advanced to this see. He died at his manor of 
 Hembury, Gloucestershire, March 2, 1418—19, and was 
 buried at Oxford. 
 
 Philip Morgan, L. L. D. Bishop of Worcester, 1419, 
 An eminent Civilian, and Chancellor of Normandy : dur- 
 ing his continuance in which province King Henry V. to 
 whom he had been Chaplain, deputed him to treat with the 
 Ambassador of Lewis the Dauphin of France, at Alengon, 
 about a peace. Among the six Bishops appointed to form 
 part of the Privy Council, during the minority of Henry VI. 
 this Bishop received that honour from the Parliament. He 
 was translated to Ely in 1425. 
 
 Thomas Polton, Bishop of Worcester, 1425. 
 While he was Prebend of Sarum he assisted in the Coun- 
 cil of Constance, 1418. In 1420 he was made Bishop of 
 Hereford, where he sat but 15 months before he was remov- 
 ed to Chichester, and from thence to Worcester. In 1432 
 he, with the Prior of Norwich, was sent by the King to the 
 Council of Basil, where he died, in August 1433, and was 
 there buried, and not at Rome. He directed in his will to 
 be buried in the Priory of Bustleham, in Berks, and be- 
 queathed his mitre to the Cathedral of Worcester. 
 
 Thomas Brown, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Dean of Salisbury. Pope Eugenius conferred on him the 
 see of Worcester, while the Monks of Worcester, with the 
 permission of the King, who afterwards prevailed on the 
 Pope to withdraw his nomination, chose Thomas Bouchier,
 
 29 
 
 John Tiptot, Earl of Worcester, 1426, 
 I3 said to have been a Native of Worcester, but we have 
 not sufficient authority for it to insert his life at length in a 
 work more particularly dedicated to the Lives of Natives of 
 Worcestershire. For an account of this Nobleman, see 
 Green, p. 258, vol. 1. and Walpole's Noble Authors. 
 
 John Lowe, 
 
 A Native of this county, was bred an Augustine 
 Friar at Droitwich ; he afterwards went to the Universities, 
 and then settled himself in London : hence he was preferred 
 by King Henry VI. to St. Asaph's, and thence was removed, 
 through his love of quietness, from one of the best bishop- 
 rics in Wales, to Rochester, the meanest in England. He 
 was, says Fuller, " a great bookmonger, and deserved well 
 of posterity in preserving several excellent MSS. and be- 
 stowing them on the magnificent Library, which he fur- 
 nished at St. Augustine's, in London. But, alas, that li- 
 brary, at the dissolution, vanished away, with the fine spire 
 steeple of the church ; (Oh the wide swallow of sacrilege) 
 one person, who shall be nameless, embezzling both books 
 and buildings to his private profit." He died in 1467, and 
 was buried in his own cathedral, over against Bishop 
 Merton, under a marble monument. 
 
 Thomas Bourgchier, or Bourchier, Bishop of 
 Worcester, 143j, 
 
 Commonly called Bowser ; he was Dean of St. Martin's, 
 London, and son of William, Earl of Ewe, in Normandy. 
 He was bred in Oxford, and became it's Chancellor. In 
 1436 he was chosen to the vacant see of Ely, by the monks 
 there, and confirmed by the Pope, but the King refusing 
 his consent, Bourchier, apprehensive of incurring a preniu- 
 nire, durst not accept of it : but on the death of the Bishop 
 of Ely in 1443, the King permitted him to take it. He was 
 translated to Canterbury in 1454, Lord Chancellor of Eng-
 
 30 
 
 land in 1455, and created a Cardinal in 1464 : he lived 
 51 years after his consecration to the see of Elv, 32 of 
 ■which he was Archbishop of Canterbury ; he died in I486', 
 and was buried in his metropolitan church. By his will he 
 made a bequest of an image of the blessed Virgin in silver- 
 gilt, value £69. 5s. to the cathedral church of Worcester. 
 The memory of Archbishop Bourchier is to be respected, 
 because he was the principal instrument of introducing the 
 inestimable Art of Printing in England, temp. Edward IV. 
 
 John Carpenter, D. D. Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 Was Rector of Beaconsfield from about 1450 to 1435, 
 and in 1421 was presented to St. Mildred's Church, Oxford, 
 of which University he was afterwards Chancellor, and Pro- 
 vost of Oriel in 1430, where he was bred, and in which he 
 founded a fellowship for a native of the diocese of Worces- 
 ter ; he was also Master of St. Anthony's, London, and was 
 promoted to Worcester by Eugenius IV. He erected a 
 handsome gate-house to his palace at Hartlebury, which was 
 ruined in the civil wars. In 1461 he set up a library in the 
 charnel-house of Worcester, and endowed it with £10. per 
 annum for a librarian. He died 1476, at Northwyke,* in 
 the parish of Claines, near Worcester, from whence he was 
 taken to Westbury-upon-Trin, his native village, near Bris- 
 tol, to be interred ; where, as Sir Robert Atkyns tells us, 
 was a plain altar monument erected to his memory ; (it is 
 an altar tomb, according to Willis, with a skeleton upon it.) 
 He retained a fondness for his native village, in which he 
 was reverenced as a saint, and affected to style himself 
 Bishop of Worcester and Westbury. He joined with Sir 
 William Cannings, who was Dean there, in re-building the 
 College of Westbury, to which he added a stately gate, and 
 
 * Some ruins, which were said to be those of a Bishop's palace, 
 were pulled down in 1818; they stood on Mr. Tolley's land. The 
 state in which they stood is preserved in an oil painting, taken by a 
 young artist, J. H. Smith, of Worcester, and exhibited at the Town 
 Hall in 1818.
 
 31 
 
 augmented the endowment. He was also a great benefactor 
 to St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, and presented a silver cup to 
 Oriel College. 
 
 William of Worcester, 
 
 According to Mr. Gough, was educated at Hart Hall, 
 Oxford, 1434. He drew up a history of the learned men 
 who had been bred in that University, entitled " Polyandria 
 Oxoniensis," of which Twyne published an extract in his 
 Apologia, sec. 2, p. 144. His annals, at the end of that 
 valuable assemblage of public records, the Black Book of 
 the Exchequer, are notes of the affairs of his own times. 
 He surveyed the dimensions of many of our conventual 
 churches, to which Brown Willis often refers, and quotes 
 in his Histories of Abbies. 
 
 Thomas Wolsey, 
 
 The Cardinal, who was born in 1417, was on the death 
 of Henry Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom he had been 
 Chaplain, appointed Chaplain to Sir John Nanfan, of Wor- 
 cestershire, by whose influence he was promoted to the 
 same office to King Henry VIII. A. Wood calls Wolsey's 
 patron Sir John Naphant, of Somersetshire — he may be 
 correct. 
 
 John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester, 1476, 
 To which he was translated from the see of Rochester. 
 He was born at Beverley, in Yorkshire, and educated at 
 Cambridge. He had been Dean of the Royal Chapel of 
 St. Stephen, Westminster, Keeper of the Great Seal, 1473, 
 President of Wales in the first year of Edward IV. and in 
 the next year Master of the Rolls. In the two ordinances 
 of Edward IV. on committing the care of Prince Edward 
 to Earl Rivers and the Bishop of Worcester, Alcock was the 
 prelate appointed to that honour. About the year 1481, he 
 rebuilt the church of Little Malvern, visited and reformed 
 the Priory, repaired the Convent, and in a great measure
 
 32 
 
 discharged its debts. He a]so built a chapel at Beverley, 
 and a chantry for the souls of his parents. In 1484 he 
 founded a chapel or chantry on the south side of Trinity 
 Church, at Kingston-upon-Hull, where, according to the 
 Biog. Brit, he was buried, A. D. 1500 ; but according to 
 Bentham's Ely, " he lies buried in the middle of a sump- 
 tuous chapel, which he had built for himself, at the end of 
 the north aisle of the presbytery of Ely : his tomb, with his 
 effigies thereon much defaced, is placed on the north side of 
 the chapel under an arch of stone. He turned St. Rade- 
 gund's old polluted nunnery at Cambridge into a new found- 
 ation, called Jesus College. He was translated hence to 
 the see of Ely I486, and the same year made Lord High 
 Chancellor of England. In the same year lie christened 
 Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII. at Winchester. He was 
 represented in the painted glass in Little Malvern Church. — 
 Vide Nash, Chambers's Malvern, &c. This prelate was 
 not only a considerable writer, but an excellent architect, 
 and as such was appointed comptroller of the royal works 
 and buildings under King Henry VII. His own chapel at 
 Ely is a noble specimen of his architectural skill, though at 
 present it is sadly mangled. There is in Jesus College a 
 painting of Bishop Alcock, from which there is an engraving: 
 he is represented with elevated hands, in a kneeling attitude, 
 in the act of prayer. In the painting, a label (which is omit- 
 ted by the engraver) is seen proceeding from the bishop's 
 mouth, with this inscription, " Omnia mea tua sunt," — (All 
 mine are thine, John xvii. 10.) On his right hand inclines 
 a crosier, and by his left a mitre rests upon a tablet : be- 
 neath is written, Johannes Alcock, Episc. Eliens. Totius 
 
 Angliee Cancellr. Fundr. Coll. Jesu. Cantab. A. D. 1497.* 
 
 ■ 
 
 * John Alcock, afterwards Bishop of Ely, was, in 1461, Dean of 
 St. Stephen's — See Newcourt, vol. 1, p. 121 s hut Dr. Richardson, in 
 his Notes on Godwin's De Pra?s::!ibus Anglia?, p. 269, fixes it to the 
 29th April, J462, and cites as his authority Pat. 1, Edw. IV. p. 2, 
 in. 28. He was, according to Newcourt, made Bishop of Rochester 
 1471. — See Smith's Antiquities of Westminster.
 
 33 
 
 Tin- childish device of this founder, a pun upon his name, 
 All-cock — viz. a cock perching upon a globe, is conspicuous 
 in even part of the cell. On one window was a cock with 
 a [abei with this inscription in Greek, "I am a cock:" to 
 whom another, on the opposite side, bravely crows in answer, 
 c< \,„i 80 am [,"_ See (I. Wakefield's Letters ; also Correc- 
 ions, &C. by Or. Mash. 
 
 Thomas Littleton, 
 A NATIVE of this county, whose original name was 
 Lutletou, now written Lyttelton, was a celebrated English 
 Judwe, being the eldest son of Thomas Westeote, of the 
 county of Devon, Esq. by Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir 
 of Thomas Luttelton, or Lyttleton, of Frankley; in cbm- 
 pliance to whom she consented that the issue, at least the 
 eldest son proceeding from that marriage, should take the 
 surname of Lyttelton,* and bear the arms of that family. — 
 He was born about the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
 at Frankley. Having laid a proper foundation of learning at 
 one of the universities, probably Cambridge, he removed to 
 the Inner Temple, and applying himself to the law became 
 very eminent in that profession. The first notice we have 
 of his distinguishing himself, is from his learned Lectures on 
 the Statute of Westminster, " of conditional gifts:" he was 
 
 afterwards made, by Henry VI. Steward or Judge of the 
 Court of the Palace, or Marshal sea of the King's Household ; 
 and in May 1455, King's Serjeant, in which capacity he 
 went the northern circuit as a Judge of the Assize. Upon 
 the revolution of the Crown from the House of Lancaster to 
 
 * There is a tradition that the three brothers of the Judge, whose 
 names were Nicholas, Edmund, and Guy, wrote their paternal name 
 Westeote, which their mother once taking exception at, and asking 
 them whether they thought themselves better than their eldest bro- 
 ther ? they replied, lie altered his name to inherit a fair estate, which 
 if they might share with him, they could do the same. The Lyttel- 
 tons are a very ancient family, their ancestors being settled in thtf 
 Vale of Evesham so early as the 7th Henry II. 1181. 
 
 v
 
 34 
 
 that of York, in the time of Edward IV. Judge Lyttelton, 
 who was now made Sheriff of Worcestershire, received a 
 pardon from that Prince, was continued in his post of King's 
 Serjeant, and also in that of Justice of Assize for the same 
 circuit. This pardon passed in 1462, the second year of 
 Edward IV. and in 1466 he was appointed one of the Judges 
 of the Court of Common Pleas. The same year he obtained 
 a writ to the Commissioners of the Customs of London, 
 Bristol, and Kingston-upon-Hull, enjoining them to pay him 
 110 marks annually, for the better support of his dignity, 
 106s. ll|d. to furnish him with a furred robe, and 6s. 6d. 
 more for another robe, called Linura. In 1473, we find 
 him residing near St. Sepulchre's church, London, in a 
 capital mansion, the property of the Abbot of Leicester, 
 which he held on a lease at the yearly rent of 16s. In 
 1475 he was created, among others, Knight of the Bath, to 
 grace the solemnity of conferring that order upon the King's 
 eldest son, then Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward V. 
 He continued to enjoy the esteem of his sovereign and the 
 nation, on account of his profound knowledge of the Laws 
 of England, till his death, Aug. 23, 1481, the day after the 
 date of his will, in which he appointed his three sons, a par- 
 son, a vicar, and one of his servants, executors, and Dr. 
 Alcock of Cambridge, the then Bishop of Worcester, super- 
 visor of the same. He was then said to be of a good old 
 age, but its precise length has not been ascertained. He 
 was honourably interred in the cathedral church of Worces- 
 ter, where a marble tomb, with his statue, was erected to his 
 memory ; his picture was also placed in the church of 
 Fiankley, and another in that of Hales Owen, where his 
 descendants purchased a good estate. He married, and 
 had three sons, William, Richard, and Thomas ; Richard, 
 bred to the law, became eminent in that profession, and it 
 was for his use that the Judge drew up his celebrated Trea- 
 tise on Tenures or Titles, which will probably hand his 
 name down to the latest posterity. The Judge's third son, 
 Thomas, was knighted by Henry VII. for taking Lambert
 
 35 
 
 Simnel, the pretended Earl of Warwick. His eldest son 
 and successor, Sir William Lyttleton, after living many 
 years in great splendour at Frankley, died in 1508; and 
 from this branch the celebrated Lord Lyttelton, of Frankley, 
 county of Worcester, who was created a Baron of Great 
 Britain, Nov. 1756, derived his pedigree. 
 
 The memory of Judge Lyttleton is preserved by his " Te- 
 nures ;" and the various editions through which this book has 
 passed, are the best evidence of its worth. Dr. Middleton 
 supposes the first edition to have been that printed in French, 
 by Letton and Machlinia, near the church of All Saints, or 
 All Hallows, in London, without date ; and he thinks that 
 it was put to press by the author himself in 1481, the year 
 he died : but Lord Coke supposes the French edition in 
 folio, printed without date at Rouen, by W. Le Tailleur, for 
 R. Pinson, to have been the first. The point however has 
 not yet been settled, and perhaps cannot now be settled with 
 precision. That it was often reprinted is a matter of less 
 doubt : the editions from 1539 to 1639 only, amount to 
 twenty-four. The original composition of this celebrated 
 work is justly esteemed as the principal pillar on which the 
 superstructure of the law of real property in this kingdom is 
 supported ; and the valuable " Commentary" of Lord Coke 
 has uniformly been considered, by the most eminent law- 
 yers, as the result and repository of all his learning on the 
 subjects there treated. Of this work there was a republica- 
 tion in folio 1788, which, independent of the valuable anno- 
 tations of Lord Hale and the Lord Chancellor Nottingham, 
 has been greatly improved by the learning and indefatigable 
 labours of Mr. Hargrave and Mr. Butler. There was a 
 book written in the reign of Edward III. which is called 
 " Old Tenures," to distinguish it from Littleton's Book. 
 It gives an account of the various tenures by which land was 
 holden, the nature of estates, and some other incidents relat- 
 ing to landed property. It is a very scanty tract, and has the 
 merit of having led the way to Lyttleton's famous work.
 
 30 
 
 Thomas Alcock, Archdeacon of Worcester, 1483, 
 Was living in 1527, being Archdeacon of Ely also. 
 
 Robert Morton, Bishop of Worcester, I486, 
 
 Archdeacon of York, Gloucester, and Winchester, pro- 
 moted by the Pope to this see : he was nephew to John 
 Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1479 he was made 
 Master of the Rolls. He obtained a charter of pardon from 
 King Henry VII. in 1496 — 7, of all treasons, &c. &c. This 
 indeed was but a necessary security against the odious pro- 
 ceedings of the harpies of that reign, who marked out the 
 old servants of the Crown for victims of their avarice, and 
 worried them with frivolous indictments, enforced with out- 
 lawries and confiscations. This grant releases the Bishop 
 from suffering any penalties for his acceptance of the Pope's 
 provisory bull. He died the beginning of May following, 
 and was buried in the nave of St. Paul's Church, London ; 
 though in his will, in which he gave twenty marks to the 
 Cathedral of Worcester, he directed to be interred in the 
 cemetry where he should die. His memory is revered in 
 history on account of his having been instrumental in forming 
 the union of the Houses of York and Lancaster, 
 
 William Canynge, 
 The builder of Redcliffe Church, Bristol, was ordained 
 Deacon, April 2, 1468, at Northwic, in the parish of Claines, 
 Worcestershire, and Priest, April 6, the same year ; having 
 gone through the several orders of acolyte, sub-deacon, dea- 
 con and priest in about seven months. He was five times 
 Mayor of Bristol, at the same time that he was Dean of 
 Westbury ; and for his benefit, (ex parte) or rather at his 
 request, the rectory Mas appropriated to the college there, 
 for he declares, that the revenues of the church are not suffi- 
 cient to support the burdens imposed on them. He is said 
 to have been ordained priest to avoid a marriage, proposed
 
 37 
 
 by King Edward, between him and a lady of the Widevilc 
 family. Of this very famous man see a further account in 
 Mr. Tyrwhitt's introductory account of Rowley's Poems, 
 and Barrett's Bristol. 
 
 Richard, 
 Who writes himself Episcopus Oleven, (being suffragan 
 to the Bishop of Worcester, as it seems) was a Dominican 
 or Black Friar, in Warwick, and was educated among the 
 Black Friars in Oxford, to whose fraternity he gave, at the 
 time of his death, £6. to pray for him. He died in Sept. 
 1502, and was, according to his last will, which Wood had 
 seen, buried in the choir of the church belonging to the 
 Black Friars in the city of Worcester. — See Wood. 
 
 John Gigles, or de Liliis, Bishop of Worcester, 
 An Italian, of the country of Lucca, the Pope's Questor, 
 or Collector for the Apostolic Chamber in England. — 
 He was Rector of Swaffham, in Norfolk, St. Michael's, 
 Crooked-lane, London, and of Laneham, in Suffolk, Pre- 
 bendary of London and Wells, Archdeacon of London and 
 Gloucester, the King's Solicitor in the Court of Rome, and 
 Dean of Wells, 1478. He was advanced to the see of 
 Worcester by Pope Alexander. He had an extraordinary 
 commission from Innocent VIII. authorizing him to pass 
 the most heinous offences and all sorts of crimes, and to 
 dispense with the non-restitution of goods acquired by any 
 sort of fraud and cozenage, on condition that part of such 
 gain should be given to the Pope's commissaries or their 
 deputies. He died 1498, and was buried in the English 
 College at Rome. 
 
 Sylvester Gigles, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Son of the brother of John Gigles, had also the merit of 
 being Collector of the Apostolic Chamber, and for his use- 
 fulness in that employment was by the Pope presented to 
 the see of Worcester. In 1512 he was sent by King Henry
 
 38 
 
 VIII. to the Lateran Council, and died at Rome, 1521. 
 In St. Michael's Church at Lucca there is a monument to 
 his memory. 
 
 Sir Reginald Bray, 
 A Native of this county, was the second son of Sir 
 Richard Bray, one of the Privy Council to King Henry 
 VI. which Sir Richard lies buried in the north aisle of Wor- 
 cester Cathedral.* One of this family (which were Lords of 
 Braie, or Bray, in Normandy) came with William the Con- 
 queror into England, where they flourished in the counties 
 of Northampton and Warwick ; but Edmond, the father of 
 Sir Richard, who was Privy Counsellor to Henry VI. is 
 styled of Eton Bray, in the county of Bedford, which county 
 they had represented in Parliament in 18th Edw. I. and 6th 
 Edw. II. Sir Reginald Bray, the subject of this memoir, 
 was born in the parish of St. John's, Bedwardine, Worcester- 
 shire, and, according to Dr. Nash,f in 1st Richard III. 1483, 
 this Reginald had a general pardon granted to him, proba- 
 bly on account of his having taken part with Henry VI. to 
 whose cause he had a personal as well as hereditary attach- 
 ment; being Receiver General to Sir Henry Stafford, who 
 married Margaret Countess of Richmond, mother to the 
 Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII. ; he con- 
 tinued in her service after the death of Sir Henry, and was 
 put in trust for her dowry, on her marriage to Thomas, Earl 
 of Derby. When the Duke of Buckingham had concerted 
 with Morton, Bishop of Ely (then his prisoner at Brecknock, 
 in Wales), the marriage of the Earl of Richmond with the 
 Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV. and the 
 Earl's advancement to the throne, the Bishop recommended 
 
 * Richard Bray, M. D. Physician to King Henry VI. and his wife, were 
 buried in the middle aisle of Worcester Cathedral, and at their feet five of 
 their children. Sir Reginald Bray, the celebrated courtier temp. Henry VII. 
 was also his son. Appendix to Green, p. xxiiii. 
 
 + The Author of the Beauties of England and Wales, had made Sir Regi- 
 nald Bray a native of Great Malvern, and of St. John's, Bedwardiue.
 
 39 
 
 Sir Reginald for the transaction of the affair with the 
 Countess, telling the Duke he had an old friend with her, 
 a man sober, secret, and well witted, called Reginald Bray, 
 whose prudent policy he had known to have compassed 
 matters of great importance : and accordingly wrote to him 
 in Lancashire, where he then was with the Countess, at the 
 mansion of Sir Thos. Stanley, her third husband, to come to 
 Brecknock with all speed. He readily obeyed the sum- 
 mons, arrived at Brecknock Castle, where Morton was con- 
 fined in the custody of the Duke ; the plan was submitted 
 to him, and he was directed to return to Lancashire to im- 
 part the important secret to the Countess ; and engaged Sir 
 Giles Daubeney, (afterwards Lord Daubeney,) Sir Jolin 
 Cheney, Richard Guildford, Esq. and many other gentle- 
 men of note, to take part with Henry. It is unnecessary to 
 recapitulate the events connected with Bosworth Field, so 
 fatal to the ambition and life of the usurping Richard ; but 
 it must not be omitted, that the activity and address of Sir 
 Reginald obtained the reward it merited. He gradually 
 rose in great favour with the King afterwards, who eminently 
 unci munificently rewarded his services. His attachment to 
 that Prince was sincere and unremitted ; and such were his 
 prudence and abilities that he never forfeited the confidence 
 he had acquired, during an attendance of 17 years on the 
 most suspicious monarch of his time. He was made a 
 Knight Banneret, probably at the battle of Bosworth, a 
 Knight of the Bath at the King's coronation, and afterwards 
 a Knight of the Garter. In the first year of the King's reign 
 he had a grant of the Constableship of the Castle of Oakham, 
 (Ockinham) in Rutlandshire, and was appointed joint Chief 
 Justice, with the Lord Fitzwalter, of all the Forests south of 
 Trent, and chosen of the Privy Council. After this he was 
 appointed High Treasurer, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster, and High Steward of the University of Oxford. — 
 It is curious to remark, that an office now so much sought 
 after, was then pressed upon the acceptor ; for there is a 
 letter, under the common seal, notifying the election, and
 
 40 
 
 earnestly praying him to accept the office with one to Dr. 
 Mayou, intreating him to use his interest with Sir Reginald 
 to accept it — copied in the Register Book of Letters, and 
 the schools at Oxford, and also a letter of thanks for his ac- 
 cepting the office, and for a donation of 40 marks towards 
 building St. Mary's Church. At the Queen's coronation, 
 the Duchess of Norfolk, &c. sat at one side table, at the 
 other, Lady Ferrars, of Chartley, Lady Bray, &c. At the 
 christening of Prince Arthur, Sir Reginald bore a rich salt 
 of gold, which was given by the Earl of Derby : he was 
 amongst the Knights Bannerets, when Henry, the Kiug's 
 second son, was created Duke of York, in 14Q4. In the 
 7th year of the King, he by indenture covenanted to serve 
 him in his wars beyond sea, one whole year, with 12 men, 
 himself accompted, each having his custrall and page, 24 
 demy lances, 77 archers on horseback, 231 archers, and 
 Lilies on foot 24. In the 10th year he had a grant for life 
 of the Isle of Wight, Castle of Carisbrook, and the Manors 
 of Swainston, Brixton, Thorley, and Welaw, in that Isle, at 
 the rent of £308. 6s. 8d. Camden mentions the grant of 
 the Isle of Wight at the rent of 300 marks. In June, 1497, 
 he was at the battle of Blackheath, when the Lord Audley, 
 having joined the Cornish Rebels, was taken prisoner ; on 
 whose execution and attainder, his manor of Shire Vachery, 
 and Cranley, in Surry, with a large estate there, was given to 
 Sir Reginald. He received many other marks of the King's 
 bounty and favour, and died Aug. 5, 1503, possessed of a 
 very great estate ; notwithstanding which, and his activity as 
 a minister under a monarch whose love of money was the 
 cause of great and just complaints amongst the people, 
 historians call him the father of his country, a sage and 
 grave person, a fervent lover of justice, and one who 
 would often admonish the King when he did any thing 
 contrary to justice or equity. That he should do this, 
 and the King continue his favour, is an ample proof of 
 the sense which his sovereign entertained of his services 
 and abilities. He appears to have taken great delight in
 
 41 
 
 architecture,* and to have had no small skill in it, as he had a 
 principal concern and direction in building Henry 7th's chapel 
 in Westminster Abbey, of which he had the credit of beina; the 
 draughtsman, the first stone of which he laid in conjunction 
 with Bishop Islip, in 1502 ; he was also concerned in finishing 
 and bringing to perfection St. George's Chapel at Windsor, 
 to which, succeeding Bishop Beauchamp as superintendent, 
 he was a liberal benefactor in his life time, and for the com- 
 pletion of which he made further provision by his will. His 
 arms, crest, and device, (a hemp break,) are exhibited on 
 the ceiling of the chapel at Windsor in many places ; and 
 in the middle of the south aisle is a spacious chapel, erected 
 by him, and still called by his name, in which also, by his 
 own particular direction, he was interred, though his execu- 
 tors neglected to erect a tomb for him as he desired : per- 
 haps they thought his merit would be the most lasting monu- 
 ment. It is supposed that he is buried under the stone 
 which covers Dr. Waterland ; for, on opening the vault for 
 that gentleman, who died in ] 740, a leaden coffin of ancient 
 form and make was found, which by other appearances also 
 was judged to be that of Sir Reginald, and was, by order of 
 the Dean, immediatelv arched over with creat decencv. He 
 was of great devotion, according to the piety of the times, 
 and a bountiful friend in his life time to many churches. In 
 one of the letters of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 
 John, Abbot of Newminster, in Northumberland, addresses 
 him as founder of the monastery of Pipwell in Northamp- 
 tonshire j but this must be on account of some donations, 
 
 * In the account of Great Malvern, inserted in the Beauties of England 
 and Wales, Sir Reginald Bray is mentioned as the builder, or rather re-edifyer 
 of Malvern Abbey Church, in nearly its present form. We have adopted this 
 idea in our History of Malvern, which was probably originally taken from 
 Manning's Survey of the County of Surrey, a book to which we have not been 
 able to gain access. Win. Bray, Esq. the contributor of Bray's Life, in the 
 Biog. Brit, is silent on this head ; am! Dr. Nash says, he was a great benefac- 
 tor to the northern Chapel of St. John's (TJedwardine'), and to the Priory 
 Church of Creat Malvern, in the latter of which he placed the portraits of 
 Henrv VII. &c. &c.
 
 42 
 
 as that house was founded by Williarti Boutevileyr, in 
 1 143. In 1494, being then High Steward of Oxford, he 
 gave forty marks to repair the Church of Saint Mary,* in 
 a window of which were the figures of him and his wife,+ 
 kneeling, their coats of arms on their backs, bearing in a 
 shield argent a chevron between three eagles' legs erased, 
 sable, remaining in 1584. The Dean and Chapter of Lin- 
 coln, in recompence for his services to them, received him 
 and my Lady his wife to be brother and sister of their Chap- 
 ter, and to be partakers of all suffrages, prayers, masses, 
 fastings, alms-deeds, and other good deeds, whatever they 
 may be, done in the said church, both in their lives and after 
 their decease. The Prior of the Cathedral Church of Dur- 
 ham received him in like manner. In the south window of 
 the Priory Church of Great Malvern were the portraits of 
 Henry VII. Elizabeth his Queen, Prince Arthur, and Sir 
 Reginald Bray ; behind them were the portraits of John 
 Savage and Thomas Lovell, Esqrs. with their coats of arms 
 
 * The University of Oxford seems to have placed great dependance upon 
 Sir Reginald's integrity and attention to their interests, as there is a letter ex- 
 tant lo him expressing their fear of some encroachments being made upon their 
 privileges, by offences committed within their limits being carried before an- 
 other jurisdiction for trial, and most earnestly entreating him to preserve their 
 ancient rights. To this his interest seems to have been fully sufficient, for 
 when the new Chancellor, in 1500, re-appointed Sir Reginald to his office of 
 High Steward (it expiring at that period on the death or cession of each Chan- 
 cellor), and in that capacity presented him to the King for his approbation. 
 Henry in his letters patent not only accepted the nomination, but also recog- 
 nized the franchises of the University as including the right of hearing the 
 criminal causes of scholars and other privileged persons, allowing him and his 
 other assessors, or any two of them, to proceed in the common form against 
 offenders. After this he had many grants, particularly of the Farm in the 
 Isle of Wight, the Chamberlainship of the County Palatine of Chester, and 
 the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster. That he must have made a 
 good and patriotic, use of all these favours, appears from his not having made 
 himself any enemies, at least of consequence sufficient to be recorded by his 
 biographers; it is also more fully proved by existing monuments of his taste 
 for the fine arts. 
 
 + Catherine, daughter of Nicholas Hussee, (by whom he. left no issue,) a 
 descendant of the ancient Barons of that name.
 
 4 
 
 o 
 
 on their armour, and the following words underneath — 
 " Orate pro bono statu nobilissiini et exceilentissimi Regis 
 Henrici Septimi et Elizabethe Regine, ac Domini Arthuri, 
 Principis fdii eorundem, nee non praedilectissnne consortis 
 sue, et suorum trium militum." Vide Chambers's ^NTal- 
 vern, p. 42. The portraits of the King and Sir Reginald 
 remained in 1774, and are engraved in Mr. Strutt's View of 
 the Arms and Habits of the English, vol. '2, p. 60. They 
 have since been broken and destroyed. Sir Reginald had 
 no issue, and his elder brother John having only one daugh- 
 ter, married to Sir William Sandes, afterwards Lord Sandes 
 of the Vine, he left the bulk of his fortune to Edmund, eldest 
 son of his youngest brother John, (for he had two brothers 
 of that name). This Edmund was summoned to Parliament 
 in 1.330, as Baron of Eaton Bray; but his son John Lord 
 Bray dying without issue in 1537, the estate was divided 
 amongst six daughters of Edmund. See Biog. Brit. Chur- 
 tou's Lives of the Founders of Brazenose College, p. '203. 
 Sir Reginald left very considerable estates to Edward and 
 Reginald, younger brothers of Edmund.* From Edmund 
 the manor of Shire Vachery and Cranley, above-mentioned, 
 lias descended to the Rev. George Brav, who was owner in 
 1778. Reginald settled at Barrington, in Gloucestershire, 
 where the male line of that branch became extinct about 60 
 years ago. 
 
 His character by Hollinshed is honourably and simply 
 expressed — he calls him " a verie father of his countrie, and 
 for his high wisdome and singular love to justice well wor- 
 thie to bear that title. If anie thing had beene donne amisse 
 contrarie to law and equitie, he would after an humble sort 
 plamelie blame the King, and give him good advertisement, 
 that he should not only reforme the same but alsoe be moie 
 circumspecte in anie other like case." Bacon says of him, 
 " that he was noted to have had with the King the greatest 
 treedom of any counsellor, but it was but a freedom the bet- 
 
 x See an extract from the will of Sir Reginald in Kippis's Biog Diet.
 
 44 
 
 ter to set off flattery." Further particulars may be found 
 in Manning's Survey of the County of Surrey. 
 
 Stephen Gardiner, Archdeacon of Worcester, 1500. 
 
 This celebrated Bishop is mentioned in this work from 
 the situation he held in the Cathedral Church of Worcester. 
 See his Life in the several Biographical Dictionaries. 
 
 Julius de Medicis, or Julio de Medici, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 
 A Florentine, promoted to this bishopric by Pope Leo 
 X. to whom he was nearly related, being his brother's son, 
 whom, from a soldier of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, 
 he had raised to be a Cardinal, Priest, and Vice Chancellor 
 of the Roman Church, Administrator thereof, both in spiri- 
 tuals and temporals, Archbishop of Narbonne and of Flo- 
 rence. He held this see but one year; for, upon the death 
 of his uncle Pope Leo, fearing that Adrian, the new Pontiff, 
 (who was an Englishman) should think him too great a plu- 
 ralist, he resigned the mitre of Worcester, September, 152*2. 
 Julius de Medicis was chosen Pope after the deatli of Adrian 
 VI. and took the name of Clement VII. ; he died 1534. 
 
 Hugh Inge, or Ynge, 
 Prebendary of Aust, in the church of Westburv, in the 
 diocese of Worcester, was born at Shepton Mallet, Somer- 
 setshire, educated at Wvkham's School, and made Perpetual 
 Fellow of New College, Oxford, 1484; he died 1528. See 
 a further account in Wood's Athena;. 
 
 Jerome de Ghinucciis, or de Nugutiis, Bishop 
 
 of Worcester, 
 An Italian.* He procured the judgment of the Italian 
 Divines against the marriage of Henry VIII. with Queen 
 Catherine, which assisted him materially in becoming Car- 
 
 * As were three of his predecessors, nor was an Englishman promoted t» 
 this see until the Pope's authority was abolished.
 
 45 
 
 dinal. After the papal supremacy had been abrogated in 
 England, this Bishop, because he did not reside in his dio- 
 cese, was deprived by Act of Parliament, 1534 — 5. 
 
 Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, 1535. 
 This worthy Prelate was a celebrated preacher at Court 
 in the reign of Edward VI. when there were no sermons but 
 in the principal churches, and upon some particular fasts and 
 festivals. Worn out with labour, old age, and imprisonment, 
 he suffered martyrdom, being burnt at the stake, October 16, 
 1555. He was a native of Thurcaston, in Leicestershire, 
 and was born in 1470. Besides writing several sermons, 
 Bishop Latimer had a principal hand in composing the 
 " Homilies," in which he was assisted by Cranmer ; and at 
 the dissolution of the religious houses he endeavoured, but 
 in vain, to spare the revenues of Great Malvern, and to 
 apply them to the purposes of education. 
 
 Clement Lychfeld, 
 A pious and zealous Monk of the order of St. Benedict, 
 in the monastery of Evesham, Worcestershire. He Mas 
 afterwards Abbot of that place, and continued there till to- 
 wards the dissolution of religious houses, with a resolution 
 not to surrender his house for a profane use, but was at length, 
 by the tricks of Thomas Cromwell, Secretary of State, per- 
 suaded to resign his pastoral staff to Hawford, alias Ballard. 
 Clement was a great benefactor to Evesham, and died in 
 1540. See Wood's Fast. p. 6. 
 
 William More, 
 
 Was Lord Prior of Worcester, which honourable place 
 he resigned in 1535: but was not the same person as one 
 Bishop More. For an account of several eminent men of 
 his name, see Wood's Athenae. 
 
 Andrew Wiiitmaye, 
 Born in Gloucestershire, and Suffragan to the Bishop of
 
 46 
 
 Worcester in the reign of Henry VIII. ; he died in 1546. 
 See Wood's Athena:. 
 
 Richard Kydermynster, or Kidderminsteb, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, Mas horn towards the latter 
 end of the 15th century. When he was about 15 years of 
 a^e, he was received into the monastery of Benedictine 
 Monks at Winchcombc, in Gloucestershire ; whence, being 
 professed one of that order, he was sent to Gloucester Mall, 
 Oxford, which was then a school for young Benedictines : 
 after studying there four years he was re-called to his inonas- 
 tery, and made principal chaplain; and his good conduct 
 procured him to be chosen Abbot in 1487- He had con- 
 siderable reputation as a scholar and a promoter of learning, 
 and was an exact observer and reformer of the discipline of 
 his house. In one of his visits to Oxford, which were fre- 
 quent, he took the degree of D. D. in 1500. He also visited 
 Rome on some affair belonging to his order, and on his re- 
 turn acquired much reputation as a preacher in the beginning 
 of the reign of Henry VIII. In 1515, when there was a 
 great debate between the clergy and the laity concerning 
 exceptions, some asserting that what is called the "benefit 
 of Clergy" should not be extended but to the higher orders, 
 our Abbot contended that the minor or inferior orders should 
 also be included. He died in 15.01, leaving " Tractatus 
 contra doctrinam Lutheri," 1521, one of the first attacks on 
 that reformer's doctrines from this country ; but he was 
 more known for his History of the Foundation of Winch- 
 combe Monastery, a list of its abbots, and its charters and 
 privileges ; MSS. which have been partly lost. See a life of 
 him in Wood's Ath. Ox. vol. 1, edited by Bliss ; Dodd's Chr. 
 Hist. vol. 1 ; Wood's Annals; also Monthly Mag. for July, 
 1811, p. 351. 
 
 Henry Holbech, alias Ranbes, Dean of Worcester, 
 Originally presided as Prior over the seminary of Black 
 Monks in Cambridge. His election of Dean was enjoined
 
 47 
 
 by letters to the Convent from Henry VIII, In March 1538 
 he was consecrated suffragan to the see of Worcester, by the 
 title of Bishop of Bristol, and held this dignity with his prior- 
 ship. Priories were now at their period. By his surrender 
 of this convent and all its appurtenances to the King, Jan. 
 18, 1540, monks were displaced from the church of Wor- 
 cester, of which they had been possessed near 570 years, and 
 the King settled in it prebendaries or secular canons in their 
 stead, over whom Holbech, changing his title, presided as 
 the first Dean. In 1544 he was made Bishop of Rochester, 
 and held the rectory of Bromsgrove with the chapel of Nor- 
 ton in commendam with that preferment ; he was translated 
 to Lincoln 1547, where he died A. D. 1551. 
 
 John Barlow, M. A. Dean of Worcester, 1544, 
 
 But was deprived when Queen Mary came to the Crown, 
 for being a Protestant. 
 
 Peter Vannes, Archdeacon of Worcester, 1534, 
 Is also sometimes called Vaynor ; he was a native of the 
 city of Lucca in Italy, and named bv Leland among the fa- 
 mous men living in the reign of Henry VIII. who sent him 
 to Rome, with Stephen Gardiner and others, to solicit a 
 divorce from Queen Catherine. He was also much in favour 
 with Cardinal W^olsey, with whom he corresponded while at 
 Rome respecting the divorce of Catherine. See a long ac- 
 count of Vannes in Wood's Athens, vol. 1, pages 65, 399, 
 and 400, notes, 8cc. new edition. 
 
 John Bell, Bishop of Worcester, 1539, 
 A Native of this county, was educated at Baliol College, 
 Oxford, and spent some time in Cambridge, to both which 
 places he was a benefactor, particularly to the former, en- 
 dowing it for the maintenance of two scholars born in the 
 diocese of Worcester. This was a short time previous to 
 his death, when he gave the tenements, lands, and moveables 
 which he possessed in the parish of Clerkenwell, Loudon,
 
 48 
 
 for the support of two Exhibitioners born within the diocese 
 over which he presided. He was Rector of Weston-Subege, 
 near Campden, Archdeacon of Gloucester, Prebendary of 
 Lincoln and Lichfield, Warden of the Collegiate Church of 
 Stratford-upon-Avon, and Vicar-General of the Bishop of 
 Worcester from 1.318 to 1526. On his recommendation to 
 King Henry VIII. he made him his envoy to foreign princes 
 and one of his Council, and as a reward for his singular ser- 
 vice in defence of his divorce from Queen Catherine he gave 
 him this bishopric, anno 1539, which he enjoyed not long, 
 for he resigned it in 1543, but for what cause is unknown, 
 and retired to a private life at Clerkenwell, where he died 
 1556, and was interred in St. James's Church there; he was 
 succeeded in this see by Nicholas Heath. According to the 
 extract made by Mr. Nichols, Bell was deprived of his 
 bishopric. The funeral of a deprived Bishop in 1556 is 
 thus described in Strype's Memorials, vol. 3, p. 305 — " Dr. 
 Bell, some time Bishop of Worcester, was buried with due 
 respect Aug. 13, at Clerkenwell, with a sermon preached by 
 Dr. Harpsiield ; he was put into his coffin, like a bishop, 
 with the mitre and other poniificalibus ; his funeral was illu- 
 minated with two white branches, two dozen of staff torches, 
 and four great tapers." His effigy, in pontificalibus, was 
 placed over his tomb, and is engraved in Malcolm's Londi- 
 nium Redivivum, vol. 3, p. 212 ; the inscription was — 
 
 " Contegit hoc marmor Doctorem nomine Bellum. 
 
 Qui bene tam rexit prasulis officium 
 
 Moribus ingenio vitae pietate vigebat 
 
 Laudatus cunctis cullus et eloquio. 
 
 A. D. 1556, die Aug. 11. 
 
 William Woddysbury, or Weddesbury. 
 A supplication was made in 1518 fortius person, who was 
 a Monk of the order of St. Benedict, for a degree ; he was 
 elected Lord Prior of Worcester 1515, and dying in 1518, 
 was buried at Rome in the cell of St. Thomas a Becket. See 
 his epitaph in Cole. MS. Collections. Wood's Fast. p. 46.
 
 49 
 
 Thomas Hanyball, or Hannyball, Chancellor of 
 Worcester, 1541, 
 In 1522 was living in Rome, in quality of the King of 
 England's (Henry VIII.) Orator, and in that of Agent or 
 Factor to Cardinal Wolsey ; to the last of which he often 
 gave account, by letters, of the affairs of Rome. See a fur- 
 ther account of this person in Wood's Fasti, p. 39. 
 
 Sir Thomas White, 
 The avowed patron of scholars, and a great benefactor to 
 the city of Bristol, was also a benefactor to the city of Wor- 
 cester. (Vide Chambers's History of Worcester, p. 278.) 
 He was born in 1492. Mr. Gutch, on the authority of 
 Fuller, determines Rickmansworth to have been the place 
 of his nativity ; but, according to the inscription at the top and 
 sides of the frame which holds his picture, at Oxford, and 
 also on that of his picture at Leicester, he is said to have 
 been born at Reading, where he had at first determined to 
 build his College. He was educated at Merchants-Tailors' 
 school, apprenticed to a silk-merchant, and in this business 
 gained so large a fortune as enabled him to purchase the 
 Benedictine College in Oxford, called Gloucester Hall, and 
 founded it by that name ; it has since been advanced to a 
 College, by the name of Worcester. He was the sole foun- 
 der of St. John's College, on which he bestowed his Hall. 
 He was elected Lord Mayor of London, and performing 
 eminent services towards suppressing the rebellion headed 
 by Sir Thos. Wyatt, he received the honour of knighthood. 
 He married two wives, (the latter of whom survived him,) 
 and died at Oxford, Feb. 11, 1566, in his 74th year. See 
 the last letter he wrote, addressed to his College, in Acker- 
 mann's History of Oxford, vol.2, p. 125. In 1542 he gave 
 to the Corporation of Coventry £ 1000, &c. &c. The Master 
 and Wardens of the Tailors' Company are his executors, and 
 for the performance of their trust, was bequeathed to them 
 £40 a-year. To the Mayor, Recorder, and 10 Aiderinen 
 
 H
 
 of the city of Worcester, Gs. 8d. each for ever, for their 
 trouble, and to the Steward and Town Clerk, for bonds, 
 &c. 20s. annually ; so that no charge might be made to 
 those who received his bounty!* 
 
 Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London. 
 Of the birth of this man, so proverbial for his cruelty, we 
 have two different accounts ; these we shall insert verbatim 
 from their different authorities. — The following extract was 
 copied by Dr. Nash from Anthony Wood's MSS. in the 
 Ashmolean Museum, marked f. 33. — " This is a true pedi- 
 gree of Edmund Bonner, son of George Savage, Parish 
 Priest of Denham, in Cheshire, who was a base son of John 
 Savage, (Knight of the Garter, and Privy Counsellor to Henry 
 VIII.) which Sir John was slain before Bolevn. This said 
 priest begat Edmund Bonner of one Elizabeth Frodsham, 
 (a dainty dame in her youth, and a jolly woman in her age,) 
 who being with child was sent out of Cheshire to one that 
 was called Savage, of Elmley, in Worcestershire, and when 
 she was delivered, one Bonner, a sawyer, (living with Mr. 
 Armingham, of Potters Hanley,) married her, and begat 
 
 * A cause arising out of this bequest of Sir Thomas White, was heard in 
 the Vice Chancellor's Court, November 11, 1818. — It appears that when Sir 
 Thomas directed the Trustees (the Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of 
 Bristol) to purchase lands of the yearly value of ,£120 or more, he did not 
 direct in w hat way any surplus which might arise should be disposed of : the 
 lands purchased with Sir Thomas's money increased in value very much, but 
 still the Trustees continued to pay to the respective Corporations no more than 
 was given to them by the deed, appropriating the surplus as they (the Trustees) 
 thought right ; the other Corporations, however, considering themselves en- 
 titled to an equal share of the surplus, instituted legal proceedings for the de- 
 cision of the question ; the final arguments on the case took place in Novem 
 ber, 1818, when, after hearing Counsel for two days, the Vice Chancellor 
 decided, that the Trustees were bound to give the several Corporations named 
 bv Sir Thomas an equal share of the surplus. This is a very important point 
 gained, for it is conjectured that the improved reutal of the property amounts 
 at this time (1818) to £3500 per ann. The expenses of the legal proceedings 
 were defrayed by contributions from the various Corporations interested in 
 tin- question. See the cause at length in the Worcester Journal, &c. for 
 Nov. 19, 1818.
 
 51 
 
 other children by her, and afterwards dwelled at Potters 
 Hanley, in Worcestershire ; and the said George Savage, 
 priest, begat six other children more by several women." 
 After the pedigree, by A. Wood, he proceeds in the follow- 
 ing manner : — " George Savage, the priest, thus appears to 
 have been father of Edmund Savage, alias Bonner, by Eliza- 
 beth Frodsham, which Elizabeth died at Fulham, in King 
 Edward VI's. time, when her son Bonner was prisoner in 
 the Marshalsea, who gave, notwithstanding, mourning coats 
 for her at her death. The Earl of Warwick's lands in Wor- 
 cestershire, which were given to Sir John Savage, were, 
 Elmley, Sudley, Bushley, Hanley, and Ridmarley; Elmley 
 and Sudley have each a castle and park ; Bushley and Red- 
 marley had both parks and no castles. Now when these 
 fell into the King's hands, on the conviction of Sir John 
 Savage for killing Mr. Pawlet, then Edmund Bonner did 
 change lands in Essex with the King for Bushley and Rid- 
 marley, the which two towns are now in the occupation ot 
 one Searle, and Shipside, the former is cousin to Bonner, 
 and hath Bushley, and the latter was brother-in-law to 
 Bishop Ridley, and hath Ridmarley." Thus circumstan- 
 tial, one would imagine Wood must be correct. Not- 
 withstanding, Lord Lechmere assured Mr. Strype, that 
 Bonner was certainly legitimately begotten, and born at 
 Hanley, in Worcestershire, of one Bonner, an honest poor 
 man, in a house called Bonner's place, now belonging to the 
 Lechmeres, and that his Lordship's great grand-father was 
 intimately acquainted with the Bishop, and received favours 
 from him in gratitude for some received by Bonner from the 
 Lechmeres in his childhood, particularly their putting him to 
 school. Dr. Thomas says, he saw among Mr. Lechmere's 
 papers mention made of John Bonner, 9th Henry IV. and 
 "that 18th Henry VIII. Edmund, son of William Bonner, 
 granted anacre of land in Lechmere field to Thos. Lechmere." 
 It is,however, agreed that in 1512, he was entered at Broad- 
 gate Hall in Oxford, now Pembroke College. On June 12, 
 1519, he was admitted Bachelor of the Canon, and the day
 
 52 
 
 following Bachelor of the Civil Law. He entered into 
 orders about the same time, and had some employment in 
 the diocese of Worcester; and on the 12th of July, 1525, 
 was created Doctor of the Canon Law. He was a man of 
 some, though not great learning, but distinguished himself 
 chiefly by his skill and dexterity in the management of af- 
 fairs, which made him be taken notice of by Cardinal Wol- 
 sey, who appointed him his Commissary for the Faculties ; 
 and he was with this prelate at Cawood, when he was ar- 
 rested for high treason. He enjoyed at once the livings of 
 Blaydon and Cherry Burton, in Yorkshire, Ripple, in Wor- 
 cestershire, East Dereham, in Norfolk, and the prebend of 
 Chiswick, in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul ; but the last 
 he resigned in 1539, and East Dereham in 1540. He was 
 installed Archdeacon of Leicester, Oct. 17, 1535. After 
 Wolsey's death, he got into the good graces of King Henry 
 VIII. who appointed him one of his Chaplains. On this 
 he began his career in a manner not very consistent with 
 his after conduct. He was not only a favourer of the 
 Lutherans, but a promoter of the King's divorce from Queen 
 Catherine of Spain, and of great use to his Majesty in abro- 
 gating the Pope's supremacy.* He was also in high favour 
 with Lord Cromwell, Secretary of State, by whose recom- 
 mendation he was employed as Ambassador at several courts. 
 In 1532, he was sent to Rome, along with Sir Edw. Carne, 
 to excuse King Henry's personal appearance upon the Pope's 
 citation. In 1533, he was again sent to Rome to Pope 
 Clement VII. then at Marseilles, upon the excommunication 
 decreed against King Henry VIII. on account of his di- 
 vorce, to deliver that King's appeal from the Pope to the 
 next General Council; but in this he betrayed so much of 
 that passionate temper which appeared afterwards more con- 
 spicuously, and executed the order of his master in this 
 affair with so much vehemence and fury, that the Pope talked 
 
 * All this time, says Fuller, Bonner was meek and merciful, and a great 
 Cromwellite, as appeared by some tart repartees betwixt him and Bishop 
 Gardiner. He was also a very corpulent man.
 
 53 
 
 of throwing him into a cauldron of melted lead, on which he 
 thought proper to make his escape. He was employed 
 likewise in other embassies to the Kings of Denmark and 
 France, and the Emperor of Germany. 
 
 In 1538, being then Ambassador in France, he was nomi- 
 nated to the bishopric of Hereford, Nov. 27, but before 
 consecration he was translated to London, of which he was 
 elected Bishop, Oct. 20, 1539, and consecrated April 4, 
 1540. At the time of the King's death in 1547, Bonner 
 was Ambassador with the Emperor Charles V. ; and though 
 during Henry's reign he appeared zealous against the Pope, 
 and had concurred in all the measures taken to abrogate his 
 supremacy, yet these steps he appears to have taken merely 
 as the readiest way to preferment ; for his principles, as far 
 as such a man can be said to have any, were those of popery, 
 as became evident from his subsequent conduct. 
 
 On the 1st of Sept. 1547, not many months after the ac- 
 cession of Edward VI. he scrupled to take an oath, to re- 
 nounce and deny the Bishop of Rome, and to swear obedi- 
 ence to the King, and entered a protestation against the 
 King's Injunction and Homilies. For this behaviour he was 
 committed to the Fleet, but having submitted, and recanted 
 .his protestation, was released, and for some time complied 
 outwardly with the steps taken to advance the Reformation, 
 while he used privately all means in his power to obstruct 
 it. After the Lord Thomas Seymour's death, he appeared 
 so remiss in putting the Court orders into execution, par- 
 ticularly that relating to the use of the Common Prayer 
 Book, that he was severely reproved by the Privy Council, 
 He then affected to redouble his diligence ; but still, through 
 his remissness in preaching, and his connivance at the mass 
 in several places, many people in his diocese being observed 
 to withdraw from the divine service and communion, he was 
 accused of neglect in the execution of the King's orders. 
 He was summoned before the Privy Council on the 11th 
 of Aug. when, after a reproof for his negligence, he was en- 
 joined to preach the Sunday three weeks after at Paul's
 
 54 
 
 Cross on certain articles delivered to him, and also to preach 
 there once a quarter for the future, and be present at every 
 sermon preached there, and to celebrate the communion in 
 that church on all the principal feasts, and to abide and keep 
 residence in his house in London, till he had licence from 
 the Council to depart elsewhere. On the day appointed 
 for his preaching he delivered a sermon, to a crowded audi- 
 ence, on the points assigned to him ; but he entirely omitted 
 the last article, the King's royal power in his youth; for 
 which contempt he was complained of to the king by John 
 Hooper, afterwards Bishop of Worcester ; and Archbishop 
 Cranmer, Bishop Ridley, Sir Win. Petre and Sir Thomas 
 Smith, Secretaries of State, and William May, LL. D. and 
 Dean of St. Paul's, were appointed commissioners to pro- 
 ceed against him. Appearing before them several days in 
 September, he was, after a long trial, committed to the 
 Marshalsea, # and towards the end of October deprived of 
 his bishopric. 
 
 On the accession of Queen Mary, Bonner had an oppor- 
 tunity of shewing himself in his proper character, which in- 
 deed had been hitherto but faintly concealed. lie was re- 
 stored to his bishopric by a commission, read in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral the 5th of Sept. 1553 ; and in 1554, he was made 
 Vicegerent and President of the Convocation, in the room of 
 Archbishop Cranmer, who was committed to the Tower. 
 The same year he visited his diocese, in order to root up all 
 the seeds of the Reformation, and behaved in the most furi- 
 ous and extravagant manner. At Hadham, he was exces- 
 sively angry, because the bells did not ring at his coming, 
 nor was the rood loft decked, or the sacrament hung up ; 
 he swore and raged in the church at Dr. Brieket, the Rector, 
 and, calling him knave and heretic, went to strike him, but 
 the blow fell upon Sir Thos. Joscelyn's ear, and almost stun- 
 ned him. On his return he set up the mass again, at St. 
 
 * It was at this time, says Fuller, that one jeeringly saluted him, "Good 
 morrow, Bishop quondam ,•*' to which Bonner as tartly returned, " Good 
 morrow, Knave semper"
 
 55 
 
 Paul's, before the act for restoring it was passed. The same 
 year he was in commission to turn out some of the reformed 
 Bishops. In 1555, and the following years, he was the oc- 
 casion of above 200 of innocent persons being put to death 
 in the most cruel manner,* that of burning, for their firm 
 adherence to the Protestant religion. On the 14th of Feb. 
 1555 — 6, he came to Oxford (with Thirlbey, Bishop of Ely) 
 to degrade Archbishop Cranmer, whom he used with great 
 insolence. The 29th of December following, he was put 
 into a commission to search and raze all registers and records 
 containing professions against the Pope, scrutinies taken in 
 religious houses, &c. ; and the 8th Feb. 1556 — 7, he was 
 also put into another commission, or kind of inquisition, for 
 searching after and punishing all heretics. 
 
 Upon Queen Elizabeth's accession, Bonner went to meet 
 her at Highgate, with the rest of the Bishops, but she looked 
 on him as a man stained with blood, and therefore would 
 show him no mark of her favour. For some months, how- 
 ever, he remained unmolested; but being called before the 
 Privy Council on the 30th of May, 1559, he refused to take 
 the oath of allegiance and supremacy, for which reason only, 
 as it appears, he was deprived a second time of his bishop- 
 ric the 29th June following, and committed to the Marshal- 
 sea. After having lived in confinement ten years, he died 
 Sept. 5, 1569, and three days after he Mas buried at midnight, 
 in St. George's church-yard, Southwark,i" to prevent any 
 disturbance that might have been made by the citizens, who 
 hated him extremely. He had stood excommunicated seve- 
 ral years, and might have been denied christian burial ; but 
 of this no advantage was taken. 
 
 As to his character, he was a violent, furious, and passionate 
 
 * It is supposed that he condemned to the flames no less than 200 persons 
 in three years, besides torturing others. 
 
 + Bishop Godwin says, he was buried in Barking (All-hallows) Church- 
 yard, among thieves and murderers; being, saith Fuller, a mistake surely in 
 the printer, this church-yard being on the other side 0/ the Thames, and no- 
 thing relating to the Marshalsea— but perhaps Godwin, after all, is correct.
 
 56 1 
 
 man, and extremely cruel in his nature. In his person he 
 was very fat and corpulent, the consequence of excessive 
 gluttony, to which he was much addicted. He was a great 
 master of the canon law, being excelled in that faculty by 
 very few of his time, and well skilled in politics, but under- 
 stood little of divinity. 
 
 Several Pieces were published under his name, of which 
 the following is a list : — 1 . Preface to the Oration of Stephen 
 Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, concerning True Obedience, 
 printed at London, in Latin, 1534 — 5, and at Hamburgh, 
 1536, 8vo. translated into English by Michael Wood, a zeal- 
 ous Protestant, with a Bitter Preface to the Reader, and a 
 Postscript, Roan, 1553, 8vo. ; it is also inserted in J. Fox's 
 Book of Martyrs. In the Preface, Bonner speaks much in 
 favour of King Henry VIII's. marriage with Anne Boleyne, 
 and against the tyranny exercised by the Bishop of Rome 
 in this kingdom. 2. Several Letters to the Lord Cromwell. 
 3. A Declaration to Lord Cromwell, describing to him the 
 evil behaviour of Stephen, (Bishop of Winchester,) with spe- 
 cial Causes therein contained wherefore and why he misliked 
 of him. 4. Letter of his about the Proceedings at Rome, 
 concerning the King's Divorce from Catherine of Arragon. 
 5. An Admonition and Advertisement given by the Bishop 
 of London to all Readers of the Bible in the English Tongue. 
 G. Injunctions given by Bonner, Bishop of London, to his 
 Clergy (about preaching with the names of books prohibited.) 
 7. Letter to Mr. Lechmere. 8. Responsum et Exhortatis, 
 Lond. 1553, Svo. Answer and Exhortation to the Clergy 
 in praise of Priesthood ; spoken by the Author, in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, the l6th Oct. 1553, after a Sermon preached be- 
 fore the Clergy by John Harpesfield. 9- A Letter to Mr. 
 Lechmere, l6th Sept. 1553. 10. Articles to be enquired 
 of in the General Visitation of Edmund Bishop of London, 
 exercised by him in 1554 in the City and Diocese of Lon- 
 don, &c. To ridicule them, John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, 
 wrote a book, entitled, "A Declaration of Edmund Bonner's 
 Articles concerning the Clergy of London Diocese, whereby
 
 57 
 
 that execrable Antichrist is in his right Colours revealed ;" 
 1554 and 156l, 8vo. 11. A profitable and necessary Doc- 
 trine, containining an Exposition on the Creed, Seven Sacra- 
 ments, Ten Commandments, the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, 
 with certain Homilies adjoining thereto, for the Instruction 
 and Information of the Diocese of London, Lond. 1554 — 5, 
 4to. This book was drawn up by his Chaplains, John 
 Harpesfielcl and Henry Pendleton; the former part of it, 
 which is a catechism, is mostly taken out of the Institution 
 of a Christian Man, set out by King Henry VIII. only 
 varied in some points. 12. Several Letters, Declarations, 
 Arguiugs, Disputes, &c. of his are extant in J. Fox's Book 
 of Martyrs, vol. last. 13. His Objections against the Pro- 
 cess of Robert Horn, Bishop of Winchester, who had ten- 
 dered the Oath of Supremacy to him a second time, are 
 preserved by Mr. Strype, in his Annals of the Reformation. 
 
 The character of Bishop Bonner is so familiar to our 
 readers as to require little illustration, or any addition to the 
 preceding accounts from our several Biographical Diction- 
 aries ; yet some notice may be taken of the defence set up 
 by the Roman Catholic Historians. — Dodd, alluding to his 
 cruelties, says, that " seeing he proceeded according to the 
 statutes then in force, and by the direction of the legislative 
 power, he stands in need of no apology on that score." But 
 the history of the times proves that Bonner's character can- 
 not be protected by a reference to the statutes, unless his 
 vindicator can likewise prove that he had no hand in enact- 
 ing those statutes ; and even if these were conceded, his 
 conduct will not appear less atrocious, because, not content 
 with the sentence of the law carried into execution by the 
 accustomed officers, Bonner took frequent opportunities to 
 manifest the cruelty of his disposition by anticipating or ag- 
 gravating the legal punishments. His diabolism on these 
 occasions are too abominable to insert. The fact is, that 
 Bonner was constitutionally cruel, and delighted in the suf- 
 ferings he inflicted. Granger very justly says, that " Nature 
 seemed to have designed him for an executioner ;" and as, 
 
 i
 
 58 
 
 wherever he could, he performed the character, how can he 
 be defended by an appeal to the statutes ? The most re- 
 markable circumstance in his history is, the lenity shown to 
 him after all this bloody career. 
 
 There seems reason to think that he would not even have 
 been deprived of his bishopric, had he consented to take the 
 oaths of allegiance and supremacy, a circumstance which is 
 surely very extraordinary. His compliance, had he taken 
 that step, could have been only hypocritical ; and what an 
 object it would have been to have seen the duties and power 
 of a Protestant prelate intrusted to such a monster, in that 
 diocese where so many families preserved the bitter remem- 
 brance of his cruelty. See Anth. Wood. 
 
 Roger Stanford, Prebendary of Worcester, 1541, 
 
 Called Sandford, in the modern Histories of Worcester ; 
 a Benedictine Monk of Worcester, and afterwards one of 
 the first Prebendaries there, was admitted B. A. at Oxford^ 
 May, 1515. Wood's Fasti, p. 43. 
 
 Nicholas Heath, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Was also Bishop of Rochester, Archdeacon of Stafford, 
 and chief Almoner to the King, who had given leave to the 
 Dean and Chapter to choose him. He was the first Prelate 
 on the new foundation in the see of Rochester, 1540. He 
 held the archdeaconry of Stafford and the rectories of Shore- 
 ham and Cliff, in Kent, in commendam with his bishopric ; 
 he likewise had a licence to enjoy the same privilege for five 
 years after his translation to the more valuable see of Wor- 
 cester. In 1549 — 50, refusing to subscribe the Book for 
 the making of Bishops and Priests, and disobeying the King's 
 orders for discontinuing the mass, he thereby incurred Ed- 
 ward's displeasure, was committed to the Fleet, and by royal 
 authority deprived of his office, not by the power of an 
 ecclesiastical court, but by secular delegates, three of whom 
 were civilians, and three common lawers. He was, how- 
 ever restored to his bishopric on the accession of Queen
 
 59 
 
 Mary, after she had sacrificed Bishop Hooper to her bigotry, 
 and made President of Wales, and soon after she translated 
 him to the see of York, and, upon the death of Gardiner, 
 made Heath Chancellor of England. The bull of Paul IV. 
 which confirmed his election to the archbishopric of York, 
 is the last instrument of the kind allowed in that see. 
 
 Philip Hawford, alias Ballard, 
 Or rather Ballard de Hawford, was, when very young, 
 an Abbot of Evesham; he was created an Abbot in 1539, 
 for the sole purpose of surrendering the Abbey, and all its 
 Lordships to the King: this he did Nov. 17, of the same 
 year, and was rewarded with a pension of £240 per annum, 
 and the rectory of Elmeley-Lovett ; Queen Mary gave him 
 the deanery of Worcester, in lieu of that pension. He died 
 1557, and lies buried in Worcester Cathedral. See an affect- 
 ing account of his predecessor, Clement Lechfeld, in TindaPs 
 Evesham, p. 41. 
 
 George Owen, M. D. 
 
 A Native of this county, was an eminent English Phy- 
 sician, and became probationary Fellow of Merton College, 
 Oxford, in the beginning of 1519- Having studied physic, 
 he took his Doctor's degree in that faculty, in 15'27, and soon 
 after was appointed Physcian to Henry VIII. and held the 
 same office in the two succeeding reigns. In 1544 he was 
 constituted a Fellow of the College of Physicians, and ap- 
 pears to have attained high consequence in his profession. 
 He was a witness to the will of Henry VIII. who left him a 
 legacy of £100. It is reported, that Edward VI. was 
 brought into the world by Dr. Owen's means, who per- 
 formed the Cassarean operation on his mother, Queen Jane 
 Seymour. From this circumstance, whether truly or falsely 
 related, we may conclude him to have been a practitioner in 
 midwifery, as well as in physic. 
 
 In the first year of Queen Mary, (to whom he was also 
 Physician,) he was very instrumental in obtaining an act for
 
 60 
 
 the confirmation and enlargement of the powers granted to 
 the College of Physicians. Some time after, in the same 
 reign, when a difference took place between the College of 
 Physicians and the University of Oxford, concerning the 
 admission of an illiterate person to a degree, who was re- 
 jected by the College upon their examination, Cardinal 
 Pole, then Chancellor of the University, was appealed to, 
 and obliged the University to consult Dr. Owen and Dr. 
 Thos> Huys, the Queen's Physicians, " de instituendis ra- 
 tionibus cjuibiis Oxoniensis academia in admittendis Medi- 
 cis uteretur ;" an agreement was accordingly made, which 
 the Chancellor approved, and ratified by his authority. 
 
 Dr. Owen died, Oct. 10, 1558, of an epidemic intermit- 
 tent, and was buried in St. Stephen's, Walbrook. Leland 
 intimates, that he had written several pieces on medical sub- 
 jects, but none of them were preserved. Tanner mentions 
 that he wrote a work (still extant) entitled, " A meet Diet for 
 the new Ague, set forth by Mr. Dr. Owen ;" Lond. 1558, fob 
 which was unknown to Ames, Herbert or Leland. In 1553 
 Edward VI. granted Durham College, Oxford, to our Geo. 
 Owen and Wm. Martyn, which, the following year, they sold 
 to Sir Thos. Pope, who founded Trinity College on the site. 
 Previous to this, Dr. Owen received a grant of Godstowe 
 Nunnery, with its adjoining estates, and this nunnery he 
 converted to a dwelling-house, with some alterations and 
 improvements. See Wood's Fasti, p. 78. 
 
 Richard Smith, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, was a learned popish Divine, 
 but of great fickleness in his principles. He was born in 
 1500, and educated in Oxford. In 1527 he was admitted 
 a Probationary Fellow of Merton College, took the degree 
 of M. A. in 1530, and was elected Registrar of the Univer- 
 sity the year following. He afterwards became Rector of 
 Cuxhum, Oxon, Principal of St. Alban's Hall, Divinity 
 Reader of Magdalen College, Regius Professor of Divinity, 
 and took his Doctor's Degree in that faculty. In }537, he
 
 61 
 
 was made Master of Whittington College in London, of 
 which he was deprived in the reign of Edward VI. In the 
 first year of this reign, he recanted his opinions at St. Paul's 
 Cross, yet was obliged to resign his Professorship at Oxford, 
 in which he was succeeded by the celebrated reformer Peter 
 Martyr, with whom he had afterwards a controversy. From 
 Oxford he went first to St. Andrew's in Scotland, and thence 
 to Paris, in 1550, and from Paris to Louvaine, where he was 
 complimented with the Professorship of Theology. On the 
 accession of Queen Mary, he returned to England, was re- 
 stored to his Professorship, made Canon of Christ Church, 
 and Chaplain to her Majesty. 
 
 One of his principal appearances on record was at Oxford, 
 where, when the Bishops Ridley and Latimer were brought 
 to the stake, he preached a sermon on the text, " If I give my 
 body to be burnt, and have not charity, it profiteth me no- 
 thing." This discourse, which lasted only about a quarter of 
 an hour, was replete with invectives against the two martvrs, 
 and gross assertions, which they offered to refute on the spot, 
 but were not permitted ; he was also one of the witnesses 
 against Archbishop Cranmer, who had done him many acts 
 of friendship in the preceding reign. For this conduct he 
 was deprived of all his preferments, when Queen Elizabeth 
 came to the throne, in 1559, and was committed to the cus- 
 tody of Archbishop Parker, by whose persuasion he recanted 
 part of what he had written in defence of the celibacy of the 
 clergy. He then contrived to make his escape, and went to 
 Douai, in Flanders, where he obtained the deanery of St. 
 Peter's Church, and a professorship. He died in 1563. 
 
 He wrote about 16 tracts in favour of Popery, some of 
 which were answered by Peter Martyr. A list of them may 
 be seen in Dodd, or Wood ; they are partly in Latin and 
 partly in English, the latter printed in London/ and the for- 
 mer at Louvain. His character seems to have been a sin- 
 gular one : he suffered for Popery, yet deserted it, and em- 
 braced it at last, after having expressly declared himself in 
 error. His recantations, however, we should suppose in-
 
 m 
 
 sincere, and made only to save himself. Such conduct is 
 never much respected ; and Stfype informs us, that being 
 desirous to confer with one Hawks, the latter said, " To be 
 short, I will know, whether you will recant am/ more, ere 
 I talk with you or believe you." Ath. Ox. new ed. Dodd's 
 Christ. Hist. Strype's Cranmer, and Lives of Ridley and 
 Latimer. 
 
 John Hoper, or Hooper, Bishop of Worcester, 1552, 
 Was promoted from the see of Gloucester, by King 
 Edward, who suppressed that bishopric, and made it 
 an archdeaconry dependant on Worcester, as it formerly 
 had been. He was bred in Oxford, travelled into Swit- 
 zerland, and became one of the first Non-conformists. 
 On being appointed Bishop of Gloucester, he refused to 
 wear the episcopal habit, and, as generally supposed, the 
 oath of canonical obedience to the Archbishop ; but at 
 length submitted to both, and was consecrated Bishop of 
 Gloucester. This Bishop, in the next reign, fell a sacrifice 
 to the madness of the times, and died a martyr to the Pro- 
 test religion with great fortitude, being burnt at Gloucester, 
 Feb. 9, 1555. He was a man of eminent learning, exem- 
 plary piety, unblemished morals, and of most extensive 
 charity. See Fox's Martyrs, Wood's Athena?, &.c. The 
 gateway of the cathedral church-yard, at Gloucester, over 
 which Bishop Hoper was confined, is the only gate to that 
 place now (Jan. 1819) remaining; and the house (now the 
 New Inn) from which he was taken to the stake, continues 
 nearly in the same state as when the Bishop left it. 
 
 Richard Pates, Bishop of Worcester, 
 Was a native of Oxford, and bred in that University ; he 
 was Archdeacon of Winchester, and afterwards of Lincoln. 
 He had been employed in several embassies by King Henry, 
 but in 1542 was attainted of high treason, and deprived of 
 his archdeaconry. Queen Mary preferred him to this see, 
 ia which he continued till the accession of Elizabeth, when
 
 (J3 
 
 he was deprived, and for a short time imprisoned. When 
 released he went abroad, and sat in the Council of Trent. 
 He died at Louvain, Nov. 22, 1565, a zealous Romanist, 
 but not of persecuting principles. See Wood's Athenae. 
 
 Robert Johnson, LL. B. Prebendary and Chancellor 
 
 of Worcester, 1544, 
 
 Wrote a book against Bishop Hooper, but he not pub- 
 lishing it, it was afterwards printed by Henry Joliffe — see 
 his Article. Johnson died in 1559- See more of Johnson 
 in Wood's Fasti, p. 133. 
 
 John Compton, alias Thele, or Treale, B. D. 
 . Prebendary of Worcester, 1546, 
 
 Was afterwards Chancellor of Hereford, Chaplain to 
 Henry VHI^and Warden of All Souls, Oxford. 
 
 John Wakeman, 
 A Native of this county, was a Benedictine Monk, and 
 educated for a time among those of his order in Gloucester 
 College, and afterwards became the last Abbot of Tewkes- 
 bury, and King's Chaplain in the year 1541. Sept. 26, he 
 (being then B. D.) was consecrated the first Bishop of Glou- 
 cester, where, sitting about 8 years, he died, 1549- In his 
 life time he erected a tomb for the place of his burial, in the 
 Abbey Church of Tewkesbury, in the north side of a little 
 chapel there, but was buried at Worthington, or Worming- 
 ton, in Gloucestershire ; or, as Wood believed, at Forthamp- 
 ton, in the said county, where he had a house and a private 
 chapel. 
 
 Thomas Ingmethorpe, 
 A Native of this county, was born in 1562, and matri- 
 culated as a Member of Brazeno*e College, in May, 1581. 
 He left College without having any degree conferred upon 
 him, and was afterwards made Rector of Great Stanton, or 
 Stainton, in the Bishopric of Durham, being then accounted
 
 64 
 
 eminent in the Hebrew tongue, and for his admirable me- 
 thods in teaching youth, which employment he practised 
 not only before he came to Stainton, but also afterwards in 
 his private house there, among 12 or 14 boys, till almost to 
 the time of his death, and where he was buried. Ingmethorpe 
 was the author of several sermons, see their titles in Wood's 
 Athena? ; and " A short Catechism for young Children to 
 learn, by law authorized;" Lond. Svo. 163^ 
 
 >>3. 
 
 Gilbert Bourn, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1541, 
 A Native of this county, being the son of Philip Bourn, 
 of Worcestershire, and brother to Sir John Bourn, Prin- 
 cipal Secretary of State. He became a student in the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford in 1524, Fellow of All Souls 1531, and 
 in the year after he proceeded in Arts, being then esteemed 
 a good orator and disputant. He was made first Preben- 
 dary of Worcester, after King Henry VIII. had converted 
 the prior and monks of that place into a dean and prenda- 
 ries ; and two years after was admitted to the reading of the 
 sentences, that is, to the degree of B. D. which was the high- 
 est he took in this University. About that time he became 
 Chaplain to Bishop Bonner, and a preacher against the here- 
 tics of the times. In 1549 he closed so much with the Re- 
 formation then on foot, that he became Archdeacon of 
 Bedford on the death of Dr. John Chamber, being installed 
 July 7th, 1549, and Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral; but 
 whether he kept the said dignities altogether, Wood does 
 not inform us. 
 
 In the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, he turned about, 
 and became so zealous for the Roman Catholic cause, that, 
 preaching at Paul's Cross in behalf of the said Bonner, then 
 present, against his late unjust sufferings, and against the 
 unhappy times of King Edward VI. (as he called them) he 
 so incensed the people that suddenly a great tumult arose 
 upon it ; some pelting him with stones, others crying aloud, 
 "pull him down! pull him down!" and one (who never 
 could be known; flung a dagger at his head, which after-
 
 65 
 
 Maids was found sticking in a part of the pulpit; and 
 greater had the mischief been on the occasion, if Mr. Brad- 
 ford and Mr. Rogers, two eminent preachers in the time of 
 Edward VI. and of great credit and esteem with the common 
 people, had not endeavoured to appease the enraged multi- 
 tude, and with great difficulty secured the preacher in th» 
 school adjoining. Bourne thus being withdrawn, the work 
 was carried on by another, and search being made after the 
 assassins, certain persons were imprisoned for it. 
 
 In 1.554, Sir John Bourn, of Baten-hall, Worcestershire, 
 uncle to Gilbert Bourn, being then Principal Secretary of 
 State to Queen Mary, the subject of these pages was elected 
 .March 28, to the see of Bath and Wells, upon the free re- 
 signation, as it is said, of Dr. Wm. Barlow, whereupon he 
 was consecrated at St. Saviour's Church, Southwark, April 1, 
 and had the temporalities thereof given to him April 20, the 
 same year. Soon after Bourn was made President of Wales, 
 and was in great favour during the reign of Queen Mary, 
 but was deprived of his bishopric on the succession of Queen 
 Elizabeth for denying her supremacy, notwithstanding he 
 had done many good offices for his Cathedral Church, and had 
 been a benefactor thereto. Afterwards, being committed to 
 free custody with the Dean of Exeter, he gave himself wholly 
 to reading and devotion. At length, dying at Silverton, De- 
 von, Sept. 10, 1569, he was buried in the parish church there, 
 on the south side of the altar, bequeathing what he had to his 
 brother, Richard Bourn, of Wyvelscomb, in Somersetshire. 
 See Wood's Athenae. 
 
 John Dee, D. D. 
 This celebrated Astrologer and Rosicrusian was born in 
 London in 1527, though some authors call him a Welch- 
 man ; he was admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, 
 and was presented by Edward VI. to the living of 
 Upton-upon-Severn, in Worcestershire, in the year 1552, 
 when John Harley was made Bishop of Hereford. He 
 gained great fame in the time of Elizabeth and James I. by 
 
 K
 
 6(5 
 
 his knowledge in mathematics ; and wrote perhaps, in the 
 whole, not less than 50 treatises. He began early to have 
 the reputation of a conjuror ; of which he grievously com- 
 plains in the Preface to his Euclid. Dee died very poor at 
 Mortlake, in Surrey, 1608, aged 81. He had a certificate 
 of his knowledge and good life from the University of Cam- 
 bridge, dated in Convocation, 1548. He complained much of 
 the loss of his library, which, he says, consisted of 4000 vols. 
 700 whereof were MS. in Greek, Latin and Hebrew. 
 
 John Standisii, Prebendary of Worcester, 1550, 
 A most noted disputant, was descended from a Lancashire 
 family; at about the age of 16, he was, in 1524, by the care 
 of his uncle, the Bishop of St. Asaph, sent to Brazenose 
 College. He separated from his wife on the accession of 
 Queen Mary, although he lost his preferment on account of 
 his being a married man ; notwithstanding this, Bonner col- 
 lated him to the rectory of Packlesham, in Essex, and to the 
 prebend of Eadland, both of which he was deprived of by 
 Queen Elizabeth 
 
 Leonard Pollard, B. D. Prebend, of Worcester, 1554, 
 Succeeded John Standisii. Pollard was Chaplain to Dr. 
 Pates, Bishop of Worcester, who having written live ser- 
 mons, were, after they had been revised by Bonner, printed 
 in London, 1556, in 4to. This Pollard was not of Oxon : 
 but died about March the same year of the appointment to 
 his prebend's stall. 
 
 Griffyth Williams, Chancellor of Worcester, 1554, 
 Was of New College, Oxford. It is not known if this be 
 the same person " who died a fearful death ;" presumed to 
 be a judgment upon him, by Fox, for condemning a boy to 
 bo. burnt. See Wood's Fasti, p. 134. 
 
 Edwin Sandys, D. D. Bishop of Worcester, 1559, 
 Founder of the noble family of Sandes in this county, was
 
 67 
 
 born at Hawkcshead, at which place he endowed afree-Schottf, 
 and was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he 
 took his Doctor's Degree, 1552, from whence he was elected 
 Master of Catherine Hall in 1547. He was Vicar of Haver- 
 sham, Bucks, and in 1548 Prebendary of Peterborough, and 
 was presented to a prebend of Carlisle. He was a learned 
 divine, and one of the first reformers ; and being a favourer 
 of the cause of Lady Jane Grey, was committed to the 
 Tower, with the Duke of Northumberland. After about a 
 year's imprisonment he fled from England, and took up his 
 residence at Stratsburgh. His resolute behaviour, and haz- 
 ards, on account of his religion, may be seen in Fox's History 
 of Martyrs, vol. 3, p. 787, and Strype's Memorials, vol. 3. 
 During his retirement, his first wife died, of a consumption, 
 in his arms, and his child of the plague, at Augsburgh : he 
 then married Cicely, sister to Sir Thomas Wilford, who, by 
 the picture at Ombersley, (where they are painted both to- 
 gether,) seems to have been much younger than himself; 
 which we may likewise infer from a clause in the Archbishop's 
 will, wherein he makes a provision in case his wife Cicely 
 should marry again. On the north wall of the chancel at 
 Woodham Ferrers, in Essex, is a monument of black and 
 white marble, with an epitaph, to the memory of Cecillia 
 Sandys, who died 5th Feb. 1610, having been a widow 
 22 years. 
 
 Upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth, 1558, Dr. Sandys 
 returned to England, and was consecrated at Worcester the 
 following year. June 2, 1570, he was elected Bishop of 
 London, and in Jan. 1577, translated to the see of York. 
 Having filled it about 12 years, he died July 18, 158S, in his 
 69th year, and was buried at Southwell, where he has a monu- 
 ment and epitaph. Administration and probate of his will 
 were granted to his widow, May 22, 1590. His neighbour, 
 Sir John Bourne, who lived at Holt Castle, a great advocate 
 for the old religion and a violent enemy to the Reformers, 
 took every opportunity of insulting the Bishop (whom fortune 
 seemed never weary of persecuting), particularly by calling
 
 68 
 
 his wife my Lady, meaning to reflect upon him as a married 
 priest ; upon this a great fray ensued between the servants 
 of the Bishop and those of Sir John, and several were 
 wounded on both sides. When Queen Elizabeth appointed 
 Bishop Sandys to this see, she detained the lands and rents, 
 and gave him impropriations and spiritual profits. During 
 his prelacy the corn-rent was restored to the College ; he 
 also made additions to his palace. 
 
 James Calfhill, Bishop of Worcester, 1570, 
 Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, Dean of Bocking, in Es- 
 sex, and Archdeacon of Colchester. He was removed to this 
 bishopric on the translation of Sandys to London, but he 
 died in Aug. of that year (1570), before he was consecrated. 
 
 Henry Joliffe, B. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1.541, 
 Was sometime Proctor of Cambridge, and afterwards 
 Rector of Bish Hampton, Worcestershire,* one of the first 
 Prebendaries of Worcester, and in 1554, Dean of Bristol. 
 He carried the book written against Bishop Hoper, by 
 Robt. Johnson, and printed it after his death, beyond sea, 
 when he fled to Louvain, on the alteration of religion. He 
 died in 1573. 
 
 Nicholas Bullingham, Bishop of Worcester, 1570, 
 A Native of this city, was Bishop of Lincoln in 1559, 
 from whence he was translated to this see. He was educated 
 in All Souls College, Oxford, where he took a degree in law 
 in 1536; he was afterwards Archdeacon of Lincoln, and be- 
 came that Bishop's Vicar-General. When Queen Mary 
 began her reign he absconded, and applied himself to the 
 study of divinity; and on Queen Elizabeth's accession, he 
 became Doctor of his faculty at Cambridge, and was ap- 
 pointed a Judge Ecclesiastical in the Court of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. He died much respected in 157G, and was 
 buried in this Cathedral, on the north side of the high altar. 
 
 * His name is not inserted in Dr. Nash's List of Incumbents.
 
 69 
 
 Seth Holland, M. A. Prebendary, 1555, Dean of 
 Worcester, 1557, 
 
 Was Chaplain to Cardinal Pole, Warden of All Souls 
 College, Oxford, and Rector of Fladbury, in this county; 
 the last of which he resigned on his appointment to that of 
 Cleeve Episcopi, Gloucestershire ; when he became Dean 
 of Worcester, he resigned the wardenship of All Souls into 
 the hands of Cardinal Pole, 1558 ; he was deprived of his 
 deanery by Queen Elizabeth, Oct. 1559, on the death of her 
 sister Mary, and his deprivation was followed by imprison- 
 ment ; he died in the Marshalsea, in the 2d year of her reign, 
 and was buried in St. George's, Southwark, out of the Kbig's 
 Bench Prison, according to Wood. 
 
 John Pedor, Dean of Worcester, 1559. 
 He had been an exile in Frankfort, but was, by patent, 
 advanced to this deanery, the revenues of which were much 
 improved by his care. He died April 5, 1571, and was in- 
 terred, it is presumed, in the Dean's Chapel of Worcester 
 Cathedral, in the which was a monument to his memory. 
 
 Thomas Wilson, D. D. Prebendary, 15G0, Dean of 
 
 Worcester, 1571, 
 Was educated in Trinity College, Cambridge ; he had 
 also been an exile at Frankfort. On the accession of Queen 
 Elizabeth he returned to his native country, and was appoint- 
 ed a Prebendary in the 7th stall of Worcester Cathedral, and 
 Chaplain to Bishop Sandys, who had been in exile at the 
 same time in Frankfort. In the famous Synod assembled at 
 Westminster, Jan. 1562 — 3, to complete the Restoration of 
 the Reformed Church of England, he was chosen by the 
 Dean and Chapter of Worcester one of their Proctors ; and 
 was appointed Dean of Worcester, by the Queen, in which 
 station he died, July 20, 1586, and lies buried in the Dean's 
 Chapel of this Cathedral. Dean Wilson was also Rector of 
 
 Blockley, and left £40. to the poor of that parish.
 
 70 
 
 Hugh Cox, 
 
 Was Rector of All Saints, Worcester, afterwards a learn- 
 ed Professor of Divinity in Oxford, and Bishop of Salisbury. 
 He was related to Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and wrote a book called "A Mirror of Papists' Subtilties ;" 
 and died 1587. See Strype's Life of Whitgift. 
 
 John Harley, Prebendary of Worcester, 1551, 
 Afterwards Bishop of Hereford, had been a Fellow of 
 Magdalen College, Oxford. He gave up the jurisdiction of 
 the Forest of Dean to the see of Gloucester; but Queen 
 Mary soon compelled him to abdicate the see, on an allega- 
 tion that he was married, and had wilfully evaded the hearing 
 of mass. 
 
 John Ellis, M. A. Prebendary of Worcester, 1577, 
 Was bred in Jesus College, Cambridge, but, according 
 
 to A. Wood, became Prebendary of Worcester in 1570; he 
 
 was also Dean of Hereford in 1559' 
 
 William Tinker, 
 
 Calling himself" Gent." was the Author of " Worcester's 
 Affliction," 1551, to which is attached a table of the m n- 
 ber of persons, in the respective parishes of the city and 
 suburbs, who died in that year of the plague. Mr. Green 
 calls it "a MS. poem of considerable merit, from which a 
 late publication is an extract." The humanity shown on this 
 melancholy occasion towards the distressed sufferers, who, 
 but for the assistance of the neighbouring gentry, must have 
 perished through want, is the subject of another poem, 
 written and published by J. Toy, M. A. Master of the Col- 
 lege School, entitled " Worcester's Elegy and Eulogy." 
 See his Article. Tinker's work was first printed, according 
 to the title, from the original MS. by J. Grundy, no date, 
 4to. Wood.
 
 71 
 
 Edmund Daniel, M.A. Prebendary of Worcester, 1558, 
 Fellow of Merton College, was also Dean of Hereford. 
 In the year 1559, he was deprived of his dignities. He 
 was one of those who, in 1556, supplicated in vain to be 
 admitted to the degree of B. D. See Wood's Fasti, 
 page 150. 
 
 Thomas Talbot, 
 A celebrated Antiquary, was a native of Northampton- 
 shire. Abingdon, in his MS. edition of the Bishops of 
 Worcester, says — " But these first (Bishops) I had out of 
 the collection of an excellent Antiquary, Mr. Thos. Talbot, 
 who gathered the same out of a leiger of the Priory of 
 Worcester, which, I think, is now perished." He left 
 choice collections behind him, and was living in 1580. 
 
 John Watson, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Evesham,* 1520. 
 He was admitted Fellow of All Souls College 1540, and 
 took the degree of M.A. two years after; and about that 
 time applied his mind to the study of medicine, in which 
 afterwards he had considerable practice. At length, about 
 the time Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, if not before, 
 he entered into holy orders, was made Prebendary of Win- 
 chester, Archdeacon of Surrey, Chancellor of St. Paul's, 
 and Master of the Hospital of S. Cross, near Winchester. 
 In the 15th Eliz. 1572, he was made Dean of Winchester, 
 and 1575 admitted to the decree of M. D. about which 
 time he, being in great favour at Court, was made Bishop of 
 Winchester, though somewhat against his m ill ;t ha which 
 
 * At Benge worth, according to the Biog. Dram. ; this is corroborated by 
 Fuller, where, says he, some of his name and relations remain at this day. 
 
 + Fuller says, " Dean Watson, aged 60 years, and desirous to lead a pri- 
 vate life, in the sickness of Bishop Horn privately promised the Earl of Lei- 
 cester 2001. that he might not be made Bishop of Winchester. — The bishopric 
 tailing void, and Queen Elizabeth professing her intention to confer it o»
 
 72 
 
 see he sat until his death, Jan. 23, 1583, and on Feb. 17, 
 his funeral was solemnized in the cathedral church of Win- 
 chester, and his remains buried in the body thereof. By his 
 last will he gave £'40 to All Souls College, £20 to the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford, and 100 marks to certain poor scholars 
 studying there ; to five poor students of Oxford, studying 
 there also, £4 a-piece for five years after his decease ; and 
 to the poor of Evesham before-mentioned he was a liberal 
 benefactor, for whose sake also he gave a stock £40 to set 
 them on to work. 
 
 Watson was also Prebendary of Langford Manor, in the 
 church of Lincoln, which he resigned before 1574. Meres 
 speaks of a Play by Bishop Watson, a tragedy, called 
 Absalon, as able to abide the test of Aristotle's precepts, 
 and Euripides's examples. From a passage in Aschanis 
 Scholemaster, it appears to have been written in Latin, and 
 not published. He also wrote an epigram on the death of 
 Martin Bucer, which forms part of the volume mentioned in 
 vol. 1, Col. 378, note 5. See Wood, and Biog. Dramatiea. 
 
 William Norfolk, Prebendary of Worcester, 1558, 
 Was admitted M. A. 1551. He was Principal of St. 
 Mary's Hall, Oxford, and one of the first Prebendaries of 
 Worcester. 
 
 Sir Henry Sydney, 
 Father of the celebrated Sir Philip Sydney. Dying at 
 the Palace of Worcester in 15S6, his bowels were deposited 
 in the Dean's Chapel there, and his heart in Ludlow church. 
 Vide Zouch's Life of Sir P. Sydney. By others, however, 
 he is said to have died at Ludlow. 
 
 Watson, the Earl requested the contrary, acquainting the Queen with the 
 passage betwixt them, — 'how otherwise it would be 2001. oul of his way.' 
 • Nay then,' said the Queen, 'Watson shall have it; he being more worthy 
 thereof who will give 2001. to decline, than he who will give 20001. to attain 
 it." There were three Bishop Watsons in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but 
 no ways related to each other. An epitaph on Bish >p Wats >n is to be seen 
 , Mary Overies.
 
 73 
 
 John de Feckingham, D. D. 
 
 A Native of this county, so called because lie was born 
 of poor parents in a cottage near the Forest of Feckingham, 
 his rio-ht name behiir Hownum, was the last Abbot of \\ est- 
 minster. Discovering in his youth very good abilities, and 
 a strong propensity to learning, the priest of the parish took 
 him under his care, instructed him some years, and then 
 procured him admission into Evesham Monastery. At IS, 
 he was sent by his Abbot to Gloucester Hall, Oxford, from 
 whence, when he had sufficiently improved himself in acade- 
 mical learning, he was recalled to his abbey ; which being 
 dissolved, Nov. 17, 1536, he had a yearly pension of 100 
 florins allowed him for his life. Upon this lie returned to 
 Gloucester Hall, where he pursued his studies some years, 
 and in 1.539 took the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, being- 
 then Chaplain to Bell, Bishop of Worcester. That Prelate 
 resigning his see, in 1.343, he became Chaplain to Bonner, 
 Bishop of London ; but Bonner being deprived of his bishop- 
 ric, in 1.349, by the Reformers, Feckingham was commit- 
 ted to the Tower of London, because, as some say, he re- 
 fused to administer the sacraments after the Protestant man- 
 ner. Soon after, he was taken from thence, to dispute on 
 the chief points controverted between the Protestants and 
 Papists, and disputed several times in public before and with 
 some great personages. He was afterwards remanded to 
 the Tower, where he continued till Queen Man's accession 
 to the Crown, in 1533, but was then released, and made 
 Chaplain to the Queen. He became also, in 1554, again 
 Chaplain to Bonner, a Prebendary of St. Paul's, Dean of St. 
 Paul's, Rector of Finchley in Middlesex, which he held only 
 a few months, and then Rector of Greenford, in the same 
 county, which last he held two years. 
 
 In the same year, he was one of the Disputants at Oxford 
 against Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, before they suffered 
 martyrdom, but said very little against them ; and during 
 Mary's reign he was constantly employed in doing good 
 
 L
 
 74 
 
 offices to the afflicted Protestants, from the highest to the 
 lowest. — Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, Ambrose and 
 Robt Dudley, afterwards Earls of Warwick and Leicester, 
 were benefited by his kindness ; as was also Sir John Cheke, 
 whose life he and Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity 
 College, Oxford, are said to have saved, by a joint applica- 
 tion to Queen Mary. Feckingham was very intimate with 
 Sir Thomas, and often visited him at Tyttenhangcr House. 
 Feckingham also interceded with Queen Mary for the Lady 
 Elizabeth's enlargement out of prison, and that so earnestly, 
 that the Queen was actually displeased with him for some 
 time. In May, 1556, he was complimented by the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford with the degree of Doctor in Divinity, being 
 then in universal esteem, for his learning, piety, charity, 
 moderation, humility, and other virtues. The September 
 following, he was made Abbot of Westminster, which was 
 then restored by Queen Mary, and fourteen Benedictine 
 Monks placed there under his government, with episcopal 
 power. 
 
 Upon the death of Mary, in 1558, her successor, Eliza- 
 beth, not unmindful of her obligations to Feckingham, sent 
 for him, before her coronation, to consult and reward him, 
 and, as it is said, offered him the Archbishopric of Canter- 
 burv, provided he would conform to the laws, but this he 
 refused. He appeared, however, in her first Parliament, 
 taking the lowest place on the Bishops' form, and was the 
 last mitred Abbot that sat in the House of Peers. During 
 his attendance there, he spoke and protested against every 
 thing tending towards the Reformation ; and the strong op- 
 position which he could not be restrained from making, 
 occasioned his commitment to the Tower, in 1560. After 
 nearly three years' confinement there, he was committed to 
 the custody of Home, Bishop of Winchester ; but having 
 been old antagonists on the subject of the oath of supre- 
 macy, their present connection was mutually irksome, and 
 Feckingham was remanded to the Tower, in 1564; after- 
 wards he was removed to the Marshalsea, and then to a 
 private house in Holboin.
 
 75 
 
 In 1571, he attended Dr. John Stone, before his execu- 
 tion. In 1573, we find him in free custody with Cox, 
 Bishop of Ely, whom the Queen had requested to use his 
 endeavours to induce Feckingham to acknowledge her su- 
 premacy, and come over to the Church; and he was at 
 length prevailed on to allow her supremacy, but could never 
 be brought to a thorough conformity. Soon after, the rest- 
 less spirit of some Roman Catholics, and their frequent at- 
 tempts upon the Queen's life, obliged her to imprison the 
 most considerable among them ; upon which Feckingham 
 was sent to Wisbech Castle, in the Isle of Ely, where he 
 continued a prisoner to the time of his death, which hap- 
 pened in 1585. 
 
 As to his character, Camden calls him, " a learned and 
 good man, that lived long, did a great deal of good to the 
 poor, and always solicited the minds of his adversaries to 
 benevolence." Fuller styles him, " a man cruel to none ; 
 courteous and charitable to all who needed his help or liber- 
 ality." Burnet says, "he was a charitable and generous 
 man, who lived in great esteem in England :" and Dart con- 
 cludes his account of him in these words — " Though I can- 
 not go so far as Reyner, to call him a martyr; yet I cannot 
 gather but he was a good, mild, modest, charitable man, 
 and a devout Christian." 
 
 Wood has given us the following catalogue of his works : — 
 1 . " A Conference, dialogue-wise, held between the Lady 
 Jane Dudley and Mr. John Feckingham four days before 
 her death, touching her faith and belief of the Sacrament, 
 and her religion, 1554." (In April, 1554, he had been sent 
 by the Queen to this Lady, to commune with her, and to 
 reduce her from the doctrine of Christ to Queen Mary's 
 religion, as Fox expresses it. The substance of this Con- 
 ference may also be seen in Fox's Acts and Monuments of 
 Martyrs.) '2. Speech in the House of Lords, 1553. 3. Two 
 Homilies on the 1st, 2d, and 3d Articles of the Creed. 
 4. Oratio funebris in exequiis Ducissae Parma;, Sic. that is, 
 A Funeral Oration on the Death of the Duchess of Parma,
 
 76 
 
 daughter of Charles V. and Governess of the Netherlands. 
 
 5. Sermon at the exequy of Joan, Queen of Spain, 1555. 
 
 6. The Declaration of such scruples and staies of Conscience 
 touching the Oath of Supremacy, delivered by writing to 
 Dr. Home, Bishop of Winchester, 1566. 7- Objections or 
 Assertions made against Mr. John Cough's Sermon, preach- 
 ed in the Tower of London, Jan. 15, 1570. 8. Caveat 
 Emptor ; which seems to have been a Caution against buy- 
 ing Abbey Lands. Tie had also written Commentaries on 
 the Psalms, and a Treatise on the Eucharist, which were 
 lost among other things — thus far Wood ; but another au- 
 thor mentions, 9- A Sermon on the Funeral of Queen Mary, 
 on Ecclesiastes, iv. 2. MS. Mr. Tindal says, he was also 
 the author of a Speech in Parliament against the alteration 
 of Religion, 1559; a Letter to Cecil, 1564; Confession in 
 Wisbech Castie, 1530; and Conference with Bishop Ridley 
 in the Tower. See Tindal's Evesham. 
 
 Richard Longwortii, D.D. Preb. of Worcester, 1568, 
 Was afterwards Dean of Chester. 
 
 John Whitgift, D.D. Bishop of Worcester, 1577, 
 Afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, in which see he 
 succeeded Grindall, whose lenity in the execution of the 
 ecclesiastical laws gave great offence to the Queen, Elizabeth. 
 This prelate's temper, which was naturally warm, had been 
 much heated by controversy ; he was therefore thought 
 proper person to put the penal statutes into execution against 
 all that dissented from the Established Church: and if we 
 consider the conduct of the Puritans towards him and the 
 Church, we shall not perhaps wonder at his anger. At his 
 persuasion, Elizabeth appointed a new Ecclesiastical Com- 
 mission, which was not only authorized to hear and deter- 
 mine ail causes that came under their jurisdiction, but was 
 also armed with an inquisitorial power to force any one to 
 confess what he knew, and to punish him at discretion.* 
 
 ■ Ui.;hop Whitgift in a letter to yueea Elizabeth tells her, the Church
 
 He was the great restorer of order and discipline in the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge, when deeply wounded and almost 
 sunk ; and for his sake the salary of the Lady Margaret's 
 Professorship was raised from 20 marks to 20 pounds. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that Lord Bacon studied under 
 this Bishop when he was at Trinity College. He published 
 several polemical pieces against Cartwright. Whitgift was 
 born at Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, 1530, and died Oct. 
 1(303. See Wordsworth's Eccles. Biog. &c. 
 
 Sir Thomas Bromley, 
 
 Lord Chancellor in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a na- 
 tive of Shropshire, purchased Holt Castle in Worcestershire. 
 He died 1587, aged 57, and was buried in Westminster Ab- 
 bey, where is his monument. " He acted a bloody part" 
 against Mary Queen of Scots. Fuller says, though he suc- 
 ceeded Sir Nicholas Bacon, yet the Court of Chancery was 
 not sensible of any alteration, such was his learning and in- 
 tegrity. By a mistake in the Stemmata Chicheleana, p. 10, 
 Sir Thomas Bromley, Knt. is put for Sir Henry Bromley, 
 Knight. 
 
 Edmund Freake, D. D. Bishop of Worcester, 1534, 
 
 Bishop of Norwich, was nominated to Worcester on the 
 translation of Whitgift to Cantei burv. He was a native of 
 Essex, and had his education at Cambridge ; was Great 
 Almoner to Queen Elizabeth, and had passed through several 
 ecclesiastical dignities. He died at Worcester, in 1 391, and 
 lies buried in the south aisle of the bodv of the Cathedral. 
 He approved himself a zealous assertor of the church dis- 
 cipline, and bore the character of a pious and well-qualified 
 Divine. See Wood's Fasti, p. 186. 
 
 John Martiall, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, was a zealous advocate for the 
 
 mnst fall, if the Rill against Plura'itie?, then brought into the House of Com- 
 mon*, should take place.
 
 78 
 
 Catholic cause ; he was bom at Dalisford, in Worcestershire, 
 near Chipping-norton, Oxfordshire, and educated in gram- 
 matical learning in Wykeham's school, near Winchester, 
 where he was admitted Perpetual Fellow of New College, 
 after he had served two years of probation, anno 1551. He 
 took the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law five years after, 
 about which time he was made usher or second master of 
 the aforesaid school under Thos. Hide. In the beginnks of 
 Queen Elizabeth's reign he left his employment, his fellow- 
 ship, and at length the kingdom, and going beyond the seas 
 to Louvain, he made proficiency there in the study of di- 
 vinity, and at length, by the procurement of Lewis Owen, 
 Archdeacon of Cambray, he was made Canon of St. Peter's 
 Church at Lisle, in Flanders, which place he kept eight years ; 
 he resigned it, (being then D. D.) to the end that he might 
 give himself solely up to his devotions, and prepare himself 
 for another world. 
 
 Martiall wrote a Treatise of the Cross, gathered out of 
 the Scriptures, Councils, and ancient Fathers of the primi- 
 tive Church, 8vo. 1564. Bodl. 8vo. M. 57. This he dedi- 
 cated to Queen Elizabeth ; emboldened upon her keeping 
 the image of a crucifix in her chapel, which he termed ' her 
 good affections to it.' But James Calf hill, of Ch. College, 
 making an answer to it, our author came out with a reply, 
 entitled, « A Reply to Mr. Calflnll's blasphemous Answer 
 against the Treatise of the Cross, Lov. 156G, qu. (Bodl. 4to. 
 A. 29. Th.) Afterwards he wrote " Treatise of the Tonsure 
 of the Clerks," left imperfect, and therefore never printed. 
 He departed this life to the great grief of the Roman Catho- 
 lics, at Lisle, in the arms of Win. Gifford, Dean of that 
 church, April 3d, 1597, and was buried in the collegiate 
 church of St. Peter before mentioned. At his death he be- 
 queathed a rich ring, with a stone in it, to adorn our Saviour's 
 cross in the cathedral there ; which bequest being performed 
 by the said Gifford, that bequest was esteemed as a trophy of 
 victory over Calfhill, and was for some time preserved as a 
 choice relic there. See Calfhill, in Wood's Athene.
 
 79 
 
 John Bullingiiam, D. D. Preb. of Worcester, 1 570, 
 Was born at Gloucester, elected Probationer of Magda- 
 len Coll. Oxford, July, 1550, and in 1581 was consecrated 
 Bishop of Gloucester, about which time he had the see of 
 Bristol given him in commendam, and died in 1593. Bul- 
 limrham was also installed Prebendary of South Lincoln- 
 Sept. 10, 15(18. He wrote the story of Julius Palmer, the 
 Protestant Martyr, for John Fox's Acts and Monuments. 
 See more of Bullingham in Wood's Athena?, vol. 2. 
 
 James Jackman, M.A. 
 
 A Fellow of Oriel College, Oxtord, who, in 1599, be- 
 queathed certain lands in the parish of St. Giles, in the su- 
 burbs of Oxford, for the maintenance of a poor scholar of 
 the county of Worcester. 
 
 Griffith Lewis, D. D. Preb. of Worcester, 1571, 
 Was also Dean of Gloucester. 
 
 Richard Fletcher, Bishop of Worcester, 1593, 
 
 Elected pursuant to the Queen's conge ; he was at that 
 time Bishop of Bristol. Fletcher was bred at Benet's Coll. 
 Cambridge, and in 1583 made Dean of Peterborough, and in 
 1586 — 7 was present with Mary Queen of Scots when she 
 suffered death in Fotheringay Castle ; see his teizing speech 
 to her on the scaffold in Strype's Annals of Queen Elizabeth. 
 In 1589 he was made Bishop of Bristol, and about the 
 same time Almoner to the Queen, from thence he was pro- 
 moted to Worcester, where he continued till Jan. 1594 — 5, 
 when he was translated to London, and died suddenly 
 1596, and was buried in St. George's Chapel in St. Paul's, 
 as it stood before the great fire. On his promotion the see 
 of Worcester remained vacant nearly two years. Fletcher 
 fell under the Queen's (Elizabeth) displeasure by marrying 
 a second wife, the Lady Baker, and is said to have died in 
 discontent by smoking tobacco immoderately. This bishop 
 was the father of the dramatic poet Fletcher.
 
 80 
 
 Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Worcester, April 30, 1596, 
 Was born in the city of Winchester. He performed a 
 very important service to the College at Winchester, by pre- 
 serving the revenues of it when they were in danger of being 
 swallowed up by a notorious forgery. He was translated 
 from the see of Worcester to that of Winchester, and de- 
 parted this life June 18, 1616, and was buried in Westmin- 
 ster Abbey. 
 
 Bilson's " True Difference between Christian Subjection 
 and Unchristian Rebellion," was of fatal tendency to Charles 
 I. few books being more frequently quoted by the mal- 
 contents to justify their resistance to that Prince. His able 
 defence of Episcopacy, by publications and sermons, greatly 
 alarmed the Puritans, and in these he was encouraged by 
 Queen Elizabeth, and by her command wrote " The Survey 
 of Christ's Sufferings for Man's Redemption, and of his 
 Descent to Hades or Hell for our Deliverance." He was 
 also one of the speakers and managers of the Hampton 
 Court Conference, and was engaged in the last translation of 
 the Bible. His character is represented as a very great one 
 by Sir Anthony Weldon. See a long life of Bilson in Wood's 
 Athenae, p. 1 and 2. 
 
 Richard* Bristow, 
 Was a Native of this city, and born in 1538. He was 
 educated in grammar learning under one Rog. Goldbourne. 
 In 155.5 he was entered at Exeter College, Oxford, accord- 
 ing to Pits, which Wood doubts ; but he took his degree of 
 B. A. in 1559, and M. A. in 15(32, at which last time he was 
 a Member of Christ Church. He and the celebrated Cam- 
 pian were so esteemed for their talents as to be selected to 
 entertain Queen Elizabeth with a public disputation in 15G(J. 
 Bristow was afterwards, in July, 15G7, made a Fellow of 
 Exeter College, by the interest of Sir Win. Petre, who had 
 founded some fellowships in that college, and who would 
 
 * Fuller calls him Robert.
 
 81 
 
 have promoted him further, had he not laid himself open to 
 the suspicion of holding popish tenets ; and this appeared 
 more plainly by his quitting the University on Cardinal 
 Alan's invitation. He then went to Douay, and after prose- 
 cuting his theological studies in that academy, was admitted 
 to his Doctor's Degree in 1.379; and, says his biographe 
 Pits, was " Alan's right hand upon all occasions." He was 
 made Prefect of Studies, lectured on the Scriptures, and in 
 the absence of Alan acted as Regent of the College. Hi* 
 intense studies, however, injured a constitution originally 
 very weak, and after a journey to Spa, which had very little 
 effect, he was recommended to try his native air. On his 
 return to England he resided, for a very short time, with a 
 Mr. Bellamy, a gentleman of fortune, at Harrow-on-the-hill, 
 where he died Oct. 18, 1581. 
 
 The Popish Historians concur in expressing the loss their 
 cause suffered by his death ; he being esteemed " an Alan 
 in prudence, a Stapleton in acuteness, a Campian in elo- 
 quence, a Wright in theology, and a Martin in languages." 
 He wrote — 1. Dr. Bristow's Motives, Antwerp, 1574, 1599, 
 Svo. translated afterwards into Latin, by Dr. Worthington, 
 Douay, 1608, 4to. 2. A Reply to Wm. Fulke, (his ablest 
 antagonist) in defence of Dr. Alan's Articles and Book of 
 Purgatory, Louvain, 1580, 4to. 3. Fifty-one Demands, to 
 be proposed by Catholics to Heretics, London, 1592, 4to. 
 4. Veritates Aureae, S. R. Ecclesiae, ]6l6. 5. Tabula in 
 summam Theologicam, S. Thomae Acquinatis, 1579- He 
 wrote also An Apology in defence of Alan and Himself, 
 and Notes upon the Rheims Testament. See a long account 
 of Bristow and his works in Wood's Athenae. 
 
 Richard Eedes, Dean of Worcester, 1596, 
 Is supposed to have been born in Bedfordshire. After an 
 education at Westminster School, he went to the University 
 of Oxford, where he was elected Student of Christ's Church 
 in 1571. He proceeded in Arts, 1578, and about the same 
 time, entering into orders, became a celebrated preacher. 
 
 M
 
 82 
 
 In 1584 he was installed a Prebendary in the Cathedral of 
 Salisbury, and afterwards appointed Chaplain to Queen 
 Elizabeth. He received the canonry of Christ Church in 
 1586. In 1589 he was created D. D. and remained 
 Dean of Worcester, until his death, Nov. 19, 1604; he was 
 buried in his Cathedral. 
 
 In Mere's Wit's Treasury, 1598, p. 283, he is enumer- 
 ated among the writers of tragedy at that period ; and Wood 
 says, that his younger years he spent in practical fancies, 
 and composing plays, mostly tragedies ; but at riper years 
 he became a pious and grave divine, an ornament to his pro- 
 fession, and a grace to the pulpit. None of the plays of 
 Eedes are now existing. 
 
 The widow of Dean Eedes married to a second husband, 
 Humphrey Littleton, 3rd son of Roger Littleton, of Grovely, 
 which Roger was the 5th son of John Littleton, grandson 
 of Judge Littleton ; from these came the Littletons of Stud- 
 ly, Warwickshire. See a long account of Eedes in Wood's 
 Athenae, vol. 1, p. 749. 
 
 Godfrey Goldsborough, Prebendary of Worcester, 
 1581, Archdeacon 1579, 
 Was afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, 159S. Bishop 
 Goldsborough had been Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, and was incorporated B. D. there : he died May, 
 1604, and was buried in a little chapel on the north side of 
 a tair large chapel, at the east end of the choir of the Cathe- 
 dral Church of Gloucester. See Wood's Fasti, p. 214. 
 
 Francis Willis, Dean of Worcester, 1586, 
 Was President of St. John's College, Oxford, a native and 
 Canon of Bristol, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral. 
 
 Thomas Thornton, D.D Preb. of Worcester, 1573, 
 Bom in 1541, was also Vice Chancellor of Oxford, and 
 Canon of Christ Church, Oxon, of Worcester, and Here- 
 ford, of which last place he was also Chanter, and about
 
 83 
 
 this time Master of Ledbury Hospital, Herefordshire : he 
 died April 15, 1629, and was buried in the chancel of the 
 parish church of Ledbury, where was a monument set up 
 for him, on which was an inscription saying, he was born at 
 Harrow-on-the-hill, Middlesex. He adorned and repaired 
 the Library at Hereford, and enriched it with books. He 
 was a common refuge for young poor scholars of parts, and 
 was tutor to Sir P. Sydney, when he was at Christ Church, 
 and to the learned Camden. See Wood's Fasti, p. 225. 
 
 George Wall, A. M. 
 
 A Native of this county, held a benefice in Worcester- 
 shire, 1573.* He published a Sermon "on the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury his Visitation metropolitical, held at All Saints 
 in Worcester, by Dr. Brent, his Grace's Vicar-General, 3d 
 June, 1635, on 2 Cor. 5, 20." See Wood's Fasti, p. 366. 
 
 Gervase Babington, Bishop of Worcester, 1597, 
 Was born in Nottinghamshire, according to Fuller, but 
 in Devonshire, according to Izacke and Prince. He was 
 sent to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he became 
 Fellow; but on the loth July, 1578, he was incorporated 
 Master of Arts at Oxford, as he stood in his own Univer- 
 sity. When he was D. D. he was made Domestic Chaplain 
 to Henry, Earl of Pembroke, and President of the Council 
 in the Marches of Wales. By his Lordship's interest he 
 was constituted Treasurer of the Church of Llandaff, and in 
 1588 was installed into the prebend of Wellington, in the 
 Cathedral of Hereford, and advanced to the bishopric of 
 LlandafT, Aug. 29, 1591. In Feb. 1594, he was translated 
 to the see of Exeter, to which, says Mr. Chalmers, " he did 
 an irreparable injury, by alienating from it the rich manor of 
 Crediton, in Devonshire ;" which, Mr. Prince says, having 
 obliged a courtier with, made way for his promotion. In 
 1597, he was translated to Worcester, by Queen Elizabeth, 
 
 * 1573, Jan. 7, Geo. Wall, A. M. coll. ad preb. de Cadington minor per 
 mortem Job.. Semers. Reg. Sondes Epi. Lond. — Kennett.
 
 84 
 
 Aug. SO, elected Sept. 15, and confirmed Oct. following, 
 and was likewise made one of the Queen's Council for the 
 Marches of Wales. To the Library of Worcester Cathedral 
 he w r as a very great benefactor, for he not only fitted and 
 repaired the edifice, but also bequeathed to it all his books. 
 After having continued Bishop of Worcester near 13 years, 
 he died of the jaundice, May 17, 16 10, and was buried in 
 the Cathedral of Worcester, but without any monument. 
 
 He was not only diligent in preaching, but in writing 
 books, for the understanding of the Holy Scriptures. His 
 works were printed first in 4to. then, with additions, in folio, 
 in 1615, and again in 1637. Prince, in his Worthies of 
 Devon, remarks, that the paternal arms of this Bishop were 
 the very same as those of the see of Worcester; "this I 
 could not omit," says Mr. Abingdon, " it being so very re- 
 markable." See also Wood's Fasti, p. 21 1. 
 
 Henry Parry, or Ap Harry, D. D. Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 
 
 Was a native of Herefordshire, and educated at Corpus 
 Christi College, Oxford. He was translated to Worcester 
 from Gloucester, where he had sat three years. He had 
 been Dean of Chester. He died of the palsy, at Worcester, 
 Dec. 12, 1616, and was buried in the Cathedral. For an 
 account of his portrait, and some relics of his, in the posses- 
 sion of Mr. Nash, of Sidbury, see Chambers's Worcester, 
 page 147* 
 
 Miles Smith, D. D. 
 Said to have been Rector of Upon-upon-Severn, but his 
 name is not among Dr. Nash's list of incumbents, Rector 
 
 * Sir Thomas Parry, Cofferer to Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards Comp- 
 troller of her Household, her confidant in her affair with Seymour, the Lord 
 High Admiral in the reign of Queen Mary, was probably a relation of the 
 Bishop's ; and being so great a favourite with Elizabeth, was not unlikely to 
 have received from her hands those presents mentioned in our History of 
 Worcester as being given to the Bishop.
 
 8"> 
 
 of Hartlebury, in the diocese of Worcester, in 1598, and 
 afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, in 1612; was born in the 
 city of Hereford, and became, about 1658, a Student of 
 Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from which he transferred 
 himself to Brazenose ; he took his degree in Arts as a Mem- 
 ber of the latter, was a petty Canon of Christ Church, and a 
 Bachelor and Doctor of Divinity. His knowledge of the 
 Latin, Greek, and Oriental languages was so great, that he 
 has been called " the walking Library." He used to say, 
 " he was covetous of nothing but books ;" he was the first 
 and the last man concerned in the last translation of the Bible, 
 to which he wrote the preface, now extant ; for all which he 
 Mas rewarded with a bishopric. 
 
 He was a strict Calvinist, was the editor of Bishop Bab- 
 ington's works, and the author of some sermons, one of which, 
 preached at an Assize at Worcester, was published without 
 his consent. He died 1624. See Wood's Athena?, vol. 2, 
 p. 83, Ox. Fuller's Worthies ; Preface to his Sermons, and 
 Barksdale's Memorials. 
 
 Rowland Bekkeley, Esq. 
 
 Was the father of Judge Berkeley. Of this benefactor 
 to the city of Worcester Dr. Nash has the following account, 
 copied from the elder Abingdon : — 
 
 " Before I attend the Judge to his rising sunne, I will 
 accompanie his father to his night of death ; whome if I 
 should commend, because he was my ancient friend, and 
 left me not (where the world forsooke me) in my stormy 
 troubles, and lastly not onely refused to make a prey of my 
 lands, being offered him, and lying most convenient for him, 
 but alsoe instantly warned me to prevent my mine, it might 
 be thought that, blinded with affection, I were partial. — ■ 
 Passing, therefore, from my private particulars to matters 
 more public, he was a man of a very good witt, which he 
 furnished with learning, initiate in Oxford, but chiefly gained 
 out of stolen hours, and hardly spared from his continual 
 business in his vocation ; by which course, joined with ex-
 
 86 
 
 perience and observations, growing to be of deep judg- 
 ment, he attained to be for government such a magistrate, 
 as that he gained love, respect, and obedience ; which, if 
 the city of Worcester, where he lived divers years, will not 
 acknowledge, his often service for them in Parliament (where 
 he shewed himself their friend, and a good commonwealth's 
 man) will testify for him. Neither was he confined within 
 the circle of this cittie, but, being in commission for the 
 county, was an uncorrupted and sedulous justice. I omit 
 his worldly blessings, being abundant and fairly ceasing by 
 his death, in a good old age, at his owne mansion at Spetch- 
 ley, where his sonne, the Judge, hath erected a monument 
 for him and his mother." 
 
 Sir Rowland Berkeley was a very eminent and wealthy 
 clothier at Worcester, descended from a very ancient and 
 noble family, no other (continues Abingdon) than from one 
 of the most ancient of Barons, Lord Berkeley ; for James, 
 Lord Berkeley, had, by the Lady Isabell, one of the two 
 co-heirs of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, (who 
 flourished in the reigns of Henry IV. and V.) Thos. Berke- 
 ley, his 4th son, who had issue Richard Berkeley, his 3d son, 
 (who sometime lived and had a small freehold at Dursley, in 
 Gloucestershire,) whose 4th son, William Berkeley,* was 
 father of the subject of this article, Rowland Berkeley, father 
 of the J udge ; which said Rowland, being the 8th son of the 
 said William, though extracted thus from nobility, yet seem- 
 ed in the world extenuated for a while, until by God's bless- 
 ing and his own industry, he became eminent in wealth and 
 dignity. 
 
 Mr. Rowland Berkeley and Catherine his wife were 
 married in the church of St. Martin, on Thursday, in Easter 
 week,f 1574, being then the 15th day of April; they lived 
 in this parish man and wife 34 years, in which time they had 
 
 * He was Mayor of Hereford in 1545, 35th of Henry VIII. 
 
 + See a curious article in Nash's Worcestershire, Appendix, page cxlir. 
 signed by Rowland Bartley, in 1580, as Churchwarden of St. Martin's, rela- 
 tive to a licence for allowing a sick man to eat meat in Lent.
 
 87 
 
 seven sons and nine daughters, all bom and baptized in this 
 parish ; one of the sons died in his infancy, all the rest sur- 
 vived their father; all the daughters were married in their 
 father's life, and survived him. Mr. Rowland Berkeley 
 died l6ll, and his wife in 1629- The said Mr. Rowlaud 
 Berkeley gave by his will £100 to the Corporation of 
 Clothiers in this city, to be lent gratis for two years, to two 
 thriving young men exercising the trade of clothiers in this 
 city. Mrs. Catherine Berkeley gave by her w ill £50 to the 
 Corporation of Clothiers, to be lent gratis for two years, to 
 two thriving young men of this parish exercising the trade of 
 clothing ; and for want of such, then to two thriving young 
 men of this parish exercising some other honest trade : but 
 the said Corporation not accepting her legacy in manner as 
 it was given, her executors paid the same to the church- 
 wardens of this parish, to be employed according to her ap- 
 pointment. She also left charities to the poor of the city, 
 and the parishes of St. Martin and Spetchley, payable for 
 the term of 22 years. 
 
 Edward Kellev, alias Talbot, 
 
 A Native of this county, and a celebrated Alchymist, 
 was born in 1555, and educated at Gloucester Hall, 
 Oxford, but bred up an apothecary in this city. Wood 
 says, that when his nativity was cast, it appeared that he was 
 to be a man of most acute wit, and great propensity to 
 philosophical studies and mysteries of nature. He believed 
 this prophecy, however, both in the progress and termination 
 of his life ; for, leaving Oxford abruptly, and rambling about 
 the kingdom, he was guilty of some crime in Lancashire, for 
 which his ears were cut off at Lancaster, but what crime 
 this was we are not informed. He became afterwards an 
 associate with the famous Dr. Dee, travelled into foreign 
 countries with him, and was his reporter of what passed 
 between him and the spirits with whom the Doctor held in- 
 telligence, and who wrote down the nonsense Kellev pre- 
 tended to have heard. Of their journey with Laske, a Polish 
 Nobleman, see the life of Dr. Dee in the Biog. Diet.
 
 88 
 
 We further learn, from Ashmole, if such information can 
 be called learning, that Kelley and Dee had the good fortune 
 to find a large quantity of the elixir, or philosopher's stone, 
 in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey ; which elixir was so sur- 
 prisingly rich, that they lost a great deal in making projec- 
 tions before they discovered the force of its virtue. The 
 author also adds, that at Trebona, in Bohemia, Kelley tried 
 a grain of this elixir upon an ounce and a quarter of com- 
 mon mercury, which was presently transmuted into almost 
 an ounce of line gold. At another time he tried his art 
 upon a piece of metal, cut out of a warming-pan, which, 
 without handling it or melting the metal, was turned into 
 very good silver, only by warming it at a fire. Cervantes 
 has given us nothing more absurd in the phrenzy of Don 
 Quixote. This warming-pan, however, and the piece taken 
 out of it, were sent to Queen Elizabeth, by her Ambassador 
 then residing at Prague. Kelley afterwards behaving in- 
 discreetly, was imprisoned by the Emperor Rodolphus II. 
 by whom he had been knighted ; and endeavouring to make 
 his escape out of the window, fell down and bruised himself 
 so severely that he died soon after, in 1595. 
 
 His works are — A Poem of Chemistry, and a Poem of 
 the Philosopher's Stone ; both inserted in the Theatrum 
 Chymicum Bi itannicum, 1652. De Lapide Philosophorum, 
 Hamburg, 1676, Svo. but it is questioned whether he is the 
 author of this ; he was, however, certainly the author of 
 several discourses in " a true and faithful Relation of what 
 passed for many Years between Dr. John Dee and the same 
 Spirits," &c. Lond. 1659, folio, published by Dr. Meric 
 Casaubon. There are Fragmenta Aliquot, edita a Com- 
 bacis, Geismar, 1647, 12mo. ; also, Ed. Kelleii Epistola 
 ad Edwardum Dyer, and other little things of Kelley, in MS. 
 in Biblioth. Ashmol. Oxon. See Green's Worcester, Append. 
 
 Robert Abbot, 
 Was a Lecturer in the city of Worcester, and Rector of 
 All Saints Church there, April 7, 1589, (Eliz.) to which he
 
 89 
 
 was recommended by Bishop Whitgift. Among other works 
 he wrote "The Mirror of Popish Subtilties; discovering 
 certain wretched and miserable Evasions and Shifts, which 
 a secret cavilling Papist, in the behalf of one Paul Spence, 
 Priest, yet living, and lately Prisoner in the Castle of Wor- 
 cester, hath gathered out of Saunders and Bellarmine, &c. 
 concerning the Sacraments, &c." Lond. 1594. This he 
 dedicated to Whitgift, who had recommended him to the 
 preferment he held in this city, and to Fletcher, then Bishop 
 of Worcester. Abbot was born at Guildford, Surrey, in 
 1560, and died soon after the year 1615. 
 
 James Montague, S.T. P. Dean of Worcester, 1604, 
 
 Was Master of Sydney College, Cambridge, and soon 
 after his advancement to this deanery, was appointed Dean 
 of the King's Chapel, Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1608, 
 and translated from thence to Winchester, l6l6, and dying 
 1618, was buried in the Abbey Church, Bath. 
 
 John Thorn borough, Bishop of Worcester, 1616, 
 Was also Bishop of Bristol ; he was bora at Salisbury in 
 1542, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He 
 obtained a chaplainship at Court, and in 1539 the deanery 
 of York. In 1593 he was consecrated Bishop of Limerick, 
 and in 1603 was removed to Bristol, with leave of holding 
 York deanery in commendam. He was a great adept in 
 chemistry, and wrote a tract concerning the Philosopher's 
 Stone, &c. and was well furnished with learning, wisdom, 
 and courage, and other, as well episcopal as temporal, ac- 
 complishments. He died of extreme old age in July, 1641, 
 at Hartlebury, and was buried in his Cathedral, where his 
 monument is still preserved, with several inscriptions, a part 
 of one of which is now incomprehensible to the reader. See 
 Chambers's Worcester, p. 140. 
 
 He had issue, by his first wife, Sir Benj. Thornborough, 
 Knight, and Edward Thornborough, Archdeacon of Wor- 
 cester, who died 1 645 ; and by his second wife, Sir Thomas 
 
 N
 
 90 
 
 Thornborough, of Elmley-Lovet, Worcestershire, &c. &c. : 
 he had also a nephew, Giles Thornborough, M. A. Preben- 
 dary of Worcester 1629, who died 1663 .* A little before 
 the Bishop's death he told his Majesty King Charles I. that 
 he had outlived several that had expected to succeed him in 
 the see of Worcester ; " and now (said he) I am afraid I 
 shall outlive my bishopric," which almost had come to pass. 
 
 Thomas Abingdon, or Habington, 
 An early Historian of this County. He was descended 
 from a Roman Catholic family ;f his grand-father was Rich- 
 ard Habington, or Abingdon, of Brockhampton in Hereford- 
 shire ; his father, John, second son of Richard, and Cofferer 
 to Queen Elizabeth, was born 1515, and died 1531; he 
 bought the manor of Hinlip in Worcestershire, and re-built 
 the mansion-house about 1572. His son, the subject of 
 this memoir, was born at Thorpe, near Chertsey, in Surrey, 
 Aug. 23, 1560. At about the age of 16 years he was ad- 
 mitted a Commoner of Lincoln College, Oxford, and after 
 about three years of study there, was sent to the Universities 
 of Rheims and Paris. On his return to this country he in- 
 volved himself with the party who laboured to relieve Mary 
 Queen of Scots, which occasioned him to be sent to the 
 Tower, on a suspicion of being concerned in Babington's 
 conspiracy. During this imprisonment, which lasted six 
 years, he employed his time in study, and profited more in 
 this seclusion, in several sorts of learning, than he had before 
 done in all his life. Being at length released, and his life 
 
 * In a note to this article in Wood's Athenae, vol. 3, p. 6, is mentioned 
 another " Giles Thornborough, M. A. Rector of Orston George, Wiltshire, 
 and Vicar of Crowle, had the second stall in Worcester Cathedral ; he died in 
 1668, and was buried at Crowle." Willis's Cathedrals, p. 669. Bishop 
 Thornborough had also a brother named Giles. A W 7 illiam Thornborough, 
 in 1660, was Prebendary of the eighth stall in Worcester Cathedral. — See 
 llarleian MSS. 
 
 + " In this parish (St. John's, Bedwardine) lived Mr. Win. de Habington, 
 from whom descended the families of that name iu the counties of Worcester, 
 Gloucester, and Dorset." — Nash.
 
 91 
 
 saved, as it is supposed on account of his being the godson 
 of Queen Elizabeth, he retired to Hinlip, which had been 
 settled upon him by his father, in consideration of his mar- 
 riage with Mary, eldest daughter of Edward Parker, Lord 
 Morley, by Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Wm. 
 Stanley, Lord Monteagle. 
 
 On the detection of the Gunpowder Plot, he again fell 
 under the displeasure of Government, by concealing Garnet 
 and Oldcorn, agents in that affair, who were found in his 
 house at Hinlip, and he was again committed to the Tower, 
 and condemned to die, but pardoned by the intercession, 
 says Dr. Nash, of his wife's father, Lord Morley. Mary 
 the wife of Habington is supposed, by some, to have been 
 the person who wrote the letter to her brother, Wm. Parker, 
 (he being Lord Monteagle in his father's life, in right of his 
 mother, and after his father's death, Lord Morley also,) in 
 order to save his life at the intended massacre. It is plain 
 (continues he) Lord Monteagle, though a zealous Catholic, 
 did not know of the Gunpowder Plot.* 
 
 * In what manner (says Mr. Smith, in the Antiquities of Westminster) the 
 Powder Plot was providentially discovered, by means of a letter to Lord 
 Monteagle, the son of Lord Morley, and who probably was a Member of the 
 House of Commons, warning him to be absent, and delivered to his servant in 
 the street, has long been known ; but it remained, till very lately, undiscover- 
 ed that this intimation came from a lady, and that affection for a brother 
 prompted the warning, while love for a husband, unfortunately privy to the 
 plot, suggested such means as were best calculated to secure him from detec- 
 tion. This lady, who, on more accounts than one, deserves to be remem- 
 bered and celebrated, was Mary, the wife of Thomas Abingdon, of Hinlip, in 
 the county of Worcester, and eldest of three daughters of Lord Morley, 
 and consequently eldest sister of Lord Monteagle, of Greenwich. — Mrs. Abing- 
 don was at one time Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth, 
 anno 1557, and a great favourite of the Queen ; she was therefore buried at 
 the expense of her Majesty. 
 
 Mr. Smith then proceeds in his narrative, as if there had been a doubt, 
 which there never was, of Habington's guilt, and afterwards continues thus : — 
 " Mr. Green, in his History of Worcester, vol. 2, p. 102, says, ' Mr. Abing- 
 don's wife, daughter of Lord Morley, is supposed to have written that letter 
 to her brother, Lord Monteagle, which warned him of the impending danger 
 •f the Powder Plot, and was also meant to save him from the intended mas-
 
 92 
 
 The condition of Habington's pardon was, that he should 
 never stir out of Worcestershire : with this he appears to 
 have complied,* and devoted his time, among other pur- 
 suits, to the History and Antiquities of this County ; of 
 which he left three folio volumes of Parochial Antiquities, in 
 MS. two of Miscellaneous Collections, and one relating to 
 the Cathedral : these received additions from his son, and 
 afterwards from Dr. Thomas, Avho gave 20 guineas for the 
 collection, of whom they were purchased by Bishop Lytlel- 
 ton, and presented to the Society of Antiquaries. These 
 papers formed the foundation of Dr. Nash's elaborate His- 
 tory, but, if we may trust the character given of them by 
 Dr. Wm. Hopkins, were of no great value; for "he is sure, 
 by what he has seen, that there are many great defects and 
 errors in them ; that Mr. Abingdon never had access to the 
 Cottonian Library ; that he was no Saxonist, and had taken 
 many things upon trust ; that his style was ill, and his way 
 
 sacre ; but as no reasons are there given for the supposition, it was thought 
 necessary to state the above facts.' " Ibid p. 42. 
 
 Dr. Nash, under the head Hinlip, p. 585, says, " Tradition in this country 
 informs us that she was the person who wrote the letter to her brother which 
 discovered the Gunpowder Plot. Percy, whose picture is at Hinlip, was 
 very intimate both with Abingdon and Lord Monteagle, and is supposed, by 
 Guthrie, to have written the letter ; but the style of it seems to be that of one 
 who had only heard some dark hints of the business, which perhaps was the 
 case cf Mrs. Abingdon, and not of one who Mas a principal mover in the 
 whole, as was Percy, a desperado, who thought himself personally otTended, 
 and was fit for the most horrid designs." The original letter, now preserved 
 in the Paper Office, Whitehall, is exactly copied by Rapin ; the beginning of 
 it is, " Love I bear to you," but the word you is scratched out, and it goes 
 on, "to some of your friends ;" perhaps this might be cautiously erased by 
 Mrs. Abingdon, lest it might lead to a discovery of the writer, by savouring 
 too strongly of brotherly love. The letter indeed seems to be in a counter- 
 feit hand, and not that of a lady. 
 
 The house in which Lord Monteagle resided at the time of his receiving the 
 letter respecting the Gunpowder Plot, in the year 1605, is yet, in part, stand- 
 ing.— It is situated in Monteagle-close, in the Borough, and is occupied by a 
 cooper, who has converted what ground remains attached to it to the purpose 
 of his business. — Courier, 1818. 
 
 > By the Court interest of his brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle, Habington 
 was rescued from a lingering imprisonment. Har. MS.
 
 93 
 
 of writing so tedious that it was necessary to write the book 
 anew, in a great part, to lit it for the press." 
 
 Abingdon's Antiquities of Worcester, Lichfield, and Co- 
 ventry, were advertised, by Curl, 1729, at five shillings. 
 Anth. Wood says, that Ha'oington had a hand in the History 
 of Edward IV. published afterwards in the name of his son, 
 the poet, (see his article,) vhom he survived, and died Aug. 
 8, 1647, at Hinlip, at the advanced age of 87- He also 
 wrote an Account of the Cathedral and Bishops of Worces- 
 ter, which was printed m 1717, and re-published with addi- 
 tions, by an editor unknown, in 1723, 8vo. ; and a transla- 
 tion of Gildas " de excidio Britannia?," with a large pre- 
 face, Svo. Lond. 1638. This translation and preface were 
 made during his lingering imprisonment for matters relative 
 to the Popish Plot * 
 
 A. Wood also informs us, flat Edward, a younger brother 
 of this Thos. Habmgton, who was also engaged in the trea- 
 sons of Mary Queen of Scots, a person of turbulent spirit 
 and nature, was, with others, executed in St. Giles's in the 
 Fields, near London, Sept. 20, 1586; at which time he cast 
 out threats and terrors of the bood that was ere long to be 
 shed in England. 
 
 -&' 
 
 Richard Fowns, 
 A Native of this county, wts the son of a minister, and 
 born in 1560; elected Student of Christ Church 1577, took 
 the degree of Arts, became Clnplain to Prince Henry, B. 
 and D. D. 1605, and about tha; time (1602, Nash) Rector 
 of Stoke-upon-Severn in his own county, where he was 
 buried in the church, Nov. 25, 1625 ; and soon after was 
 put a monument over his grave, with an inscription thereon, 
 but so miserably defaced in the civil war, 17 years after, as 
 to be no longer legible when A. Wood wrote. He was the 
 author of Trisagion, or the three Offices of Christ, Lond. 
 
 * For a curious account of Hinlip House, the discovery of a casket and 
 the plotters Garnet and Hall, &c. see Dr. Nash's Worcestershire, vol. 1, page 
 583, and the pedigree of Habington, p. 588.
 
 94 
 
 1619; qu. (Bodl. 4to. F. 9, Th.) A Latin Sermon of one 
 Richard Fownes, preached on 2 TJiess. 2, 3, 4, was publish- 
 ed in 1660. Query, if by our author. 
 
 Sir Edwin jIandys, 
 A Native of this county, th^ second son of Archbishop 
 Sandys, was, according to WoodJboru in this city about 1561 , 
 and admitted of Corpus ChristiCollege, Oxford, at sixteen, 
 wuder the celebrated Hooker. | After taking his degree of 
 B. A. he was made Probation^ Fellow in 1579, and was 
 collated in 1581 to a prebend/ in the Church of York; he 
 then completed his degree of M. A. and travelled into foreign 
 countries, and at his return \Jas esteemed for learning, vir- 
 tue, and prudence. He appears afterwards to have studied 
 the Law. While he was at Ifaris, he drew up a tract under 
 the title of " Europae Specjluin,"* which he finished in 
 
 1599; an imperfect copy of 
 
 which was published without 
 
 the author's name or consent, in 1605, and was soon followed 
 by another impression. Bui the author, after he had used 
 all means to suppress these :rroneous copies and to punish 
 the printers of them, at lengti caused a true copy to be pub- 
 lished, a little time before hs death in 1629, 4to. under this 
 title, " Europae Speculum ; or, a View or Survey of the 
 State of Religion in the Weslern Parts of the World ; where- 
 in the Romane Religion, and the pregnant Policies of the 
 Church of Rome to suppor the same, are notably displayed, 
 •with some other memorably Discoveries and Memorations, 
 never before till now published, according to the Author's 
 
 original Copie. Multuni 
 
 diucjue desideratum. 
 
 Hagae 
 
 * Two circumstances concerning this book are not commonly known — 
 
 1. That in writing it he was greatl' assisted by the conversation of F. Paul. 
 
 2. That F. Paul himself translated he book into Italian, with additions, from 
 whence it was translated into Frenjb, by Diodati, of Geneva, with the title of 
 " Relation de 1'Estat de la ReligiJn," &c. For both these facts I have the 
 authority of II. Grotius, who wisjed for a Dutch version of the tract. See 
 Grotius's Epistles in the Appendix, No. 388 and 395, p. 865 and 866.— 
 See Corrections by Dr. Nash onj his History of Worcestershire, page 29, 
 in volume 2.
 
 95 
 
 Comitis, 1629. To this edition was a preface, which had 
 been omitted in the latter editions, though some passages 
 of it were printed in that of 1637, 4to. It was also reprinted 
 in 1673, and translated both into Italian and French. 
 
 In May, 1602, he resigned his prebend, and in May, 1603, 
 received the honour of knighthood from James I. who after- 
 wards employed him in several affairs of great trust and im- 
 portance. Fuller tells us, "that he was dextrous in the 
 management of such things, constant in Parliament as the 
 Speaker himself, kept time with him in the chair, and esteem- 
 ed by all as an excellent patriot." " Faithful to his country, 
 (says Wood) without any falsehood to his Prince." It ap- 
 pears, however, that for some opposition to the Court in the 
 Parliament of 1621, he was committed, with Selden, to the 
 custody of the Sheriff of London in June that year, and de- 
 tained above a month, which was highly resented by the 
 House of Commons, as a breach of their privileges ; but Sir 
 George Calvert, Secretary of State, declaring that neither 
 Sandys nor Selden had been imprisoned for any Parliament- 
 ary matter, a stop was put to the dispute. 
 
 Sir Edwin was Treasurer to the Undertakers of the Western- 
 Plantations, and had a principal hand in settling Bermudas. 
 He died in October, 1629, and was interred at Northborne r 
 in Kent, where he had a seat and an estate, granted him by 
 James I. for some services done at that King's accession to 
 the Throne. A monument, now in a mutilated state, was 
 erected to his memory, but without any inscription. He 
 bequeathed £1,500 to the University of Oxford, for the en- 
 dowment of a Metaphysical Lecture. 
 
 He left five sons, all of whom, except one, adhered to the 
 Parliament during the civil wars. Henry, the eldest, died 
 without issue ; Edwin, the second, was the well known Par- 
 liamentary Colonel, of whose outrages much may be read in 
 the publications of the times, and who, receiving a mortal 
 wound at the battle of Worcester, in 1642, retired to North- 
 borne to die, leaving the estate to his son Sir Richard, who 
 was killed by the accidental explosion of his fowling-piece.
 
 90 
 
 in 1663. His son, Sir Richard, was created a Baronet in 
 16S4 and dying in 1726, without male issue, was the last 
 of the family who lived at Northborne, where the mansion 
 remained many years deserted, and at length was pulled 
 down. 
 
 There was one Sir Edwin Sandys, who published, as 
 Wood informs us, " Sacred Hymns, consisting of 50 select 
 Psalms of David, set to be sung in five Parts by Robert 
 Taylor," and printed at London, l6l5, in 4to.; but whether 
 this version was by the subject of this article, or by another 
 of both his names, of Latimers in Buckinghamshire, is un- 
 certain. See George Sands, or Sandys. 
 
 Lewis Bayly, 
 
 A native of Caermarthen in Wales, and Fellow of Jesus 
 College, Oxford; was Minister of Evesham in l6ll. In 
 1613 he became D. D. and being eminent as a preacher, 
 he was successively made Chaplain to Prince Henry, Rec- 
 tor of St. Matthew's, Friday-street, London, and lastly one 
 of the Chaplains to James I. He was elected to the see of 
 Bangor in l6l6. He wrote a book, in high esteem, en- 
 titled "The Practice of Piety." He died October 6, 
 1631, and was buried at Bangor. Godwin de Praes, 
 page 628. 
 
 William Swaddon, or Swadon, Archdeacon of 
 Worcester, 1610, 
 
 Was of New College, Oxford ; he died Aug. 2, 1623, 
 and was buried, as Wood supposes, in the north aisle of the 
 Cathedral of Worcester, which adjoined to the parlour of the 
 senior prebend. He was the author of Latin (funeral) 
 Verses on the death of Queen Anne, wife of King James I. 
 by which it appears he was Chaplain to her Majesty. 
 
 Arthur Lake, Dean of Worcester, 1608, 
 Brother to Sir Thos. Lake, Knight, Principal Secretary 
 of State to King James. He was Fellow of New College,
 
 97 
 
 Oxford, Master of St. Cross, Winchester, and Archdeacon 
 of Surrey. In l6l6 he was made Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells ; he Mas eminent for his learning, and esteemed one 
 of the best textuarists of his time. He died lG'26. Whilst 
 Dean of Worcester he accomplished what was designed by 
 Dean Eede- — the redemption of the meadows. 
 
 Henry Bright, Prebendary of Worcester, 1619, 
 A Native of this city, was 40 years Master of the King's 
 or College School of \Y orcester, and an excellent preacher ; 
 he was educated at Baliol College, Oxon, and admitted 
 M. A. Jan. 27, I08G. In his profession of schoolmaster he 
 made it his business to delight, and, though in easy circum- 
 stances, continued to teach for the sake of doing good, by 
 benefitting the families of the neighbouring gentlemen, who 
 thought themselves happy in having their sons educated by 
 him. " For my own part (says Fuller, who has recorded his 
 epitaph,) I behold this Master Bright placed by Divine 
 Providence in this city in the Marches, that he might equally 
 communicate the lustre of grammar learning to vouth both 
 of England and Wales.'' " I have endeavoured (says Dr. 
 Nash, in his Life of Butler,) to revive the memory of this 
 great and good teacher, wishing to excite a laudable emula- 
 tion in our provincial schoolmasters — a race of men who, if 
 they execute their trust with abilities, industry, and in a 
 proper manner, deserve the highest honour and patronage 
 their country can bestow, as they have an opportunity of 
 communicating learning at a moderate expense to the mid- 
 dle ranks of gentry, without the danger of ruining their for- 
 tunes, and corrupting their morals or their health." 
 
 " The posterity of Bright (says Wood in his Fasti.) do 
 now live in genteel fashion in Worcestershire." He was 
 the proprietor of a considerable estate in the parish of Col- 
 wall, county of Hereford, called Brockbury, which continues, 
 we believe, at this time in his name and family. Bright 
 died in 16<26, and was buried in the Cathedral of Worcester ; 
 his epitaph was composed by Dr. Joseph Hall, then Dean 
 of Worcester. 
 
 o
 
 98 
 
 Francis Hicks, or Hyckes, 
 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Richard Hicks,, 
 an arras weaver, of Barcheston, commonly called Barston, 
 in Warwickshire ; he was born, 1566, at Tredington, in 
 Worcestershire, and in 1579 entered of St. Mary's Hall, 
 Oxford, which he left, after taking his Bachelor's Degree, 
 and appears to have lived the life of a country gentleman, 
 relieving his agricultural pursuits by study. His favourite 
 object was the Greek language. He died while on a visit 
 to a relation at Sutton, in Gloucestershire, Jan. 9, 1630. 
 His translation of Lucian was published by his son Thomas 
 Hicks,* A. M. Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1634, 
 4to. who also presented to the Library of that College 
 MS. translations, by his father, of Thucydides and Herodian. 
 The Life of Lucian and the notes were written by this son, 
 who died young in 1634, and had been, as Wood says, 
 esteemed a good poet and an excellent limner. See Wood's 
 Athena?, vol. 2, p. 4Q0. 
 
 John Charlet, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1607, 
 Is, I presume, the same person who is mentioned as the 
 Incumbent of Overbury in 16 15, and who also held the 
 living of Norton, both in this county, in 1620. I find also in 
 Nash, vol. 1, p. 24, " that in the year 1625 the Right Wor- 
 shipful John Charlet, Doctor of Divinity, did procure of the 
 Dean and Chapter of Worcester £5, for the pious use of 
 making the wooden bridge and causey in Hawbridge Green, 
 and the said sum was delivered to George Allen, Curate of 
 Houlton, who therewith, and with 5s. 4d. of his own money, 
 did make the same accordingly in the year 1625." 
 
 The name of Chartlett or Charlet frequently occurs in the 
 History of Worcestershire. Francis Chartlet, M. A. 
 was a Prebendary of this Cathedral in 1627. In Aubrey's 
 Letters, from the Bodleian Library, an entertaining account 
 
 ' This translation was of certain select Dialogues of Lucian, with the life 
 ■if Lucian prefixed.
 
 99 
 
 is given of one Arthur Charlett, to whom, says this account, 
 Queen Anne gave a stall in Worcester Cathedral, in 1713. 
 This must be a mistake, as there is no such person as Arthur 
 Charlett, nor any person of that surname, mentioned in the 
 list of Prebendaries so late as the year 1713. 
 
 Richard Thornton, D. D. Preb. of Worcester, lGll, 
 Canon of Christ Church, admitted D. D. June, 1608, 
 and dying Jan. 1, 1(314, was buried in the Cathedral of 
 Christ Church, Oxon. 
 
 William Bradsiiaw, M. A. 
 
 Was bom 1571, at Market Bos worth, in Leicestershire, 
 and received the early part of his education at Worcester 
 Free School. He was afterwards admitted to Emanuel 
 College, Cambridge, the master of which, Dr. Chaderton, 
 procured him the situation of tutor to the children of Sir 
 Thos. Leighton, and afterwards a Fellowship of Sydney Sus- 
 sex College, then newly founded. He preached as a Lec- 
 turer at Abingdon and at Steeple Morton, and in lGOl set- 
 tled at Chatham. He was suspended by Bishop Whitgift, 
 on his refusal to subscribe, but afterwards obtained permis- 
 sion of Dr. Overton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, to 
 preach any w here in his diocese ; and at length coming to 
 London was chosen Lecturer of Christ Church, Newgate 
 Street. He was obliged to leave this city on his publishing 
 a Treatise against the Ceremonies, and died while on a visit at 
 Chelsea in l6l8. Bishop Hall and others have borne testi- 
 mony to the sincerity of his professions and the simplicity 
 of his character. He published several works relative to 
 Nonconformity, &c. an account of which may be seen in 
 his not uninteresting life, written by the Rev. Thos. Gataker, 
 of Rotherhithe, and in Neale's History of the Puritans. 
 
 Thomas Allen, 
 Probably a Native of this county, was born in 1573, and 
 was educated at the King's School at Worcester, from which
 
 100 
 
 he was removed, in 1589, to Brazenose College, Oxford; 
 he was elected Probationer Fellow of Merton College in 
 [-5Q8, and afterwards went into orders. Instead of preach- 
 ing he applied himself to the abstruse and critical parts of 
 learning and philosophy, and became a noted disputant. 
 This recommended him to the esteem of Sir Henry Saville, 
 who represents him as a very learned man, and no less skil- 
 led in the Greek learning than in Divinity, and by whose in- 
 terest he obtained a Fellowship of Eton College in 1604. 
 He assisted Sir Henry Saville in his elaborate History of St. 
 Chrysostom, by contributing " Observationes in libellum 
 Chrvsostomi in Esaiam :" he also assisted that Gentleman 
 in his Annotations on that Father's Homilies on the Evan- 
 gelists. He died Oct. 10, 1(538,* and was buried in Eton 
 College Chapel. Allen was a benefactor, in books, to the 
 Libraries of Brazenose and Merton Colleges. This Divine 
 must be carefully distinguished from Thomas Allen of Trin- 
 ity College, Oxon, his cotemporary, born at Uttoxeter. 
 
 Robert Wakeman, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Thomas Wake- 
 man, of Fliford Flavel, and born in 1576; he became a 
 Student of Baliol College in the beginning of 1590, and 
 was made Chaplain-Fellow thereof July 17, 1596, being- 
 then B. A. ; about that time he entered into orders, and was at 
 length made Reetor of Beer Ferres, and afterwards of Charl- 
 ton in Devon, and took the degrees in Divinity. He was 
 Prebendary of Exeter in 1616, and dying in Sept. 1629, 
 was buried on the south of the chancel of the church at Beer 
 Ferres, on the 19th, leaving behind him several children, 
 who were all, in the beginning of the civil war, persuaded 
 from their religion to that of Rome, by one Captain Rich. 
 Read, as it was supposed, who was quartered in the house 
 where they lived, and who married one of the Doctor's 
 daughters ; they afterwards retired into Worcestershire, 
 where, says Wood, they, or at least their issue, now live. 
 
 * Or in 1636.— -Recs's Cyclopaedia.
 
 101 
 
 Wakeman was the author of several sermons, the titles of 
 which may be seen in A. Wood's Athena.', vol. 2, p. 471. 
 
 John Hanmer, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1613, 
 Was born in Shropshire 1576, was admitted Fellow of 
 All Souls from that of Oriel in 1596, elected Bishop of St. 
 Asaph 1623, and died at Pentrepant, near Oswestry, Shrop- 
 shire, July 23, 1621). 
 
 Christopher Helme, Chancellor of Worcester, 16 IS, 
 
 Of Merton College, Oxford, was in 1607 Rector of Bre- 
 don in Worcestershire. 
 
 John Worfield, 
 A benefactor to the city of Worcester, for an account of 
 whose bounty* see Chambers's Worcester, p. 281. 
 
 John Pride a ux, Bishop of Worcester, 1641, 
 Was born at Stowford in the parish of Harford, near Ivy- 
 bridge in Devonshire, Sept. 17, 1578, and was the fourth of 
 seven sons of his father, who being in mean circumstances 
 with so large a family, young Prideaux, after he had learned 
 to write and read, having a good voice, stood candidate For 
 the place of parish clerk of the church of Ugborow, near 
 Harford. Mr. Price informs us that " he had a competitor 
 for the office, who had made great interest in the parish for 
 himself, and was likely to carry the place from him. The 
 parishioners being divided in the matter did at length agree 
 in this, being unwilling to disoblige either party, that the 
 Lord's day following should be the day of trial; the one 
 should tune the psalm in the forenoon, the other in the after- 
 
 * The following Advertisement relating to the above is extracted from the 
 Worcester Journal, May 4, 1748 : — 
 
 " Notice is hereby given — That upon Ascension day next ensuing, proper 
 persons will attend at the Town Hall in the city of Worcester, at three o'clock 
 in the afternoon, for the examination of such Scholars as shall oflfer Iheirt- 
 selves for the vacant exhibitions, in order to their being elected and admitted 
 thereto, according to the will of the benefactor."
 
 102 
 
 noon, and he that did best please the people should have the 
 place ; which accordingly was done, and Prideaux lost it, to 
 his very great grief and trouble. Upon which, after he be- 
 came advanced to one of the first dignities of the church, 
 he would frequently make this reflection, saying, ' If I could 
 but have been Clerk of Ugborow, I had never been Bishop 
 of Worcester.'" 
 
 Disappointed in this office, a lady of the parish, mother of 
 Sir Edmund Towel, maintained him at school till he had 
 gained some knowledge of the Latin tongue, when he travel- 
 led to Oxford, and at first lived in a very mean station in 
 Exeter College, doing servile offices in the kitchen, and pro- 
 secuting his studies at his leisure hours ; till at last he was 
 taken notice of in the College, and admitted a Member of 
 it in Act Term, 1596, under the tuition of Mr. William 
 Helme, B. D. 
 
 In 1615, after taking his degrees, he was made Regius 
 Professor of Divinity, and consequently became Canon of 
 Christ Church, and Rector of Ewelme in Oxfordshire, and 
 afterwards discharged the office of Vice Chancellor of the 
 University for several years. In the rectorship of his Col- 
 lege he behaved himself in such a manner that it nourished 
 more than any other in the University, more foreigners com- 
 ma: thither for the benefit of his instruction than ever was 
 known ; and in this situation he showed himself a stout 
 champion against Socinus and Arminius, which being dis- 
 relished by some who were then rising and in authority at 
 Court, a faction thereupon grew up in the University be- 
 tween those called Puritans, or Calvinists, on the one side, 
 and the Remonstrants, commonly called Arminians, on the 
 other ; which, with other matters of the like nature, being 
 not only fomented in the University but throughout the na- 
 tion, all things thereupon were thrown into confusion. 
 
 He was appointed to Worcester through the recommend- 
 ation of the Marquis of Hamilton, who had been one of 
 his pupils ; but the Rebellion was at that time so far ad- 
 vanced, that he received little or no profit from it, to his
 
 103 
 
 great impoverishment : for, adhering stedfastly to his Ma- 
 jesty's cause, and pronouncing all those of his diocese who 
 took up arms against him excommunicate, he was plundered 
 and reduced to such straits that he was obliged to sell his 
 excellent library. Dr. Gauden said of him, " that he now 
 became literally a helluo librorum, being obliged to turn his 
 books into bread for his children." He seems to have 
 borne this barbarous usage with patience, and even good 
 humour. On one occasion, when a friend came to see him,, 
 and asked him how he did ? he answered, " Never better 
 in my life, only I have too great a stomach ; for I have eaten 
 the little plate which the sequestrators left me ; I have eaten 
 a great library of excellent books; I have eaten a great deal 
 of linen, much of my brass, some of my pewter, and now I 
 am come to eat my iron, and what will come next I know 
 not." So great was his poverty about this time that he 
 would have attended the Conference with the King, at the 
 Isle of Wight, but could not afford the means of travelling, 
 being only allowed 4s. 6d. a week for his support.* 
 
 He died of a fever, at Bredon in Worcestershire, at the 
 house of his son-in-law, Dr. Henry Sutton,f July 20, 1650, 
 leaving to his children no legacy but " pious poverty, God's 
 blessing, and a father's prayers," as appears from his last 
 will and testament. His body was attended to the grave by 
 persons of all ranks and degrees, and was interred in the 
 chancel of the church at Bredon. He was extremely hum- 
 ble, and kept part of the ragged clothes in which he came 
 to Oxford in the same wardrobe where he lodged his rochet, 
 in which he left that University. He was exemplary in his 
 charity, and very agreeable in conversation. 
 
 By his first wife, Mary, daughter of Dr. Taylor, burnt for 
 
 * Yet we learn that Usher, driven from the Primacy of Ireland by the 
 Puritans, resided about the year 16-15 in the house of his friend, Dr. Prideaux, 
 Bishop of Worcester, where he occupied himself in preparing an edition of 
 the Epistles of Barnabas and Ignatius, and generally preaching every Sabbath 
 day in some of the churches. 
 
 + Webb, according to Dr. Nash.
 
 104 
 
 the Protestant religion in the reign of Queen Mary, he had 
 five sons and two daughters, viz. Sarah, married to William 
 Hodlges, Archdeacon of Worcester, and Rector of Ripple in 
 Worcestershire ; and Elizabeth, married to Dr. Henry Sut- 
 ton, Rector of Bredon in this county. He had for his se- 
 cond wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Reynal, of West 
 Orwell in Devonshire, Knight. Cleveland the Poet wrote 
 :m elegy upon his death. 
 
 Dr. Prideaux was considered to be a man of deep learn- 
 ing, and his works were very numerous in the Latin tongue ; 
 he also wrote several sermons. See his epitaph in Bredon 
 church, also his portrait in Nash's Worcestershire. 
 
 Thomas, Lord Coventry, Lord Keeper, 
 
 A Native of this county, was the eldest son of Thomas 
 Coventry, one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. 
 He was born at Croome D'Abitot in 1578, and at 14 years 
 of age became a Gentleman Commoner in Baliol College, 
 Oxford, when, having continued about three years, he was 
 removed to the Inner Temple, in order to pursue his father's 
 steps in the study of the common law. In 16 16 he was 
 riiosen Autumn Reader of that Society, on the 1 7th Nov. 
 the same year appointed Recorder of the City of London, 
 and on the 14th of March following Solicitor General, and 
 received the honour of knighthood two days after at Theo- 
 balds. Jan. 14, 16'20 — 1, he was made Attorney General, 
 and thence advanced to the office of Lord Keeper of the 
 Great Seal of England, by King Charles I. on the 1st Nov. 
 l()25 \ and on the 10th April, 1628, dignified with the de- 
 gree of a Baron of this realm, by the title of Baron Coventry, 
 of Ailesborough. 
 
 lie died at Durham House, in the Strand, on the 14th 
 Jan. 1639 — 40, and was interred in the church of Croome 
 D'Abitot on the 1st of March following, after he had con- 
 tinued in his post of Lord Keeper, with an universal repu- 
 tation for his exact administration of justice, for the space of 
 about 16 years, which was another important circumstance
 
 105 
 
 of his felicity, that great office being of a tenure so precarious 
 that no man had died in it before for near the space of 40 
 years ; nor had his successors for some time after him, much 
 better fortune. See his character at length in Clarendon's 
 History of the Rebellion, and a list of his works in the seve- 
 ral Biographical Dictionaries. 
 
 Echard relates, that Lord Coventry sent the following 
 request to King Charles I. when upon his death-bed—" That 
 his Majesty would take all distastes from the Parliament, 
 summoned against next April, 1639, with patience, and suiter 
 it to sit without an unkind resolution." The celebrated Lady 
 Pakington was a daughter of the Lord Keeper Coventry. 
 
 John Wilde, or Wyld, 
 A Native of this county, was the eldest son of a lawyer, 
 as his father is said to have been, Serjeant George Wilde, of 
 Droitwich, in Worcestershire. He was of Baliol College, 
 Oxford, and in 1610, when he took his degree of M. A. was 
 a Student in the Inner Temple ; of this society he became 
 Lent Reader, 6 Car. 1, afterwards a Serjeant at Law, one 
 of the Commissioners of the Great Seal in 1643, and in Octo- 
 ber 1648, Chief Baron of the Exchequer and one of the 
 Council of State.* In 1641 he drew up the impeachment 
 against the Bishops and presented it to the House of Lords, 
 and was prime manager not only in that, but on the trial of 
 Archbishop Laud. " He was the same also," says Wood, 
 " who, upon the command, or rather desire, of the great men 
 sitting at Westminster, did condemn to death, at Winchester, 
 one Captain John Burley, for causing a drum to be beat up 
 for God and King Charles, at Newport in the Isle of Wight, 
 in order to rescue his captive King, in 1647." Wood adds, 
 that after the execution of Burley, Wilde was rewarded with 
 .£1000. out of the privy purse at Derby House, and had the 
 
 * " That on many of the Parliament side doubting their right to make a 
 new Seal, the King being in possession of the proper one at Oxford, Serjeant 
 Wilde had, with much confidence, averred their legal power to make a Seal, 
 which was at length done." — Clarendon. 
 
 P
 
 106 
 
 same sum for saving the life of Major Edmund Rolph, who 
 had a design to have murdered the King. When Oliver be- 
 came Protector, "he retired and acted not ;" but after Rich. 
 Cromwell had been deposed, he was restored to the Exche- 
 quer. On the Restoration he was, of course, obliged to re- 
 sign again, and lived in retirement at Hampstead, where he 
 died about 1669, and was buried at Wherwill in Hampshire, 
 the seat of Charles, Lord de la Ware, who had married his 
 daughter. 
 
 Wdde married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Harry, of 
 Tonge Castle, Serjeant at Law and Baronet, who died in 
 1624, aged only 16, being newly delivered of her first-born. 
 She lies buried in Tonge Church, in Staffordshire. 
 
 Such are the particulars Wood has given of this Lawyer, 
 and they are in general supported by Clarendon and other 
 coternporary authorities, and attempted to be contradicted 
 only by Oldmixon and Neal. Oldmixon's evidence will not 
 be thought to weigh much against Clarendon's. Neal 
 calls him "a great lawyer, and of unblemished morals; and 
 after the restoration of King Charles II. was made Lord 
 Chief Baron, and esteemed a grave and venerable Judge." 
 But it is grossly improbable that such a man should have 
 been thus promoted, and it is besides expressly contrary to 
 fact; for Sir Orlando Bridgeman was Chief Baron at the 
 trial of the Regicides, and was succeeded by Judge Hale : 
 it was the Rump Parliament only who bestowed the honour 
 on Wilde. Neale perhaps, we know others have, confound- 
 ed his favourite hero Serjeant Wilde, which was his only 
 legitimate title, with Sir Win, Wild, who was Recorder of 
 London in 1659, created a Baronet Sept. 13, 1660, and who 
 ■was a Justice of the Common Pleas, afterwards of the 
 King's Bench, and author of Yelverton's Reports, and who 
 died Nov. 23, 1679-* 
 
 * " Chief Baron Wilde was very laborious in the service of the Parliament, 
 and stiff for them, and had sustained great loss and hatred by adhering to them 
 in all matters. He was learned in his profession, but of more reading than 
 depth of judgment ; and I never heard of any injustice or incivility of him. 
 The Parliament made him Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, which place
 
 107 
 
 Nathaniel Giles, 
 A Native of this county, was a Musician, and as noted for 
 his religious life and conversation (a rarity, saith Wood, in 
 musicians,) as for the excellent faculty, was bom in or near 
 to this city. He was one of the Organists at St. George's 
 Chapel, Windsor, and Master of the boys there ; was famous 
 for his composition of Divine Hymns and Anthems, the 
 words of some of which are to be met with in a book enti- 
 tled, Divine Services, or Anthems sung in the Cathedrals 
 and Collegiate Choirs in the Church of England ; published 
 by James Clifford, 1663. He was a Bachelor of Music, 
 and licensed to proceed in that faculty. On July 5, 1622, 
 he was made Doctor of Music. In 1607 he supplicated 
 the venerable Congregation of Regents to be admitted Doc- 
 tor, which desire of his was granted conditionally, that he 
 compose a choral Hymn of eight parts, to be publicly sung 
 in the Act in which he should proceed. " But for what rea- 
 son (says Wood) he did not perform that obligation, I can- 
 not justly say : sure I am that in the Act this year, wherein 
 he proceeded, were certain questions appointed to be dis- 
 cussed between him and Dr. Heather, which being pro forma 
 only and not customarily to be done, were omitted. The 
 questions were — 1. Whether discords may be allowed in 
 music ? — Affirm. 2. Whether any artificial instrument can 
 so fully and truly express music as the natural voice? — Negat. 
 3. Whether the practice be the more useful part of music 
 or theory? — Affirm." Dr. Giles died about 163.5, and was 
 buried in one of the aisles adjoining St. George's Chapel. 
 
 he executed with diligence and justice; yet upon the alteration made by 
 Cromwell, when he assumed the Protectorship, on the nomination of officers he 
 left out Serjeant Wilde from being Chief Baron or any other employment — 
 an usual reward in those times for the best services. He intreated me to 
 move the Protector in his behalf, which I did, but to no effect ; the Protector 
 having a dislike of the Serjeant, but the ground thereof I could not learn." — 
 Whitlock's Journey to the Swedish Embassy, vol. ii, p. 408. There is a letter 
 of Oliver Cromwell to Wilde and Lechmere, and the rest of the Judges in 
 Worcestershire, ordering them to break up all dangerous meetings, &c. in 
 " Epistolatory Curiosities," Series 1, p. 51.
 
 108 
 
 William Juxon, D-D. Dean of Worcester, 1627, ami 
 Bishop of Hereford, 1633, 
 Was the son of Richard Juxon, of Chichester, born in 
 1 582, and educated upon the foundation of Merchant Tailors' 
 School, and elected a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, 
 in 1598. The constancy with which he accompanied his 
 Master, from the commencement of his troubles to his death 
 on the block, is highly indicative of his courage and good- 
 ness of heart. Great mysteries were supposed, by the Regi- 
 cides, to be concealed by the word " Remember," which 
 Charles uttered earnestly to Juxon before his execution, 
 but which, the good Bishop declared, was only a hint that 
 the King's son should not revenge the injuries of his lather. 
 He accompanied the King's body to Windsor, but was not 
 permitted to read the funeral service over it ; such was the 
 vindictive spirit with which Charles was pursued by the 
 Puritans — men pretending to greater righteousness than their 
 fellows. Bishop Juxon died of the stone, June 4, 1663. He 
 wrote The Subjects' Sorrow, &c on the death of Charles, &c. 
 
 George Stinton, 
 
 A Native of this city, where he was educated in gram- 
 mar learning. He was the eldest son of an Escmire, and 
 after he had taken the degree of M. A. 1622, he became 
 Vicar of Claines, in the Bishop of Worcester's gift, and 
 Rector of Spetchley. He published a sermon, preached in 
 the Cathedral of Worcester in the time of the pestilence, on 
 1 Kings, viii, 37, 38, 39, Oxon, and others, for the press. 
 He died at Spetchley about 1654, and was buried in the 
 church there. He left behind him several sermons in MS. 
 
 Sir Robert Berkeley, 
 A Native of this city, was born in the parish of Saint 
 Martin, hi 1584, and was the second son of Rowland 
 Berkeley, Esq. of Spetchley,* where his descendants yet 
 
 ' Purchased by Mr. It, Berkeley, who settled it on bis son Judge Berkeley.
 
 109 
 
 live. In the l'2th James I. 1602, he served the office of High 
 Sheriff for this county ; and in the 3d Charles I. was made 
 King's Serjeant, and in the 8th of the same reign, namely, 
 Oct. 11, 1632, a Justice of the Court of King's Bench- 
 While in this office, he, with eleven of his brethren, gave his 
 opinion in favour of the ship-money ; and if we may judge, 
 (continues Grainger,) from the tenor of his conduct in pri- 
 vate life, as well as upon the Bench — from honest motives; 
 but as he had been active upon other occasions in what he 
 seems to have thought his duty, and was a man of fortune, 
 he was singled out by the Parliament as a proper object of 
 their vengeance.* 
 
 At the seige of Worcester, Cromwell took up his quarters at 
 Judge Berkeley's, who had been impeached of high treason, 
 and adjudged to pay a fine of £20,000, to be deprived of his 
 office of Judge, and rendered incapable of holding any place 
 or receiving any honour in the State or Commonwealth ; he 
 was also to be imprisoned in the Tower during the pleasure 
 of the House of Lords. Having made some " satisfaction" 
 for his fine to the Parliament, he was, by their authority, 
 discharged from the whole and set at liberty, after he had 
 been upwards of seven months in the Tower. But he after- 
 wards suffered greatly by the plunderings and exactions of 
 the Rebels ; and a little before the battle of Worcester, the 
 Presbyterians, though engaged in the King's service, re- 
 tained their ancient animosity against him, and burnt his 
 house at Spetchley to the ground. He afterwards converted 
 the stables into a dwelling-house, and lived with content, and 
 even dignity, upon the wreck of his fortune. 
 
 Part of his defence of the charge of high treason, &c. in 
 MS. by Sir Robert, is now in the possession of his great- 
 grandson, Mr. Robert Berkeley, the fust half of which is 
 
 * " Judge Berkeley was yesterday att ye bar in ye Vpper House, and 
 there heard his charge read, to which he pleaded not guilty, and made prudent 
 answeare; whereupon tyme is given him till Tuesday next to produce wit- 
 nesses concerning soe much of his charge as reletes to misdemeanours." — Sir 
 Ed. Nicholas to Charles I. Oct. 1641.
 
 110 
 
 torn off and lost. It is said to be, as may be imagined, far 
 from a despicable performance, both in style and argument. 
 The persecution he underwent was not all owing to his 
 resolution in regard to ship-money, but probably full as 
 much to his zeal for the religious as well as for the civil 
 establishment — too much zeal both in religion and politics 
 is the greatest crime which his enemies accuse him of: for 
 nothing can be more unjust than to expect from a Judge of 
 Kino; Charles the First's time the sentiments that would suit 
 one m these days. The Judge was then a servant of the 
 King and received his wages ; and Archbishop Laud, in his 
 letters to Sir Robert Berkeley, seems to have considered 
 them as servants of an inferior rank. Custom and the prac- 
 tice of the Courts were considered as equal to Acts of Par- 
 liament, and unles they clashed with the Prerogative they 
 were reckoned indisputable authority : now the five pre- 
 ceding reigns and the latter part of the sixth had admitted 
 no bounds to the Prerogative, so that was become Law in 
 the Courts from long usage. Every man is to be tried, not 
 by the opinions of our days, but by the pule hrum and bonum 
 of his own times. But civil liberty was only a secondary 
 consideration with the patriots of those days ; the primary 
 grand object was the establishment of the wildest system of 
 fanaticism that ever disturbed a distempered brain — a motive 
 he was not only exempt from, but thought himself bound 
 strenuously to withstand, from his pre-engagement to Epis- 
 copacy, the religion as by law established. 
 
 Judge Berkeley married Elizabeth, daugher and co-heiress 
 of Thomas Conyers, Esq. of East Baraet, Herts. The old 
 people in the neighbourhood of Spetchley are fond of re- 
 lating; a ridiculous anecdote thev received from their fathers : 
 — Sir Robert called at Spetchley as he went the circuit, and 
 going to see some repairs at Perry Mill, a tiler just over his 
 head, talking to his man, said, " Well Tunnnas, for a wise man 
 my Lord Judge talks the most like an oaf I ever heard a man 
 in my life." " Why so, John?" says the Judge : after some 
 encouragement, John told him it was, because he had in-
 
 Ill 
 
 sisted his perry should be ground first in the new perry-mill, 
 for that the new wood would spoil the first perry. " Well 
 John, (said the Judge,) I own you understand making of 
 perry better than I do, but remember you must not call your 
 neighbour a fool ; I know the law better than you do, and 
 if you want advice come to me, and I will give it you in re- 
 turn for your's, which I intend to follow." 
 
 According to the inscription to be seen on his monument, 
 he died Aug. 5, l656, # aged 72, and lies buried under a 
 handsome monument in a chancel which he had built to the 
 parish church of Spetchley, He left one son, Thomas, who 
 having fled abroad to avoid the persecutions the Cavaliers 
 underwent after the destruction of the King's affairs, in imi- 
 tation of his Royal Master, embraced the communion of the 
 Church of Rome, at Brussels, where he married a lady of 
 the same persuasion ; a step that seems to have given his 
 father more mortification than all the prosecutions and mis- 
 fortunes he had hitherto undergone. So that though he had 
 drunk so deep of the bitter cup of persecution, he could not 
 refrain from presenting it to his son, but was at last recon- 
 ciled by the great good qualities of his daughter-in-law Ann, 
 daughter of Win. Darrell, Esq. of Scotney, Kent. Perhaps 
 his daughter marrying a Mr. Barton, the son of one of the 
 Judges that condemned Charles I. might have contributed 
 to that reconciliation. However, in his will he seems ex- 
 ceedingly solicitous to remedy in his posterity the step he so 
 much disapproved of in his son. 
 
 Habington the elder, from whom Dr. Nash has extracted 
 his account of the Berkeleys, ends his encomium on the 
 Judge in the following manner : — " Let my withered age 
 never behold him declining, but when his sunne must, by 
 revolution of time, be set, I hope that, leaving behind him 
 an odor of good fame, he will in the end obtain a day of 
 
 * Dr. Nash is then mistaken, when at p. 359, vol. 2, he says, " he died in 
 1692," as in that case he would have been 108 ; and this error has been copied 
 by Green, at p. 69, vol. 2, of his History.
 
 112 
 
 eternal light." See the monuments of the Berkeley, and a 
 portrait of the Judge, in Nash, article Spetchley, &c. 
 
 This pious and charitable man founded an Hospital in 
 Worcester, for the maintenance of 12 poor men ; it is a 
 handsome building, embellished with a sculptured portrait ot 
 the founder,* a whole length, with drapery. He also gave 
 23 timber trees towards the new-building of the north aisle 
 of St. Martin's Church, l6l6, and was also at the charge of 
 above £100 in mending and increasing the ring of bells, 
 1640 ; at which time he caused a new treble and a new te- 
 nor to be made and placed in .his church, which said tenor 
 he appointed to be rung at certain times and to be called 
 Berkeley's Bell. He also gave a rent-charge of inheritance of 
 £5 and 10s. per annum, to be received by the churchwardens 
 of this parish and distributed as followeth, viz. — upon every 
 Easter Tuesday for ever, 37 shillings to 37 poor persons of 
 this parish, 20s. to a preacher of a sermon in this church on 
 the forenoon of the said day, and 3s. to the bell-ringers ; 
 which sums, amounting to £3 per annum, he appointed for 
 a commemoration of God's blessing upon his father and 
 mother, who were married in Easter week and lived man and 
 wife above 37 years : and upon every St. James's Day for 
 ever, 20s. to 20 poor persons of this parish, 20s. to a preacher 
 of a sermon in this church on the forenoon of the said day, 
 3s. 4d. to the bell-ringers, and 6s. 8d. to the churchwardens 
 for bell-ropes ; which sums amounting to £2. 10s. per an- 
 num, the said Sir Robert Berkeley gave to this parish, in 
 token of his humble thankfulness to Almighty God for his 
 great mercies and goodness to him ever since the time of 
 his birth, which was on the day after St. James the Apostle's 
 Day. 
 
 His portrait has been engraved by Hollar and Powle, and 
 by some other person, an impression of which was sold at 
 Mr. West's sale. Hollar's print exactly resembles the ex- 
 
 * This portrait of the founder was not, we presume, put up till long after 
 the decease of Judge Berkeley, as the figure is executed in the costume of the 
 period of Queen Anne's reign, and not of that of James 2d.
 
 113 
 
 cellent figure of Sir Robert in marble that lies upon his 
 tomb, which Abingdon says is one of the best he ever saw ; 
 it was copied from a cast in plaster taken from his face after 
 his death.* 
 
 HfizEKiAHf Woodward, 
 A Native of this county, was the youngest son of nine 
 children. After he had spent six years in a grammar school he 
 was sent to Oxon in the beginning of 1608, and settled in 
 Baliol College, where he took a degree in Arts the latter 
 end of the year l6ll. Afterwards he retired to London, 
 taught school there several years, and was esteemed eminent 
 in his profession ; but, having been always puritanically af- 
 fected, he sided with the Presbyterians, upon the change of 
 the times in 164 1 , and was a great zealot and frequent preacher 
 among them, either at St. Mary's in Aldermanbury or near 
 it. Afterwards he took the Covenant, and shewed the use 
 and necessity of it in his discourse and preachings ; but soon 
 after, when he saw the Independents and other factious 
 people gaining the ascendancy, he became one of them, and 
 not unknown to Oliver Cromwell, who having quartered more 
 than a year in the vicarage-house at Bray, near Maidenhead, 
 Berks, during the time of the civil wars, (in which time he 
 
 * ''The pictures, for we have two of them, (portraits of Sir Robt. Berkeley) 
 one common three-qnarter size, the other much less, have been in the family 
 ever since Sir Robert's time. My grandfather, who was most of his life the 
 younger brother, had one of them, the other came to him at the death of his 
 elder brother Robert, and was the only one left him of any value, the rest, 
 as well family as other pictures, were taken away by his widow, who after- 
 wards married Bishop Burnet. At the sale of the Bishop's pictures, my 
 uncle, Mr. John Berkeley, was wrote to and offered the purchase of his fa- 
 mily pictures, but he being dangerously ill at the time, it was neglected. Mr. 
 Powle (an ariist) could discover no painter's name or mark. — The larger one 
 is in excellent preservation, and Mr. Powle thinks it an original ; the smaller 
 is very much damaged, and I am going to send it to him to be repaired ; they 
 are both in oil and seem to be of the same hand. 1 should think Hollar's 
 print taken from one of them, the very plaits in the robes are the same." — 
 Vide Mr. Berkeley's Letter to Mr. Grainger, at p. 217, of Letters, &c. 
 
 t Called by C.tlamy, in his History of Ejected Ministers, " Thonuu." 
 
 O
 
 114 
 
 had an opportunity to ascertain that the parish was very 
 larse, beins: a whole hundred of itself,) he sent his favourite 
 Woodward about U)49, who was then his chaplain, under 
 the notion of doing some eminent good to that great place. 
 Here Woodward continued 10 vears or more. 
 
 Wood seems to be particularly anxious to stamp his cha- 
 racter as a violent man and a great fanatic, in strong terms, 
 and says, it was reported that he wrote a book against the 
 Lord's Prayer, &,c. Stc. On his Majesty's restoration he left 
 Bray, to prevent ejection, and retired to Uxbridge, Middle- 
 sex, where he died March 29, 1675, aged 87 or thereabouts ; 
 his body was carried to Eaton, near Windsor, and buried in 
 the church-yard there near his wife's remains. 
 
 He wrote — Gate to Sciences. The Child's Patrimony, 
 Sic. in 2 parts. Vestibulum, &c. printed vuth the Child's 
 Patrimony. The Church's Thanksgiving, &c. 1G42. The 
 Covenant Cleared. Three Kingdoms made One by the 
 Covenant. Cause, Use, and Cure of Fear, &c. The King's 
 Chronicle, &c. written, says A. Wood, purposely to point 
 out the bad actions of his Majesty. The Sons' Patrimony 
 and Daughters' Portion. Inquiries into the Cause of our 
 Miseries, &c. Short Letter on the Antipologia. Lord's 
 Day, the Saint's Holy Day. Christmas an Idol Day. A 
 just Account in Truth to Fellow Helpers why they must 
 open themselves to the view of the World, &c. Appeal to 
 the Churches of Christ, &e. &c. Conference of some Chris- 
 tians, &c. Infant Baptism — an Inoffensive Answer to re- 
 move Offences. See the whole of these abbreviated titles 
 of his works in Wood's Alhenae, vol 3, p. 1034. He wrote 
 other things, which Wood never saw, and had many things 
 in MS. ready for publication at the time of his death. 
 
 Joseph Hall, D. D. Dean of Worcester, l6l6. 
 This Prelate, justly called the Christian Seneca, from his 
 sententious manner of writing, was promoted from the dean- 
 ery of Worcester to the see of Exeter in 1627- He was 
 oue of the Divines sent by James I. to the Synod of Dort,
 
 115 
 
 before which he preached an excellent sermon. In his 
 younger years he composed a Book of Satires, and was the 
 first writer in that kind of our English Poets. Mr. Pope 
 has been known, in conversation, to say high things of his 
 performances. His works, not including his Satires, were 
 printed in 5 vols, folio : the last mentioned work, first pub- 
 lished in 1597, was reprinted in 8vo. 1753. A beautiful 
 little tract of his, entitled, " Henochismus sive Tractatus de 
 Mode ambulandi cum Deo," was printed at Oxford, 1762; 
 tliis alone may serve as a specimen of his genius and piety. 
 His works have been lately collected in a very handsome, 
 correct, and well-arranged edition, by the Rev. Josiah Pratt, 
 in 10 vols. Svo. 
 
 Bishop Hall was bom July 1, 1574, in Bristow Park, 
 within the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire : 
 according to Aubrey he was a keeper's son, near Norwich, 
 lie removed to Cambridge, at the age of 15, to Emanuel 
 College, M. A. 1596, a Prebendary of Wolverhampton, and 
 translated to the see of Norwich in 1641 ; when he was im- 
 prisoned in the Tower, with the twelve other Bishops prose- 
 cuted by the Parliament. He died Sept. 8, 1656. For a 
 further account of Bishop Hall, see life by himself, in his 
 Specialities, and Biog. Johnson's and Chalmer's English 
 Poets, 1810; Warton's History of Poetry, and Wood's 
 Fasti, p. 208. Aubrey says, he wrote most of his fine dis- 
 courses at Worcester. 
 
 Samuel Smith, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born at or near Dudley 
 in 1588, and was of his time one of the most popular writers 
 of pious tracts, whose works are still in vogue. He was the 
 son of a clergyman, and studied for some time at St. Mary's 
 Hall, Oxford, but left the University without taking a degree, 
 and became beneficed at Prittlewell in Essex, and after- 
 wards, as Wood says, in his own county ; but, according to 
 Calamy, he had the perpetual curacy of Cressedge and 
 Cound in Shropshire. On the breaking out of the Rebellion
 
 116 
 
 he came to London, sided with the Presbyterians, and be- 
 came a frequent and popular preacher. On his return to 
 the country he was appointed an Assistant to the Commis- 
 sioners for the ejection of those they were pleased to term 
 " scandalous and ignorant ministers and school-masters." 
 At the Restoration he was ejected from Cressedge, but nei- 
 ther Wood nor Calamy have ascertained when he died. — 
 The former says "he was living, an aged man, near Dudlev, 
 in 1663." 
 
 His works are — 1. David's blessed Man; or a short Ex- 
 position upon the first Psalm ; Lond. 8vo. of which the 15th 
 ed. in 12mo. was printed in 1686. 2. The great Assize, or 
 the Day of Jubilee, 12mo. which, before 1684, went through 
 31 editions, and was often re-printed in the last century. 
 3. A Fold for Christ's Sheep ; printed 32 times. 4. The 
 Christian's Guide ; of which there were numerous editions. 
 He published some other tracts and sermons, which also had 
 a very numerous class of readers. 
 
 Samuel Fell, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1628, 
 Was in 1638, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, but ejected 
 in 1647 ; when, after suffering for his zeal in preserving the 
 statutes and liberties of the University, (see Chambers's His- 
 tory of Worcester, p, 224,) he retired to his rectory at Sun- 
 ningwell, near Abingdon, Bucks, where he died 1648 — 9, 
 on being made acquainted with the death of King Charles I. 
 He must not be confounded with Bishop John Fell, who, 
 according to Evelyn's Diary, Feb. 24, 1665, "preached be- 
 fore the King a very formal discourse, and in blank verse, 
 according to his manner — however, he is a good man." 
 
 George Benson, D. D. 
 Born of a genteel family in Westmoreland ; was of Queen's 
 College, and admitted D. D. July 8, 1607. He was, about 
 this time, Canon Residentiary of Hereford, and Parson of 
 Rock in Worcestershire ; Author of a sermon, at Paul's 
 Cross, on Hosea vii, 7—12, Lond. 1609, and perhaps of
 
 117 
 
 other things. He was Fellow of Queen's College, Proctor 
 of the University, and died about 1647. See Lindndge in 
 Nash. 
 
 John Nash, 
 
 A Native, I presume, of Droitwich in this county; an 
 Alderman and a benefactor to the city of Worcester ; was 
 born in 1590, and was the son of James Nash, of St. Peters, 
 Droitwich. For an account of his several bequests see 
 Chambers's Worcester, page 286. He was buried in St. 
 Helen's Church, May 22, 1662. There is a portrait of 
 Alderman Nash engraved in Dr. Nash's History of Worces- 
 ter, the original picture of which is in the possession of the 
 present Lord Somers, at Eastnor Castle. The late residence 
 of Alderman Nash, as far as regards its exterior, is still to 
 be seen in New Street near the end of the Garden Market. 
 
 Christopher White, 
 A Native of this county ; was, says A.Wood, "elected 
 a Student of Christ Church about 1606, took his Degree in 
 Arts, and became a preacher. In 1622 he became 13. D. ; 
 in 1620 he was admitted to the reading of the Sentences, 
 about which time he was Rector of Letly, in Hampshire. 
 He died about February 1636 — 7, and was buried in the 
 chancel of his church at Letly. White was the author of 
 several sermons, a good and edifying preacher, a charitable 
 man, and a loving neighbour." 
 
 Christopher Potter, Dean of Worcester, 1636, 
 
 Nephew of Barnabas Potter, the celebrated Divine, was 
 bom in Kendal, Westmoreland, about 1591, Clerk of Queen's 
 College, Oxford, 1606, B. A. 1610, and M. A. 1613, and 
 the same year was chosen Chaplain of the College, and after- 
 wards Fellow, at which time he joined the Puritans ; before 
 he was promoted to the deanery of Worcester, in 1635, he 
 had received a promise of a canonry of Windsor, which he 
 never enjoyed. In 1640, inclining to the Court party, he
 
 118 
 
 was made Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in 
 the execution of which office he met with some trouble from 
 the Members of the Long Parliament; and while he was 
 Dean of Worcester he was a Commissioner in one of the 
 many mock treaties offered by them to King Charles, to 
 argue in favour of Episcopacy.* 
 
 Upon breaking out of the civil wars he sent all his plate 
 to the King, and declared that he would rather, like Diogenes, 
 drink in the hollow of his hand, than that his Majesty should 
 want; and he afterwards suffered much for the royal cause. 
 In consideration of this he was nominated to the deanery of 
 Durham, in January, 1645—6, but was prevented from be- 
 ing installed by his death, which happened at his college 
 March 3d following, and was interred in his chapel there. 
 He translated Father Paul's History of the Quarrels of the 
 Pope with the State of Venice, and left several manuscripts 
 and tracts. 
 
 Thomas White, alias Woodhop, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Beoley. He wa3 
 a Benedictine Monk, and the author of a Latin MS. men- 
 tioned by A. Wood as being in his possession, " which con- 
 tained the obits and characters of many eminent Benedic- 
 tines." White spent several years in the Sheldonian family 
 at Beoly ; he at length retired to Douay, in the time of the 
 civil war, was chosen Prior of the College of English Bene- 
 dictines, and died there of the plague in l6o4. 
 
 » 
 Sir William Russell. 
 
 This distinguished Patriot was of a family which came 
 orio-inally out of Normandy, and flourished at Strensham, 
 
 * It appears from Clarendon, vol. 4, p. 588, that in this dispute the Creed 
 and Ten Commandments had been entirely rejected by the Parliament by 
 8 or 9 votes, and even the Lord's Prayer was only mentioned once. This 
 leems rather singular from a party who wished to obtain a greater reputation 
 for religion than their opponents. Potter's book against Knot, the Jesuit, 
 produced Chillingworth's " Religion of the Protestants."
 
 119 
 
 in this county for 400 years. He was the son of Sir Thos, 
 Russell, and though of a Worcestershire family, I have not 
 been able to find whether he was actually born in the county. 
 He chiefly resided in this city, and in 1643 he was High 
 Sheriff of Worcestershire, and also Governor of the city. 
 During the civil wars he was a zealous champion of the Royal 
 cause, and was the first to oppose the entrance of the Par- 
 liamentary army into Worcester, for which he was presented 
 with the freedom of the city, as also for " his otherwise good 
 intentions." He also spent great part of his fortune in the 
 King's service, notwithstanding which when the order of the 
 Roval Oak was intended to have been instituted, his estate 
 was only valued at £3000 a-year. 
 
 In the propositions offered by Mr. Henry Washington, 
 Governor of Worcester, for the surrender of the town to 
 Mr. Edward Whalley, Commander of the Parliamentary 
 forces, who lay at Mr. Fleet's of Hollow, in the year 1(546, 
 the 31st article was, that the several garrisons of Worcester, 
 Evesham, Strensham, Hartlebury, and Madreslield, should 
 be disgarrisoned, and the Bishop of Worcester, Sir William 
 Russell, and Col. Lygon, be restored to the possession of 
 their houses and estates. In the treaty negotiated soon after 
 concerning the surrender of Worcester, between Mr. Wash- 
 ington and Major-Gen. Raynesborough, it was insisted up- 
 on by the latter, that Sir Win. Russell* should be exempted 
 from the benefit of the treaty ; this caused a long delay, and 
 Sir William was pressed to escape in disguise, which he re- 
 fused, saying, he would willingly surrender himself for the 
 public good, he had but a life to lose, and it could not be 
 better spent. Upon his resolute refusal to escape, or stop 
 the treaty any longer, the noblemen and gentlemen, think- 
 ing themselves bound in honour, signed a letter to Sir Thos. 
 
 * The besiegers, in their abuse of the Royal army, called bis soldiers 
 Russell Apes, &c. &c. 
 
 " In a Chamber Meeting, held on July 18, 16-13, a certificate was agreed 
 to be presented to the King, expressive of the confidence of the Mayor and 
 Corporation in the courage and good intentions of Sir William."
 
 120 
 
 Fairfax desiring that Sir Wm. Russell* might have the bene- 
 fit of the treaty, and that he could not by any other means 
 so much oblige the county. Sir Thomas replied, that Sir 
 Wm. Russell should be used as a gentleman, and be prisoner 
 to Major-Gen. Raynesborough. Notwithstanding this, we 
 tind in the " Perfect Diurnal," 1646, that the House, upon 
 special information, ordered that the late Bishop of Worces- 
 ter, (Prideaux), Sir Wm. Russell, and the late Mayor, shall 
 be sent up in safe custody to answer such things as shall be 
 against them objected." He afterwards compounded with 
 the Parliament's Committee for £ 1,800, and £50 a-year 
 settled on his estate. He died Nov. 30, 1669- A very good 
 portrait of Sir William, by Vandyke, is in the possession of 
 Thomas Blayney, Esq. Evesham. 
 
 Thomas Bushell, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born of and descended 
 from a genteel family of his name living at Cleeve Prior, and 
 received some education in Oxon, particularly, Wood con- 
 ceives, in Baliol College ; being fond of the study of philo- 
 sophy and natural history, he was taken into the service of 
 Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, before whom, when 
 Lord Chancellor, he bore the Great Seal, from which he 
 gained much pecuniary advantage, but much more by the 
 generosity of his master, who was as an indulgent father to 
 him. After the declension of that Noble Lord, (continues 
 A. Wood) Busliell travelled beyond seas to satify his curi- 
 osity in many matters of nature, and at his return, his genius 
 being much advanced by his travels, especially upon his se- 
 rious reading of his master's Philosophical Theory of Mineral 
 Proseci(ti<»is or Discoveries, (which, as it is confessed, did 
 lighl the first candle to his future discoveries,) he followed 
 the direction of it as having always been inclined to search 
 out hidden matters and the secrets of nature, and followed 
 an inclination for the study of mineralogy. The first emi- 
 
 * See a particular account of this negociation in Dr. Nash's Appendix to 
 his History, p. cv.
 
 121 
 
 nent discovery that he made -was at Enston, Oxfordshire, 
 where, or near that place, he had land, and used often in the 
 summer season to retire: at length, according to Dr. Plott,* 
 cleansing a certain spring called Goldwell, then overgrown 
 with briars, &c. to place a cistern for his own use, he disco- 
 vered a rock so wonderfully ordered by nature as to make it 
 worthy of being assisted by art ; whereupon he made cis- 
 terns, and laid divers pipes between the rocks, and built a 
 house over them, containing one fair room for banquetting, 
 and several other small closets for divers uses besides the 
 rooms above, which, when finished in 1636, together with the 
 rock, grove, walks, and all other purposes, done in the com- 
 pass of a year, were all on the 23d of August presented by 
 him to Queen Henrietta Maria, who in company with her 
 Royal Consort King Charles I. was graciously pleased to 
 honour the rock not only with her royal presence but com- 
 manded the same to be called ' Henrietta.' At the same 
 time (Aug. 23, 1636) as they were entering the house en- 
 closing the rock, there arose a hermit out of the ground and 
 entertained them with a speech in verse, beginning thus — 
 ' With bended knees thus humbly do I pray,' &c. which be- 
 ing concluded to their content, he did return to his humble 
 grave, his peaceful urn. Then was the rock presented by 
 Mr. Bushel] in a sonnet by another person, (answered by 
 an echo) beginning thus, ' I charge thee answer me to what 
 I ask,' &.c. After that was done a banquet was presented 
 to them, with a sonnet sung within the pillar of the table, 
 beginning thus, ' Come away blest souls, no more,' &,c. and 
 in conclusion a sonnet was sung to the King and Queen 
 with this beginning, ' Hark, hark ! how the stones in the 
 rock,' Sec. " All which sonnets (saith A. Wood) had music 
 composed to them by that admirable musician, Sim Ive, 
 whom, if I mistake not, was the same Sim Ive who died in 
 the beginning of 1662." 
 
 " Soon after this, Bushell became Farmer of his Majesty's 
 
 ' In Plott's Oxfordshire is an engraving of the Reck at Enstone. 
 
 R
 
 122 
 
 Minerals in the Principality of Wales. The chief stage of 
 his action there was Cardiganshire ; but what he did there, 
 or was to do there, some construed to be but the ideas of a 
 fantastical brain. He began with a cheerful heart to cut 
 through five mountains at their lowest level, some of which 
 were 60, some 80, and some 100 fathoms perpendicular ; 
 and, as it appears in a certificate under the miners' hands, 
 which was presented to the Lords and others of his Majes- 
 ty's Privy Council, viz. that the said Mr. Bushell, at his in- 
 estimable charge, having cut 600 fathoms through the rock 
 at the lowest levels N. and S. for discovering the lost vein 
 at Cumsum Lock, lying E. and W. ; 200 fathoms through 
 the Mountain of Tallybout, at 60 fathoms perpendicular ; 
 three several addits at Koginean, one above another, GO 
 and 30 fathoms centre ; another at Bryn Lloyd, 50 fathoms 
 in length and 30 fathoms centre ; working day and night for 
 the draining of the water, which formerly in the time of 
 Smith and Sir Hugh Middleton in their workings of mines- 
 royal was never used, they only working upon the super- 
 fices of the earth, the works being drowned with water be- 
 fore they could sink to the best of the vein, and so the charge 
 exceeded the benefit," <kc. 
 
 Mr. Bushell continued these works four years, night and 
 day, before his hopes could give him any happy assurances 
 of success, until his charge grew so great that he was pitied 
 by his friends and insulted by his enemies, while his mind 
 became not a little perplexed. He carried air through the 
 mountains by pipes and bellows, without the vast charge of 
 sinking shafts ; he saved wood by melting the lead ore with 
 turf and sea coal chark ; and at length having obtained his 
 desire in part and a grant of a mint from King Charles I. to 
 coin silver, he did with the effects thereof clothe the King's 
 army at Oxford with the said minerals' produce, and brought 
 the said mint to serve his Majesty's present occasions in his 
 royal garrison of Oxford, when his other mint in the Tower 
 of London was denied him. Afterwards, when the Parlia- 
 ment's soldiers had got considerable footing in Wales, these
 
 123 
 
 mines ceased, and Bushell was forced to change his quarters 
 and shift as other Royalists did, as well as he could. After 
 his Majesty's restoration, he, though then old, again prose- 
 cuted his projects, and upon his solicitation and that of his 
 friends, King Charles II. gave his assent to the bill passed 
 in Parliament about the latter end of April, 1662, for con- 
 firming; agreements between him and the miners of the Row 
 Pits in Somersetshire for recovering their drowned and de- 
 serted works, which passed into an Act on the 19th of May 
 following, by virtue of which a firm foundation was laid to 
 proceed on ; so that then it was not doubted that it would 
 be made manifest to the world that those Mendip Works 
 would be what the people themselves usually styled them, 
 the English Indies for lead ore. Those that had said 
 Bushell was poor in purse did then begin to perceive why 
 he refused all partnership in the said affair, being confident, 
 from the practice of his own experience, to repair by this 
 the ruin of his fortunes sustained in the rebellious times, and 
 prove a sufficient supply to perfect his enterprising disco- 
 veries in foreign parts, which may be confidently affirmed ; 
 although this work of Row Pits was generally reputed to 
 have been the ruin of 40 rich families that went before him 
 in the said enterprise. 
 
 This work was carried on and continued near to the time 
 of his death, but with what advantage to himself A. Wood 
 knew not. He died in the month of April, 1674, aged 80 
 or more, and was buried in the little cloister of the Abbey 
 Church of St. Peter's, Westminster, leaving behind him, 
 according to Wood, the character of one always troubled 
 with a beating and contriving brain — of an aimer at great and 
 high things, while he himself was always indigent, and there- 
 fore could never accomplish his mind to his original desire — 
 of one always borrowing to carry on his designs but seldom 
 or never paid, and dying £.120,000 in debt. 
 
 He was the author of— 1. "The several Speeches and 
 Songs at the presentment of the Rock at Enstone to the 
 Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 23d Aug. 1636, &.c. Oxon,
 
 124 
 
 1 636," qu. These speeches and songs seem to have been 
 all made by Mr. Bushell, and the music composed at his 
 charge. 2. " A just and true Remonstrance of his Majes- 
 ty's Mines Royal in the Principality of Wales, Lond. 1642," 
 4to. 3. "Extract (or Abstract) of the Lord Chancellor 
 Bacon's Philosophical Theory of Mineral Prosecutions, 
 Lond. 1660," 4to. and other things, which Wood never saw. 
 Aubrey informs us, that about the time Cromwell was 
 made Protector, Mr. Bushell concealed himself in a house 
 in Lambeth Marsh, and he constantly lay in a long garret, 
 hung with black baize; at one end was placed a skeleton 
 extended on a mattrass, at the other Mas a small pallet bed, 
 and the walls were covered with various emblems of mor- 
 tality. Here he continued above a year, till his friends had 
 made his peace with the Protector. " From Oxford," 
 says Mr. Evelyn in his Diary, " we went to see the famous 
 wells, natural and artificial, called BushelPs Wells, (this 
 Bushell had been Secretary to Lord Verulam,) at Enstone. 
 It is an extraordinary solitude ; there are two mummies in a 
 grot where he lay in a hammock like an Indian " — See also 
 an account of Bushell in Bray's History of Surrey, vol. 3, 
 p. 523, and Appendix, p. cxlix. 
 
 Thomas Twittie, 
 A Native of this county, was the son of a clergyman j 
 he was born in 1594, became a Student of Oriel College, 
 after taking his degree of B. D. 1635, and successively 
 Schoolmaster of Evesham and Minister of St. Lawrence's 
 Church, in Worcestershire, and Vicar of North Leigh, Ox- 
 on ; beneficed afterwards again in his own county, and at 
 length became Minister of Kingston-upon-Thames, in Sur- 
 rey. He published, Ad Clerum pro Forma concio Habita 
 in Templo, B. Mariae, Oxon, 13 Mar. 1634, in 1 Pet. iii, 8, 
 Oxon, 1640. The Art of Salvation, a Sermon at St. Mary's, 
 Oxon, on Acts vi, 30, 31. He died at Kingston, and was 
 there buried, 1667.
 
 125 
 
 Francis Potter, B. D. 
 
 A learned Divine, was the son of Mr. Richard Potter, a 
 native of Oxfordshire, (who was Vicar of Mere, Wilts,) 
 and nephew of the celebrated Barnabas Potter; see also 
 Christopher Potter. He was born in his father's vicarage- 
 house on Trinity Sunday, 1594, and educated in grammar 
 learning in the King's School, Worcester, under Mr. Bright. 
 He became a Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, in 
 1609 ; in 1613 he took the degree of B. A., and M. A. 1615. 
 In 1637 he succeeded his father in the rectory of Kilman- 
 ton, where he lived in a very retired manner until his death 
 in lG?8, at which time he was blind. He wrote an Inter- 
 pretation, in 1642, of the Number 666, &c. &c. 
 
 Mr. Potter had a good talent for drawing and painting, 
 and the founder's picture hi the hall of Trinity College is a 
 copy by him. On the buttery door in his parlour he drew 
 his father's picture at length, with his book foreshortened, 
 and in the spectacles in his hand is the reflection of the 
 Gothic south window. " I mention this particular says 
 Aubrey) the rather as in process of time it may be mistaken 
 by tradition for his son. He made a design to draw a land- 
 scape in perspective, which Sir Christopher Wren adopted ; 
 he had also (continues Aubrey, who has given a long life of 
 him in the Bodleian Letters,) an excellent notion of raising 
 of water ; I have heard him say, he would raise the water 
 
 at Worcester with less trouble and fewer than 
 
 they did." Potter entertained the notion of curing diseases 
 by transfusion of blood out of one man into another. His 
 memory was long preserved in Trinity by a dial, which 
 he constructed and placed on the north side of the old quad- 
 rangle, but there is no other in its room. See also Wood's 
 Athena?, vol. 3, p. 1155. 
 
 Endymion Porter, 
 The celebrated Royalist, was chosen Member of Parlia- 
 ment for Droitwich, which election Dr. Nash accounts for
 
 12(5 
 
 by his interest of the Windsor family. For a further account . 
 of Porter see the Biog. Diet. 
 
 George Morley, Bishop of Worcester, Oct. 28, 1660, 
 Was born in Cheapside, London, Feb. 27, 1597- At 14, 
 he was elected King's Scholar at Westminster, and a Student 
 of Christ Church, Oxford, 1615. He was afterwards pre- 
 sented to the rectory of Hartfield, Sussex, which being a 
 sinecure he exchanged for the rectory of Mildenhall, Wilts ; 
 but, before this exchange, Charles I. to whom he was Chap- 
 lain iu Ordinary, had given him a canonry of Christ Church, 
 Oxford, in 1 641, of which he gave the first year's profit to- 
 wards the charge of the war. In 1642 he became D. D. 
 and preached one of the first solemn sermons before the 
 House of Commons, but so little to their liking that he was 
 not commanded to print it, as was the custom. In 1649 
 he left England and waited upon Charles II. at the Hague, 
 and ultimately took up his residence at Antwerp, then the 
 asylum for the Royalists, and at other places. Upon the de- 
 mise of Cromwell, he was sent over, by Chancellor Hyde, 
 to pave the way for the Restoration, and was afterwards nomi- 
 nated to the bishopric of Worcester, and in 1662 translated 
 to Winchester, to which see he was a great benefactor. 
 
 Bishop Morley had the honour of preaching before Charles 
 the Second on his coronation. He died Oct. 29, 1684, 
 leaving many splendid legacies to several learned bodies, 
 and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. For further par- 
 ticulars of his life and a list of his works, see the Biog. Brit, 
 and Clarendon's Works. 
 
 John Doughtie, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, being born at Martley, of gen- 
 teel parents, in 1597 ; was educated in grammar learning 
 under Mr. Bright of the King's School, Worcester, and at 
 about 16 years of age became a Student of Oxford ; after 
 he had taken the degree of B. A. he was one of those many 
 excellent scholars that were candidates for a fellowship in
 
 127 
 
 Merton College in 1619, and being strictly examined by Sir 
 Henry Saville, the Warden, was forthwith chosen and made 
 senior of the election. After he had completed the degree 
 of M. A. he entered into orders, and was much followed for 
 his edifying discourses. In 1631 he was admitted to the 
 procuratorial office, but before he had served four months of 
 that year he was deprived of it. About that time he became 
 Chaplain to the Earl of Northumberland, and on the 11th 
 Jan. 1633, he was presented by the Warden and Society of 
 Merton College to the rectory of Lapworth, Warwickshire, 
 where continuing to the beginning of the civil war, he left 
 all these purposely to avoid sequestration and imprisonment, 
 and forthwith retired to the King at Oxford. Soon after, 
 meeting with Dr. Duppa, Bishop of Salisbury, he preferred 
 him to be Lecturer of St. Edmund's Church, within that 
 city, where continuing about two years, at which time the 
 King's forces were routed in the West, he retired to London, 
 and for some time found relief in the house of Sir Nathaniel 
 Brent, then living in Little Britain. 
 
 After his Majesty's Restoration he became one of the 
 Prebendaries of Westminster, Rector of Chearne, in Surrey, 
 1662, and was created D. D. He died at Westminster, 
 after he had lived to be twice a child, on Christinas Day, 
 l6?2, and was buried in the Abbey Church of St. Peter there. 
 Over his grave was a stone with this inscription — "Johannes 
 Dough tie, S. T. P. hii jus Ecclesiae Prebendarius. Obiit 
 xxv Decemb. MDCLXXII, aetatis suae lxxv." 
 
 Doughtie was author of the following works — Discourses 
 made May 1, 1627, on the Abstruseness of Divine Myste- 
 ries, &c. Discourse touching Church Schisms, &c. The 
 King's Cause rationally debated. Velitationes Polemicae. 
 Analecta Sacra, 8cc. &c. See these titles at length in Wood, 
 vol. 3, p. 976. 
 
 William Sandys. 
 This public-spirited character was the first who rendered 
 the River Avon navigable. Though he was not born at
 
 128 
 
 Evesham, or ever, I believe, resided there, yet he became 
 so nearly connected with that place and its concerns as to 
 merit some notice in the Biographical Illustrations of Wor- 
 cestershire. An account of this extraordinary undertaking 
 (for such was the navigation of the river Avon for any indi- 
 vidual) was written, it is said, by Mrs. Elstob, in 1737, and 
 by her communicated to Mr. Geo. Baker Ballard, of Camp- 
 den, Gloucestershire. It had long been handed about in MS. 
 and was at length communicated to the public by Dr. Nash, 
 at p. 447, vol. 1, as follows : — 
 
 " He was the son of Sir Win. Sandys, of Miserden, Glou- 
 cestershire, descended from a family of that name in Lan- 
 cashire, (who were related to the Sandys of Omberslev,) ami 
 by a female line from Leybourn of that county. The Avon 
 never bore a boat of any burden before Mr. Sandys begin- 
 ning his unexpected design in March, 1635 ; in three years 
 he made it passable for vessels to carry 40 or 50 tons from 
 the mouth thereof, at an expence of £20,000. The benefits 
 which arose to this country by this extraordinary perform- 
 ance were many. The Vale of Evesham heretofore labour- 
 ed under extreme want of firing, but now they were able to 
 have coals delivered at their doors. As soon as Mr. Sandys 
 had finished his work at Stratford, and had spent all his for- 
 tune, he immediately delivered all up to the Parliament to 
 do what more they thought fit therein." 
 
 Mr. Tindal, in his History of Evesham, says, " There 
 are some few particulars in the above paper that are not quite 
 correctly stated. From the best authority" (he adds) " I have 
 learned, that the navigation of this river was, by its original 
 projector, carried up no higher than Evesham ; that after- 
 wards it was, by Lord Windsor, through many difficulties 
 and much litigation, extended to Stratford. These impedi- 
 ments chiefly arose from the proprietors of land, in which 
 improvements were made. At length an Act was procured 
 so indefinitely worded* as to give rise to fresh litigations, 
 
 * Lord Windsor required this Act should be so worded as to appropriate 
 to himself tbe whole merit of this undertaking. — See And. Yarrington.
 
 129 
 
 which did not end till after much vexation and heavy ex- 
 pences." Several improvements with respect to locks, &c. 
 have since taken place, but the navigation has not been far- 
 ther extended. 
 
 Thomas Hicks, or Hyckes, 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Francis Hicks, 
 and was born at Shipson, in the parish of Tredington, about 
 1599. He became a Student in Baliol College in l6l6, 
 took the degree of Arts, and at length, by the favour of Dr. 
 Duppa, Dean of Christ Church, became one of the Chap- 
 lains or Petit Canons of that House about 1628. Besides 
 his great skill in the Greek tongue, he was esteemed among 
 the Academicians a good poet and an excellent limner ; and 
 without doubt, had not death cut him off in the prime of his 
 years, on the 16th of Sept. 1634, he might have benefited 
 the commonwealth of learning with other matters. He died 
 in Christ Church, and was buried in the Cathedral there ; 
 which is all I yet know of him, (says Wood) only that Dr. 
 J. F. (Fell) the publisher of History and Antiquities, Oxon, 
 committed a grand mistake of him in that book, lib. 2, p. 
 283 — 6. Another of both his names was author of A Dia- 
 logue between a Christian and a Quaker, &c. to which a 
 continuation was added by the same author in October, 1673, 
 and also wrote the Quaker's Appeal Answered, Lond. 1674. 
 Bod. 8vo. Z. Sl.Th. 
 
 The subject of this memoir was the author of the Life of 
 Lucian, gathered out of his own writings, Oxon, 1634, which 
 Life is set before his father's translation of certain Dialogues 
 of that Author. Also Notes and Illustrations upon each 
 Dialogue and Book of Lucian. See Hicks Francis, p. 98. 
 
 Thomas Swadlin, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, was born in 1599- In the 
 beginning of the year 1615, he took his degree in Arts at 
 St. John's College, Oxford. About the time that Dr. Laud
 
 130 
 
 became Bishop of London, he was made Minister of St. 
 Botolph's Church, without Aldgate, where, for his ready 
 -and fluent way of preaching, he was much frequented by 
 ihe orthodox party ; but in the beginning of the Common- 
 wealth, being considered as one of Dr. Laud's creatures, he 
 was imprisoned in Gresham College, and afterwards in New- 
 gate, was sequestered, plundered, and his wife and children 
 turned out of doors. He was at length liberated, but, dis- 
 tracted by the great miseries he had endured, he retired to 
 Oxford, where he was made D. D. anno 1646; about which 
 time and after, he taught school in several places, " merely 
 to gain bread and drink," as in London, and afterwards at 
 Paddington, &c. Upon the restoration of Charles II. he 
 was re-invested in St. Botolph's Church, but being wearied 
 out there by the contentious spirit of his parishioners, he left 
 it, and in the year 1662 he \vas presented to the vicarage of 
 St. James's, Dover, by Dr. Juxon, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, but the yearly value of both not exceeding £80 per 
 annum, he was at length, being grown superannuated, pre- 
 sented (unsought after) to the rectory of All Hallows Church 
 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, by the favour of Edward, Earl of 
 Clarendon, about 1664, which he kept to his dying day, 
 which took place Feb. 9, 1669; he was buried the next day, 
 in the chancel of All-hallows Church : his last words were — ; 
 " Hie vixit temporibus quibus Carolum Primum Magna. 
 Britaniae, Franciae et Hibernae Regem, ferino more trucida-?." 
 runt rebelles," which he wished to be put over his grave. 
 
 He wrote — Sermons, Meditations, and Prayers, on the. 
 Plague. The Sovereign's Desire — Peace, &c. in three 
 Sermons: these gave such offence to the Cromwellians, that, 
 they severely persecuted him. The Scriptures Vindicated, 
 &c. Manual of Devotions. Mercurius Academicus. The 
 Soldier's Catechism. The Jesuit the only State Heretic in 
 the World. Letter of an Independant. Thirty-six Questions 
 propounded for Resolution, &c. and 15 Sermons on various; 
 occasions. For a detailed account of his works see Wood's 
 Athenae, vol. 3, p. 888.
 
 131 
 
 Eliot Farley, 
 
 A Native of this city, and educated at the King's School 
 here under Mr. Bright, made B.A. Feb. 1620, of Baliol 
 College, Oxford, which College }le left before he was M A. 
 and crossing the sea became a Priest in the Church of Rome, 
 and l66l was a great favourite of the Pope, " and in likeli- 
 hood (continues Wood) to be next Cardinal." — Wood's Fasti. 
 page 392. 
 
 Miles Sandys, 
 A Native of this county, was, says Wood, a Knight's 
 son, and was born in 1600; he became a Gentleman Com- 
 moner of Hart Hall, in 1615, but put under the tuition of 
 Dr. Rich. Astley, Fellow, afterwards Warden of All Souls' 
 College, by whose endeavours he became afterwards a com- 
 plete Gentleman. He departed without a degree, though 
 much deserving of one, and had the degree of knighthood 
 conferred upon him by his Majesty some years after. He 
 wrote — Prudence, the first of the four Cardinal Virtues, 
 Lond. 1634. One Sir Miles Sandys, of Wilberton, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, Knight and Bart, third son of Edwyn, Arch- 
 bishop of York, died in the latter end of 1644, leaving then 
 behind him a son, called Sir Miles Sandys, Knight and Bart, 
 whether this last be the same with the writer before men- 
 tioned I know not. 
 
 James Littleton, Prebendary of Worcester, 1635, 
 Of All Souls', Oxford, became L. L. D. Dec. 8, 1635 ; 
 he died during the Usurpation. 
 
 John Trapp, 
 A Native of this county, the son of Nicholas Trapp, of 
 Kempsey, was born at Croome d'Abitot, June 5, 1601, and 
 educated in grammar learning, as King's Scholar, under Mr. 
 Bright. In 1618 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, and 
 lived there many years as servitor under the tuition of Mr.
 
 132 
 
 Geo. Jay, a student of that house, and partly by the bene- 
 faction of Dr. Corbet, then Dean thereof. After he had 
 completed the degree of M. A. 1624, he was invited to Strat- 
 ford-upon-Avon, to teach a free-school there, where shewing 
 great industry in that employment he had the small vicarage 
 of Weston-upon-Avon, Gloucestershire, about two miles 
 from his school, conferred upon him ; both which places, 
 with the church of Luddington, Warwickshire, he kept 
 about 47 years. He was, by the puritanical party, esteemed 
 to be a person endowed with several virtuous qualifications, 
 and to be one of the best preachers of his time. Upon the 
 usurpation of Cromwell he closed with the Presbyterians, 
 took the Covenant, and preached against the King, by which 
 he was a great gainer. He died Oct. 17, 1669, and -was 
 buried in the Church of Weston-upon-Avon. He was also 
 an Assistant to the Commissioners of Warwickshire for the 
 ejection of Ministers whose opinions were opposite to those 
 of the Puritans. 
 
 He was author of — God's Love Tokens, Sec. Theologia 
 Theologiae. Comment on the Four Evangelists, and Acts 
 of the Apostles. Comment upon the Epistles of the Apos- 
 tles, &c. Upon the Revelations. A Decad of Common 
 Place. Clavis to the Bible. Comment on Joshua, &c. 
 Solomonis iiana'PETOE. Comment upon all the Books of 
 the New Testament, &c. Comment upon the Twelve Minor 
 Prophets, &c. The Righteous Man's Recompence. Com- 
 ment on Proverbs, &,c. Comment on Ezra, &c. See the 
 titles at length in Wood's Athenae, vol. 3, p. 843. 
 
 John Hodges, 
 A Native of this county, was a Student of St. John's 
 College, Oxford, 1618, aged 17 or thereabouts, and was 
 admitted B. A. July S, 1622, and M. A. July 5, 1625. 
 He was afterwards Vicar of Shackstone, Leicestershire, to 
 which he was instituted July 10, 1630, and was ejected or 
 died before 1649- He wrote Viaticum Animas, or Whole- 
 some Repast for the Soul in her Pilgrimage towards Jeru-
 
 133 
 
 salem which is above, Lond. 1633, in two dedications to 
 Joh. Harbourne, of Tachley, in Oxfordshire, Esq. 
 
 John Earle, or Earles, Bishop of Worcester, 1660,, 
 And Salisbury, (successively,) was born at York 1601, 
 and entered of Merton College, Oxford, in 1620. He was 
 Chaplain to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, who presented him 
 with the living of Bishopston, in Wiltshire ; he was after- 
 wards appointed Chaplain and Tutor to Prince Charles, and 
 Chancellor of the Cathedral of Salisbury. For his steady 
 adherence to the Royal cause he was deprived of every thing 
 he possessed, and at length was obliged to fly into exile with 
 Charles II. who made him his Chaplain and Clerk of the 
 Closet. He attended James, Duke of York, into France, 
 and on the Restoration was made Dean of Westminster, 
 afterwards Bishop of Worcester, and in Sept. of the follow- 
 ing year was removed to the see of Salisbury. In 166,3 he 
 attended the King and Queen to Oxford, who had left Lon- 
 don on account of the plague. Here he lodged in University 
 College, and died Nov. 17 of the same year; he was buried 
 in Merton College Chapel, near the high altar, where, on a 
 monument of black and white marble, is a Latin inscription 
 to his memory. See Athenae, Oxon, vol. 3, p. 716. 
 
 Richard Holdsworth, D. D. Dean of Worcester, 1646, 
 A native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was a Scholar and 
 Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, Master of Eman- 
 uel, and, in 1640, Vice Chancellor of that University. He 
 had other preferments, but was dispossessed of them all by 
 the prevalent usurpers, shut up more than once in prison, 
 and greatly harrassed. Soon after the execution of his King, 
 Charles I. being deeply affected at the blow, he died, Aug. 
 22, 1649, and was buried at Peter's Poor Church, London. 
 He never received any profits from his deanery, and was not 
 even installed. See a long account of Holdsworth in Wood's 
 Fasti, p. 375.
 
 134 
 
 John Beal, D. D. 
 The Author of a Treatise on the Malvern Waters, and 
 a very early and useful Member of the Royal Society, being 
 elected a Fellow in Jan. 1663. He was born of a good 
 family in Herefordshire in 1603, and educated successively 
 at the King's School, Worcester, Eton College, and King's 
 School, Cambridge, after which he spent some time travel- 
 ling abroad. About 1636 he was very useful in promoting 
 the apple orchards in his native county, and was the author 
 of a small tract on that subject, entitled " Herefordshire Or- 
 chards a Pattern for England." He resided chiefly in Here- 
 ford till 1660, when he became Rector of Yeovil, in the 
 county of Somerset, where he resided till his death in 16S3, 
 at the age of 80. Mr. Beal was made D. D. and King's 
 Chaplain in 1665. Several of his productions are printed in 
 the " Phil. Transactions,*' and elsewhere. He was a man of 
 excellent parts, extensive learning, and great public spirit. 
 See his Notice respecting the Malvern Waters in Cham- 
 bers's History of Malvern, p. 283, and in the Philosophical 
 Transactions abridged, vol. 1, p. 415, in which latter work 
 may also be seen many other papers of his. 
 
 Sir Charles Wogan 
 Is said to have been robbed of the honour of saving King 
 Charles II. after the battle of Worcester, as he stopped those 
 who were in chase of his Majesty and Colonel Carless. It is 
 a fact not generally known, that Sir Charles had also the 
 honour of bringing Pope to London from Windsor, whom he 
 introduced at Will's Coffee-house. — See a further account 
 ofWogan in Scott's edition of Swift, vol. xviii, page 10,notes. 
 
 Herbert Croft, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1641, 
 Afterwards Bishop of Hereford, was born at Oxford in 
 1603. His father, a zealous catholic, had sent him for edu- 
 cation to the English College of Jesuits at St. Omer's, but
 
 135 
 
 on his return he was converted by Dr. Morton to the protest- 
 ant faith. Soon after this he was admitted a student of Christ 
 Church, Oxford, and entering into holy orders in 1639, was 
 preferred to a prebendal stall in Salisbury Cathedral. In 
 1644 he was advanced to the Deanery of Hereford, and tak- 
 ing part with Charles against the Parliament, experienced 
 many hardships on account of his loyalty. He was preferred 
 for his attachment to Charles by his son Charles II. who gave 
 him the See of Hereford ; but notwithstanding his zeal and 
 suffering in the Royal cause, he became not a persecutor in 
 his turn, but in 167«5 was author of " The Naked Truth," a 
 work in favour of the toleration of the dissenters. He died 
 at Hereford in 1691, and was buried in the Cathedral, leav- 
 ing an onlv son. 
 
 John Tombes, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born at Bewdley in 1603, 
 and being intended for the church, was educated at the gram- 
 mar-school, where he made such proficiency as to be thought 
 fit for the University at the a«;e of 15. He was accordingly 
 sent to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, at that age, and William 
 Pemble was his tutor. There he acquired such distinction 
 for talents and learning, that on his tutor's death in 1624, he 
 was chosen to succeed him in the Catechetical Lecture in 
 Magdalen Hall. This he held with great approbation for 
 about seven years, during which time he was, amongst other 
 pupils, tutor to Mr. Wilkins, afterwards Bishop of Chester. 
 He then, I presume, took orders, and shortly after 
 was esteemed so famous for his preaching, that he was 
 much courted to be one of the lecturers at St. Martin's, com- 
 monly called Carfax, Oxon, which cure he at length took, 
 and in 1630 went to Worcester, and after that to Leominster 
 in Herefordshire, of which he had the living, and became a 
 very popular preacher, and when the living was found insuf- 
 ficient for a maintenance, Lord Scudamore made some addi- 
 tion to it. Tombs was, says his biographer, among the first 
 of the clergv of those times who endeavoured a reformation in
 
 136 
 
 the Church, that is, was an enemy to the discipline or cere- 
 monies, for which he afterwards suffered, when the King's 
 forces came into that country; and being in 1641 obliged to 
 leave it, he went to Bristol, where the Parliamentary Gene- 
 ral Fiennes gave him the liberty of All Saints. When Bristol 
 was besieged by Prince Rupert, the year following, he re- 
 moved again to London with his family, and there first com- 
 municated to some of the Westminster divines his scruples a* 
 to infant baptism, and held conferences with them on the 
 subject, the result of which was, that he made no converts, 
 but was more confirmed in his own opinions, and a sufferer 
 too, for being appointed preacher at Fenchurch, his congre- 
 gation not only refused to hear him, but to allow him any 
 stipend. From this dilemma he was relieved for a time by a 
 call to be preacher at the Temple Church, provided he would 
 abstain, in the pulpit, from the controversy about infant bap- 
 tism. To this he consented on these terms : first, that no 
 one else should preach for the baptism of infants in his pul- 
 pit ; and secondly, that no laws should be enacted to make 
 the denial of infant baptism penal. All this being agreed 
 upon, he continued to preach at the Temple for four years, 
 and was then dismissed for publishing a treatise against infant 
 baptism. This was construed into a breach of his engage- 
 ment, but he endeavoured to defend it as necessary to his 
 character, he being often attacked in the pulpit for those opi- 
 nions on the subject which he had communicated to the West- 
 minster Assembly, although they had neither been published 
 nor answered by that learned body. After this he accepted 
 an invitation from the people at Bewdley, his native place, to 
 be their minister; and there he not only publicly avowed his 
 sentiments, but formed a baptist church or sect, while he 
 continued minister of the parish, and had also the patronage 
 of Ross given to him. Wood says he was sent to Kidder- 
 minster purposely to tame Baxter and 1 is party, for they 
 preached against each other's doctrines. He resigned Ross 
 on being made master of Ledbury Hospital, and liis parishion- 
 ers at Bewdley having forsaken him on account of his opini-
 
 137 
 
 ons on baptism, lie was restored to his first living at Leo- 
 minster ; and that and Bewdley, amidst all the disaffection 
 of the parishioners, he held till the Restoration. Notwith- 
 standing his differing in opinion with the generality of his 
 brethren, he was, in 1653, appointed one of the triers, or 
 those appointed to examine and approve candidates for the 
 ministry. In this office he appears to have procured a sort 
 of toleration for the Baptists, for at the Restoration several of 
 that persuasion were found in possession of livings. In the 
 mean time he was often called upon to defend his principles 
 in public disputations, which were then much the fashion, 
 and it is said, that Baxter and others, who differed most from 
 him, paid due respect to his learning and argumentative 
 powers. At the Restoration he gladly hailed the monarchi- 
 cal government, and wrote a treatise to justify the taking of 
 the Oath of Supremacy; but being disappointed in his ex- 
 pectations from the new government, he resigned his livings, 
 and the exercise of his ministry altogether, which he could 
 do without personal inconvenience, as he had married an 
 opulent widow of Salisbury, from whom he enjoyed a good 
 estate. Offers were made to him if he would conform, but 
 his sentiments on the subject of baptism were insuperable. 
 In all other respects he not only conformed to the church as 
 a lay communicant, but wrote a treatise to prove the law- 
 fulness of so doing. He appears to have had the good 
 opinion of eminent men of his time, of all ranks and persua- 
 sions, of Lord Clarendon, and the Bishops Barlow, Sander- 
 son, and Ward, and of Baxter and Calamy. AVood says 
 " that there were few better disputants in his age than he 
 was ;" and Nelson, in his life of Bp. Bull, says, " it cannot 
 be denied but that he was a person of incomparable parts." 
 
 In 1702 a singular compliment was paid to him by the 
 House of Lords, in their conference with the Commons re- 
 lative to the bill for preventing occasional conformity. In 
 proving that receiving the sacrament in the church does not 
 necessarily import an entire conformity, they bring him as an 
 instance, " There was a very learned and famous man that 
 
 T
 
 138 
 
 lived at Salisbury, Mr. Tombes, who was a very zealous- 
 conformist in all points but one, infant baptism." Tombes 
 died at Salisbury, May 22, 1676, and was buried in St. Ed- 
 munds' Church-Yard. 
 
 Aubrey has several anecdotes credible to his learning and 
 liberality. His works are numerous, but chiefly in defence 
 of his opinions on infant baptism. He wrote also some 
 tracts against the Quakers, Papists, and the Socinians. See 
 more of him in Wood's Athenae, vol. 3, p. 1062 ; Aubrey's 
 Letters, &c. and Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial. 
 
 James Fleetwood, D.D. Bishop of Worcester. 
 
 He was born in Buckinghamshire, educated at Eton, and 
 nearly related to a Colonel of that name, one of the judges 
 who presided at the trial of Charles I., and who commanded 
 under Cromwell at the battle of Worcester. He was first 
 preferred to the Vicarage of Frees, in Shropshire ; whence 
 being driven by a republican garrison in that neighbourhood, 
 he accepted of a chaplainship to one of the King^s regi- 
 ments, and, in the battle of Edge Hill, performed grateful 
 service, by carrying off the young Princes to a place of safe- 
 ty. For this mark of loyal attention, he was, by the special 
 command of the King, honoured with the degree of D. D., 
 appointed Chaplain to Charles Prince of Wales, and pre- 
 sented to the Rectory of Sutton Colfield, in Warwickshire, 
 which was given him immediately after ; but which the vio- 
 lence of the times soon forced from him. He employed him- 
 self till the Restoration as private tutor to young noblemen ; 
 at that period he was advanced to the Provostship of King's 
 College. He had the care of the education of the young 
 Earls of Lichfield, Kildaire, and Sterling. At the Restora- 
 tion Charles II. gave him many preferments in reward for 
 his sufferings, and ultimately the see of Worcester in 1675, 
 where he chiefly spent the remainder of his days, both doing 
 good and exhorting others to do good. He died in his 81st 
 vear, July 17, 1683, and was buried in his cathedral.
 
 13,9 
 
 Arthur Salway, 
 A Native of this county, was educated at Brasenose 
 College, M. A. 1626, and Mas afterwards Minister of Severn 
 Stoke. He published " Halting Stigmatized, a Fast Ser- 
 mon, before the House of Commons, Oct. 25, 1643. 1 
 Kings 18, 21. Lond. 1644." 
 
 Henry Hickman, B. D. 
 
 A Native of this county, was first educated at Cam- 
 bridge, which he left after taking his batchelor's degree, and 
 removed to Oxford 1647. Here he entered of Magdalen 
 Hall, and by favour of the Parliamentary visitors, was first 
 demy, and soon after fellow of Magdalen College, and took 
 his master's degree. He was then licensed as a preacher, 
 and officiated at St. Aldate's Church, Oxford, and at Brack- 
 iey, Northamptonshire. 
 
 In 1658 he became B. D., but at the Restoration was 
 ejected from his fellowship, which was restored to the right 
 owner, and went to Holland. He afterwards returned, and 
 for some time taught logic and philosophy to a few pupils at 
 Stourbridge, but went again to Holland, and preached for 
 some years at the English Church of Leyden, where he died 
 in l692. He wrote several treatises, principally of the con- 
 troversial kind, in defence of the non-conformists, and against 
 Mr. Thomas Pierce, Mr. Durell, Dr. Heylin, Mr. Scri- 
 vener, and others, who supported the cause of the establish- 
 ed church. The best of his performances appeared without 
 his name, under the title of " Apologia pro Ministris in 
 Anglia (vulgo) non-conformistes, &c." Wood, who has 
 given a particular account of his other writings, says u that 
 he was a person several ways learned, much conversant in 
 books, a leading man, and a pillar of his party, but altoge- 
 ther a severe enemy to the ceremonies of the Church of 
 England." Calamy says but little of him.
 
 140 
 
 Henry Savage, D.D. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Dobs-hill, in the 
 parish of Eldersfield, and was of a genteel family, and the 
 son of Francis Savage. He was admitted a Commoner of 
 Baliol at the age of 17, or thereabouts, proceeded A. B. 
 1625, was three years after made probationer fellow of the 
 said college, and two years after that, 16.30, he was com- 
 pleted master of his faculty. In the beginning of the rebel- 
 lion he travelled into France with William Lord Sandys, 
 (whose sister Mary he afterwards married) was elected Mas- 
 ter of Baliol College May 20, 1650, and the year following 
 was created D. D. After the Restoration he conformed and 
 became King's Chaplain to Charles II., Prebendary of Glou- 
 cester 166.5, and Rector of Bladon, near Woodstock. He 
 died June 2, 1672, and was buried in the chapel of Baliol 
 College, next below the steps leading to the altar, being the 
 first that was known to be buried there. He wrote an im- 
 perfect history of his college, intituled Baliofergus, or a 
 Commentary on the Foundation, Founders, and Affairs of 
 Baliol College, printed at Oxford, 1668, 4to. ; of which 
 "Wood gives the following curious account : " This work 
 professes to be gathered out of the records of Baliol Col- 
 lege, and other antiquities, but the author having no natural 
 gent/ for the study of antiquity or history, neither a timing 
 head, nor indeed records enough from his college, as there 
 is no register of the acts of the society above the year 1520, 
 12th Henry VIII., nor no ancient rolls of account, wherein 
 the state of the college is every year represented, as also 
 the names of the fellows, he hath committed many foul 
 errors therein, especially in this respect, that he has made 
 the said college of Baliol father or parent to many eminent 
 men who never studied, or were conversant with the muses 
 therein; while in the mean time he hath omitted others 
 who have studied there, and been of great fame in their 
 time." He was also the author of Quoestiones tres in no- 
 vissimorum. Comitorum Vesperiis Oxon, discussae Ann.
 
 141 
 
 1652, &c. Thesis Doctoris Savage, &c. &c. — Vindicatio 
 ejus a Calumniis Mri. Tombes — Reasons, shewing there is 
 no Reason of such Reformation of the Public — Doctrine, 
 &c. of the Church — The Dew of Hermon, See. — Natalitia 
 Collesii Pembrochiani Oxon, &c." See their titles, with 
 remarks on these works at length, in Wood's Athenae, vol. 3, 
 p. 958. 
 
 Gervase Warmstrey, 
 A Native of this city, where he was educated in grammar, 
 was the eldest son of William Warmstrey, principal registrar 
 of the diocese of Worcester, by Cicely his wife, daughter 
 of Thomas Smith, of Cuerdley in Lane, (an inhabitant of 
 St. Aldates parish, in Oxford.) He became a Student in 
 Christ Church in 1621, aged 17, or thereabouts; took the 
 degrees in arts, and afterwards retiring to his native place, 
 succeeded his father in the above-mentioned office. While 
 he continued in the University he was numbered among the 
 eminent poets, especially on his writing and publication of 
 Virescit Vulnere Virtus — England's Wound and Cure* — 
 printed 1628, qu. [Bodl. 4to. L. 71 Art.] which being by 
 many persons of known worth esteemed an excellent piece, 
 was by the author dedicated to that great patron of all in- 
 genious men, especially of poets, Endimion Porter, Esq. 
 Warmstrey hath also written various poems and other things ; 
 he died May 28, 1641, and was buried among the graves of 
 the Warmstreys, in the Cathedral Church of Worcester, 
 leaving a widow behind him, named Isabel. 
 
 * England's Wound and Cure was written on the Duke of Buckingham'* 
 unfortunate expedition to the Isle of Re, in 1627, in the retreat from which, 
 according to Carte, the English lost 5 Colonels, 3 Lieut. -Colonels, 150 other 
 Officers, 20 Gentlemen, and about 1,500 common Soldiers. The object of 
 this poem is to prove that this calamity was inflicted on the nation for 
 its iniquities ; and the Poet, as may be supposed, predicts that the slain 
 shall be amply and speedily revenged. See an extract from the poem 
 in A. Wood.
 
 142 
 
 Edmund Waller, 
 
 The Poet, sometimes styled the English Tibullus, was 
 born at Coleshill, in Hertfordshire, March 3, 160,3. He 
 purchased the,, parish of Kidderminster of the Earl of New- 
 port. Part of the estate, with a handsome brick house 
 near Kidderminster Church, which, when Dr. Nash wrote, 
 had just been pulled down, consisting of a portion of land 
 and appropriate tythes, the poet sold to Daniel Dobbins, 
 Esq. of London, 1635. 
 
 Mr. Waller probably sold his estate to provide himself 
 with money against the troubles which he saw coming on.* 
 In the year 1642 he sent a thousand broad pieces to the 
 King at Nottingham, when he set up his standard there. 
 About 1643, he sold the manor of Hircourt and Commer- 
 ton, and all other his lands in the parish of Kidderminster, 
 (excepted in the grant to Dobbins,) in order to pay his fine 
 to Parliament, on account of what is called Waller's plot; 
 the poet was fined 10,0001. and is said to have disbursed three 
 times that sum to the leading men, in order to promote their 
 interest in his favour. If, therefore, he wrote equally well, 
 verses complementary on the Lord Protector and on the 
 return of the King, the loss of his wealth in the cause of the 
 latter, evidently informs us on which he wrote most feelingly. 
 In the account of his life prefixed to his works, ed. 17 11, he 
 is said to have sold 1000 a year in order to enable him to 
 pay this money. At the decline of life he found his legs 
 grow turned, and asked Sir Charles Scarborough what these 
 swellings meant? Sir, answered the physician, your blood 
 
 * " Waller now nearly gotten out of England, after the Parliament had ex- 
 tremely worried him for attempting to put in execution the Commission ofAray, 
 jbr which the rest of his colleagues were hung by the rebels," — he joined Mr. 
 Evelyn and the English at the French Court, and afterwards accompanied 
 Mr. Evelyn to Geneva and Venice. His child who was baptized by a papist* 
 midwife, and who afterwards died, was the god-daughter of Mr. Evelyn. — 
 Waller, in 1652, after being proscribed by the rebels, was permitted to re- 
 turn to England. He was a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations in 
 1671. Vide Evelyn's Diary.
 
 143 
 
 will run no longer : the Poet repeated some lines of Virgil, 
 and returned to Beaconsfield, where he expired Oct. 21, 
 1687. See Lives of Poets, &c. 
 
 Waller asked the provostship of Eton College from King 
 Charles II. and obtained it; but the virtuous Chancellor, 
 Lord Clarendon, refused to put the seal to the grant, al- 
 ledging that it could be only held by a clergyman. 
 
 There are some criticisms on his smaller poems, pre- 
 sumed to be by Bishop Atterbury, in the Europ. Mag. for 
 Sept. 1796, where is also a poem by him, not inserted in 
 the late edition of his works. 
 
 William Habbington, or Abingdon. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Hindlip, Nov. 4 
 or 5, l605, and was the eldest son of Thomas Habington, 
 (see his article, p. 90-) being of a Roman Catholic family, 
 he was sent to receive the early parts of his education at 
 Paris and St. Omers, with a view to induce him to become 
 a Priest, and w here he was very earnestly entreated to take 
 on him the habit of the Jesuits. But an ecclesiastical 
 life being by no means agreeable to his inclinations, he re- 
 sisted all their solicitations and returned to England. On 
 his return from the Continent he resided principally with his 
 father, who became his preceptor, and evidently, says Wood, 
 sent him into the world an accomplished gentleman and a 
 man of letters and virtue. Although allied to some noble 
 families, and occasionally mixing in the gayelies of high life, 
 his natural disposition inclined him to the purer pleasures of 
 rural life ; and has celebrated Hindlip in a piece of poetry to 
 Retirement. He was probably very early a poet and a 
 lover, and in both successful. He married Lucy, daughter 
 of William Herbert, first Lord Powis, by Eleanor, daugh- 
 ter of Henry Percy, eighth Earl of Northumberland, by 
 Catherine, daughter and co-heir of John Neville, Lord 
 Latimer. It is to this lady that we are indebted for his
 
 144 
 
 poems, most of which were written in allusion to his court- 
 ship and marriage. She was the Castara who animated 
 his imagination with tenderness and elegance, and purified 
 it from the grosser approbria of the amatory Poets. His 
 poems, as was not unusual in that age, were written occa- 
 sionally, and dispersed confidentially. In 1635 they appear 
 to have been first collected into a volume,* which Oldys 
 calls the second edition, under the title of Castara. Ano- 
 ther edition was published in 1640, which is by far the 
 most perfect and correct. The reader to whom an analysis 
 may be necessary, will find a very judicious one in the last 
 volume of the " Censura Literaria." The following is a 
 specimen of his amatory style. 
 
 TO CASTARA. 
 
 Give me a heart where no impure 
 
 Dissorder'd passions rage, 
 Which jealousy doth not obscure, 
 
 Nor vanity t'expence engage. 
 Nor woo'd to madness by quaint oaths, 
 Or the fine rhetoric of cloaths ; 
 
 Which not the softness of the age, 
 To vice or folly doth incline ; 
 Give me that heart, Castara, for 'tis thine. 
 
 * " He had written and published Poems, London, 1635, in Svo. second 
 edition, under the title of Castara ; they are divided into three parts, under 
 a different title, suitable to their subject. The first, which was written when 
 he was a suitor to his wife, (the humane goddess that inspired him,) whose 
 friends, it appears, notwithstanding Habington's accomplishments, he had 
 some difficulty in reconciling to the match. In some lines addressed to her 
 father after their marriage, he intreatshim to bless them, and adds, 
 
 ' Nor grieve my lord 'tis perfected — ' 
 from which, perhaps, it may be inferred it was clandestine. — The first poem 
 is ushered in by a character, writ in prose, of a mistress ; the second are 
 copies writ to her after marriage, by the character of a wife ; after which 
 is a character of a friend; before several funeral elegies. The third part 
 consists of divine poems, some of which are paraphrases on several texts 
 out of Job and the book of Psalms, before which is the portrait of a holy 
 man. "-'Note on A. Wood
 
 145 
 
 Take thou a heart where no new look i 
 
 Provokes new appetite, 
 "With no fresh charm of beauty took, 
 
 Or wanton stratagem of wit; 
 Nor idly wandering here and there, 
 Led by an amourous eye or ear, 
 
 Aiming each beauteous mark to hit ; 
 Which virtue doth to one confine, 
 Take thou that heart, Castara, for 'tis mine. 
 
 ilis other works are, the " Queen of Arragon," a tragi- 
 comedy, folio, 1640, which was acted at Court, and at 
 Blackfriars, and printed in 1640. It has since been re- 
 printed among Dodsley's old plays. The author having 
 communicated the MS. to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, Lord 
 Chamberlain of the Household to King Charles I. he caused 
 it to be acted, and afterwards published against the author's 
 consent. It was revived, with the revival of the stage, at 
 the Restoration, about 1666, when anew prologue and epi- 
 logue were furnished by the author of Hudibras. Of this 
 play he appears himself to have had a very diffident opinion. 
 He also wrote " Observations upon History," Lond. 1641, 
 8vo. consisting of some particular pieces of history in the 
 reigns of Henry II. Richard [. &c. interspersed with poli- 
 tical and moral reflection?, similar to what he had introduced 
 in his larger history, or " History of Edward IV."* 1640, 
 fol. which, as Wood asserts, was both written and pub- 
 lished at the desire of Charles I. He also insinuates that 
 Habingdon " did run with the times, and was not unknown 
 to Oliver the Usurper ;" but we have no evidence of any 
 compliance with a system of political measures so diame- 
 trically opposite to those which we may suppose belonged to 
 the education and principles of a Roman Catholic family. 
 It is indeed grossly improbable that he should have com- 
 plied with Cromwell, who was as yet no usuper, and during 
 
 * His principal bent was to history. In the complete History of England, 
 1706, the two first volumes of which were compiled by Hughes, the poet, 
 llabingdon's Life of Edward is inserted among the other adopted lives. 
 
 Biog. Dram, 
 
 V
 
 146 
 
 the life of his royal master, whose cause was not yet des- 
 perate. Of his latter days we have no further account, than 
 that he died' (before his father) Nov. 13, 1645, and was 
 buried at Hindlip, in the family vault. He left a son, Tho- 
 mas, who dying without issue, bequeathed his estate to Sir 
 Wm. Compton. His poems are distinguished from those 
 of most of his contemporaries, by delicacy of sentiment, 
 tenderness, and a natural strain of pathetic reflection. His 
 favourite subjects, virtuous love and conjugal attachment, 
 are agreeably varied by strokes of fancy and energies of 
 affection. Somewhat of the extravagance of the metaphy- 
 sical poets is occasionally discernible, but with very little 
 affectation of learning, and very little effort to draw his 
 imagery from sources with which the muses are not familiar. 
 The virtuous tendency and chaste language of his poems 
 form no inconsiderable part of their merit, and his preface 
 assures us that his judgment was not inferior to his imagina- 
 tion. They were introduced into a late edition of the English 
 Poets, (Johnson and Chalmer's English Poets, 21 vols. 
 1810,) and have since been printed separately. I shall 
 conclude this memoir in the words of the editor of the Lyre 
 of Love, as they are attached to Habiugton's poems in 
 vol. 1, p. 91, of that work.* 
 
 * In another note on the life of Habington in Wood, it is stated that the 
 first edition of Habington's Castara was printed in 1634, and is one of the 
 rarest volumes of poetry of that period. It contains two parts only, con- 
 sisting of 78 pages, exclusive of the little preface and some lines by G. T. 
 ' to his best friend and kinsman on his Castara,' forming one sheet more in 4to. 
 the second edition was 1635; the third 1640; both in 12tno. the last, edited 
 by C. A. Elton, Esq. was printed in 1815, 8vo. and well deserves a place 
 in the library of every lover of early English poetry. I could willingly 
 quote a hundred beauties from this exquisite volume, but, as Wood says. 
 time calls, and I must hasten away — add to which abundant specimens of 
 his poetry will be found in Ellis, Headley, Censura Literaria, and that 
 elegant publication entitled the Lyre of Love, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1806. 
 The poems introduced in the latter work are " To Roses in the bosom of 
 Castara," " Cupid'* death and burial in Castara's cheek," " Retirement," 
 " Sonnet," " Parting Sonnets, M To the Sun," " To the dew, in hope to 
 see Castara walking," and " To Castara." There are also six of his poems, 
 most of which are repeated from the Lyre of Love, in Specimens of the 
 British Poets, from Surrey to Cowper, 18mo. published by Suttaby, 1809
 
 147 
 
 " This amiable and estimable poet describes the excel- 
 lencies of his paternal seat in a poem addressed to Castara. 
 Having reaped the best fruits of a liberal and accomplish- 
 ed education, he early resigned himself to the calmness of 
 seclusion, varied chiefly by literary amusement. " Expert 
 in home cosmography" rather than emulous of enlisting 
 among the votaries of restlessness or profusion, he not 
 only restricted his pleasures to the circle of private inter- 
 course, but declined any active participation in the scenes 
 which agitated this country soon after the accession of 
 Charles I. He probably experienced much difficulty in ob- 
 taining the hand of his " Castara," though he appears readily 
 to have secured her heart. In one of his poems, when 
 enumerating the perfections with which she stood invested — 
 her descent, her fortune, her beauty, her graces, her ac- 
 quirements, her virtues — he affects to wish her less elevated 
 and distinguished, that his adoration of her might not be 
 ascribed to interested motives, and the contemplation of ad- 
 ventitious splendour. It is also evident that Earl Powis was 
 not altogether reconciled to his daughter's election of Hab- 
 ington, even after their marriage had been solemnized. 
 Such were the auspices of an union destined to reflect un- 
 fading honour on the family by whom it was opposed! 
 Justly did the poet anticipate, in the Sonnet entitled ' His 
 Muse speaks to him,' the meed which was due to his genius, 
 and which assuredly will yet be rewarded." 
 
 John Gauden, D. D. Bishop of Worcester, 1662, 
 
 Was the son of John Gauden, Vicar of Mayfield, in 
 Essex, where he was born, 160J. He was first educated 
 at Bury St. Edmunds, from whence he was removed to 
 St. John's College, Camb. After his marriage, about 1630, 
 he obtained the vicarage of Chippenham, and also the rectory 
 of Brightwell, Berks, which bringing him near to Oxford, 
 he entered himself of Wadham College. Being appointed 
 Chaplain to Robert, Earl of Warwick, he sided with the 
 Parliament, and so adapted his discourse, that when he
 
 148 
 
 preached before the House of Commons, they presented 
 him with a silver tankard, and afterwards gave him the rich 
 deanery of Bocking, in Essex. He, however, signed the 
 protest against destroying the King, nor did his zeal stop 
 here, for he wrote an invective against those who had 
 murdered Charles I. but this Mas not published until after 
 the Restoration. Having at length printed the Ety.uv Bxo-iXiy.y. 
 or portraiture of his sacred Majesty in his solitude and suf- 
 ferings, as the production of Charles I. it was seized by 
 the Parliament army, but he escaped punishment from the 
 death of a principal witness, and he continued to hold all 
 his preferments. Upon the return of Charles II. he Mas 
 consecrated Bishop of Exeter, having before been ap- 
 pointed King's Chaplain. The value of a bishoprick was 
 greatly enhanced by the long intermission that had hap- 
 pened in renewing the leases of the estates during the 
 abolition of episcopacy ; in this view the See of Exeter 
 might be looked upon as a gift from his Majesty of '20,0001. 
 But he thought that his services deserved something more 
 from the Government for his various publications in defence 
 of monarchy and the establishments ; but above all, he par- 
 ticularly pleaded his merit in respect to the E/x«y B«o-A/x*j f 
 In his petition to the King, in which having declared the 
 advantage which had accrued to the Crown by his service, 
 he adds, " That what was done like a King should have a 
 King-like recompense," and he spared no opportunity of 
 rating the greatness of his services, and the inadequacy of 
 his reward. Being removed to the See of Worcester, he 
 was so far from being satisfied with this promotion, that it 
 is said grief and vexation, at his not being translated to the 
 rich See of Winchester, hastened his end, # as he died the same 
 year of his consecration to this See, 1662, and was buried in 
 his Cathedral. Various are the opinions relativeto the Icon, 
 for which we refer our readers to Dr. Nash's Worcestershire, 
 Nichol's Literary Anecdotes for the Arguments against Gau- 
 den ; andto Laing's History of Scotland for what can be alleged 
 
 ? See this contradicted in Grainger's Biog. Hist,
 
 149 
 
 in favour ofGauden being the real author of the Icon, see also 
 Toland. Mr. Chalmers thinks that there is strong probabi- 
 lity for thinking it was composed from materials written by 
 the King, and that Gauden, a man so ambitious and avarici- 
 ous as to claim high rewards for all his sacrifices, was very 
 likely to attribute the whole to himself. " If," says Mr. 
 Laing, " ever a literary imposture were excusable, it was 
 undoubtedly Gauden's, which had it appeared a week sooner 
 might have saved the King's life." See also Ath. Ox. vol. 3, 
 p. 612. Nichol's Bowyer. Maty's Review, vol. 3. Bur- 
 net and Gent.'s Mag. Dean Boswell's Life, and Lloyd's 
 Memoir. Also the second volume of Evelyn's Works,in which 
 t'ie editor gives it as his opinion that the Icon was the pro- 
 duction of Charles I.* See also Grainger's History. 
 
 There is an efhgie of him, with a hand drawing back a 
 curtain, which discovers him in his gown, &c. ; at the top of 
 it is written " Spectatum admissi risum teneatis," at the 
 bottom the following lines : — 
 
 " The curtain's drawn, all may perceive the plott, 
 
 And him who truely the black babe begot ; 
 
 Whose sable mantle makes me bold to say, » 
 
 A Phaeton, Sol's chariot, ru'lde that day. 
 
 Presumptuous Priest, to skip into the throne, 
 
 And make his King hi* bastard issue oune; 
 
 The author therefore hath conceived it meet 
 
 The Doctor should do penance in this sheet." 
 
 There is a better print of Dr. G. in the title page to his 
 Hieraspistes, but neither deserve the name of a portrait.f 
 
 * The literary talents of Kings seem to be with difficulty acceded to them ; 
 the Sonnets of Richard III. — the Defence of the Sacraments by Henry VII I. 
 — and the Basilicon Doron of James I. have all been doubted as works of royal 
 production. The Icon Basilike has, however, gone through 47 impressions, 
 and the number of copies are said to have been 48,000. For the testimonies 
 of Gough, Hume, Smollett, Home, and D'lsraeli, as to the merits of this 
 work as a literary composition, see Parke's Noble and Royal Authors, vol. I, 
 p. 140. For further matter relative to the Icon see p. 152 of this work. 
 
 + In the Addenda and Corrigenda of vol. 5, of the Biog. Britt. it is men- 
 tioned "that the fact of, Dr. Gauden's having written the Eikon Basilike is 
 now fully ascertained." Yet in a note to the Life of Bp. Dupya, it is said, 
 that " it is not improbable that Bp. Duppa might be of some assistance to 
 King Charles in the composition of the Eikon Basilike."
 
 150 
 
 Henry Hamond, D. D. 
 
 Was born at Chertsey, in Surrey, Aug. 18, I603. He 
 was educated at Eton, from whence he was sent to Magda- 
 len College. In 1640 he was chosen one of the Members 
 of the Convocation, called with the Long Parliament, and in 
 1643 was made Archdeacon of Chichester. In the begin- 
 ning of the national troubles he continued undisturbed at 
 his living, until the middle of July, 1643, when he was ob- 
 liged to retire privily and in disguise to Oxford. He how- 
 ever shared all the favour which the King was allowed to 
 shew him, and was Chaplain to his Majesty at Oxford until 
 that place surrendered to the parliament army. From Ox- 
 ford he was removed to the house of Sir Philip Warwick, at 
 Clapham, in Bedfordshire. After drawing up an address in 
 favour of his royal master, for whose death his grief was ex- 
 treme, the rigour of his restraint being taken off, in the be- 
 ginning of the year 1649, he removed to Westwood, in 
 Worcestershire, the seat of the loyal Sir John Packington, 
 from whom he received a kind invitation, and here he spent 
 the remainder of his days. 
 
 While Charles II. Mas designing him for the Bishopric of 
 Worcester, and he was preparing to go to London, whither 
 he had been invited by the most eminent divines, he was 
 seized, on the 4th of April, with a sharp fit of the stone, of 
 which he died the 25th, 1660. Dr. H. wrote " A Practical 
 Catechism ; Paraphrase and Annotations on the New Tes- 
 tament ; two large volumes in latin — of the Way of Inter- 
 preting the New Testament, &c. ; A Paraphrase and Com- 
 mentary on all the Books of the Old Testament." See Dr. 
 Hamond's Epitaph in Nash's Worcestershire.* 
 
 * In 1808 was published by the Rev. John Flumptre, then Prebendary of 
 Worcester, now Dean of Gloucester, " Divine and Moral Precepts for the 
 Conduct of a Christian towards God and Man," by John Hamond, (supposed 
 to have been the father of Dr. Henry Hamond,) and written for the instruc- 
 tion of his grandson. The Rev. Editor in his Preface tells us that "The 
 MS. from which the following pages were printed, is entitled ' A Sweet Poesie 
 of variety of Flowers, composed of Divine and Moral Precepts for a Chris-
 
 151 
 
 William Digard, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Bromsgrove, Jan. 
 9, 1605-6; he was the son of Henry Dugard, a clergyman, 
 and was instructed in classical learning at the College 
 School in Worcester, under Bright, and from thence sent 
 in 1622, to Sydney College, Cambridge. In l6'26 he took 
 the degree of B. A and that of M. A. in 1630. Soon after 
 he was appointed Master of Stamford School in Lincoln- 
 shire, from whence, in 1637, he was elected Master of the 
 Free School at Colchester. He resigued the care of this 
 school in Jan. 1642-3, in consequence of the ill treatment lie 
 received at the hands of a party in that town, to which, as 
 well as to the school, he had been of great service ; and 
 May, 16-U, was chosen Head Master of Merchant Taylor's 
 School, London. This school flourished exceedingly under 
 his influence and management; but for shewing, as was 
 thought, too great an affection to the royal cause, and espe- 
 cially for being concerned in printing, at a press in his own 
 house, Salmasius' Defence of Charles I. he was deprived 
 of it Feb. 1649-50, and imprisoned in Newgate, his wife and 
 six children turned out of doors, and a printing office, which 
 he vaiued at £1000, seized. That he was well affected to 
 Charles 1., and to the royal interest, appears from a curious 
 register he kept of his school, which is still extant in Sion 
 College Library, wherein are entered two Greek verses, on 
 the beheading of that monarch, to this effect : " Charles, the 
 best of kings, is fallen by the hands of cruel and wicked 
 men, a martyr for the laws of Cod and of his country." 
 There are also two more Greek verses on the burial of Gli\er 
 Cromwell's mother, in Westminster Abbey, to this effect: 
 
 thin and Civil Carriage towards God and Man,' and was lately met with by the 
 Editor in Worcestershire, where it is well known that the learned Dr. Henry 
 Hamond passed the latter years of his life, under the protection of Sir John 
 PackingtOD, at West wood, during the time of Charles 1 1, by whom he was in- 
 tended for the Bishopric of Worcester." This MS. was probably preserved 
 in this county from the time of its being written until it* publication by Dr. 
 Pluuiptre, and was printed by G. Cower. Kidderminster.
 
 152 
 
 " Here lieth the mother of a cursed son, who has been the 
 ruin of two kings, and of three kingdoms." However, it 
 was not for these that he was dismissed the school, but for 
 being concerned in printing Salmasius's book, as we learn 
 from the following memorandum in the same register : 
 "Februar20, 1649/Aconcilio novi status ab archididascalatus 
 officio summotus, et in carcerem Novae Portae conjectus 
 sum ; ab hanc praecipue causam, quod Claudii Salmasii li- 
 brum, qui inscribitur. 'Defensio regia pro Carolo primo ad 
 serenissimum regem Carolum secundum legitimum haeredem 
 et successorera,' typis mandandum curaveram : typographeo 
 iusuper integro spoliatus, ad valorem mille librarum mini- 
 mum ; nihil jam reliquum habeus, unde victum quaeram 
 uxori et sex liberis." It is a singular circumstance that Mil- 
 ton's Defensio pro Populo Anglicano was printed Typis 
 Duvardianis, a curious refinement in retaliation.* Being 
 soon released from this confinement, he opened, April 1650, 
 a private school on Peter's Hill, London ; but, in Septem- 
 ber, was restored to his former station, by means of the same 
 Council of State which had caused him to be removed, and 
 which, with Milton, took advantage of his distresses to force 
 him into their service, and among other things to print Mil- 
 ton's Answer to Salmasius. There, however, he continued 
 with great success and credit till about 1662, when he was 
 dismissed for breaking some orders of the Merchant Taylor's 
 School, though he had been publicly warned and admonished 
 of it before. He presented a remonstrance to it upon 
 
 * It appears that Dugard would have been more severely punished if Mii- 
 ton, who was his intimate friend, had not used his interest to bring him o(T, 
 which he effected by means of Bradshaw ; but upon this condition, that Du- 
 gard should add Pamela's Prayer to the book he was printing, (an edition of 
 the Icon Basilike) as an atonement for his fault, they designing thereby to 
 bring a scandal upon the performance, and blast the reputation of its autho- 
 rity. In expectation of which they used frequently to laugh at their dexte- 
 rity in thus inserting among the King's genuine pieces a prayer out of Sir 
 Phillip Sydney's Arcadia. The book being thus interpolated, Milton was 
 employed by the Council of State, to whom he was Latin Secretary, to cen- 
 sure the King for this very prayer. See Nichol's Bowycr.
 
 153 
 
 that occasion, but to no purpose ; whereupon he opened a 
 private school in Coleman-street, July 1661, and by March 
 following had gathered 193 scholars, so great was his repu- 
 tation, and the fame of his abilities. 
 
 He lived a very little while after," dying in 1662; he gave 
 by will several books to Sion College Library. He pub- 
 lished some few pieces for the use of schools; as, 1. Lexi- 
 con Gra?ci Testament! aphabeticum ; una cum exphcatione 
 grammatical vocum singularum, in usum tironum. Necnon 
 Concordantia singulis dictionibus apposita, in usum theolo- 
 giae canditatorum, 1660; 2. Rhetorices compendium, 8vo. ; 
 3. Luciani Samosatensis dialogorum selectorum Iibri duo, 
 cum interpretatione Latina^ multis in locis emendata, et ad 
 calcem adjecta, 8vo. ; 4. A Greek Grammar. His first pro- 
 duction was reprinted by Mr. Bowyer in 1774, a work ex- 
 cellently calculated for the use of schools and voung students 
 in divinity, and shewing the purpose not only of a lexicon, by 
 exhibiting all the words of the Greek Testament, as they 
 stand in the text, with their explanations and inflections, but 
 answering likewise the end of a concordance in a compendi- 
 ous form. This the late Mr. Bowyer left accurately cor- 
 rected and much enlarged, and often wished in his latter days 
 he had been able to publish for the use of schools and the 
 benefit of young students in divinity. It is in the possession 
 of Mr. Nichol, the venerable recorder of literary anecdotes 
 of the 18th century. I cannot find that he was related to 
 
 Richard Dugard, B. D. 
 A Native of this county, who was born at Grafton Flyford, 
 and bred under Dr. Bright, in the King's School at Worces- 
 ter, of whom he ever spoke with gratitude for the benefits he 
 had received from him. He was chosen Fellow of Sidney 
 College, where, says Fuller, who was his intimate acquaint- 
 ance, " in my time, he had a moiety of the most considerable 
 pupils, whom he bred in learning and piety, in the golden 
 mean, betwixt superstition and faction. He held a gentle 
 strict hand over them, so that none presumed on his lenity 
 
 x
 
 154 
 
 to offend, or were discouraged by his severity to amend." 
 lie was an excellent Grecian, and a general scholar. He 
 bestowed on his college £120 for some perpetual use for the 
 master and fellows, and £10 for books for the library. At 
 last he was surprized with a presentation of the Rectory of 
 Fullcby, in Lincolnshire, where by his constant preaching 
 and pious living he procured his own security — a rare happi- 
 ness in those troublesome times. He died Jan. 28, 1653, 
 and lies buried under a marble stone in the chancel of his 
 church r 
 
 John ConanT, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1681, 
 Was born Oct. 18, 1608, at Yeatenton, Devonshire, and 
 was sent to Exeter Coll. He was admitted Chancellor of the 
 University 1637, and during his office was instrumental in 
 procuring Mr. Seidell's valuable collection of books for the 
 public library, and on two occasions preserved the rights and 
 privileges of the University. Dr. Conant was one of the 
 Commissioners appointed by Charles II. for reviewing the 
 Book of Common Prayer, He also assisted at the Savoy 
 Conferences ; but submitted to be deprived of his prefer- 
 ments, on passing of the Act of Uniformity, which after 
 eight years' serious deliberation he resolved to comply with, 
 particularly those points on which his scruples were once the 
 strongest ; and was re-ordained by Reynolds, Bishop of 
 Norwich, whose daughter he had married. He died 1693, 
 in his 86th year, and was buried in his own parish church of 
 All Saints, in Northampton. Dr. Conant was deeply versed 
 in the Oriental languages. Many of his Sermons and 
 Charges are still in the hands of his descendants ; as is a 
 Life of him, w.iitten by his son John Conant, LL. D. also 
 in MS. but communicated to the editors of the first edition 
 of the Biog. Britt. " For want of attention to this account," 
 says Mr. Chalmers, which must undoubtedly be deemed au- 
 thentic, " Mr. Palmer, in his Nonconformist's Memorial, 
 (a new edition, with continuation of Calamy's work), has 
 introduced him for the purpose of giving some extracts from
 
 T5o 
 
 an unpublished MS. relative to the oppressions he suffered 
 from the Bishop of Bath and Wells, all which story evidently 
 belongs to his uncle, John Conaut, B. D. and Rector of 
 
 J .vmington, whom his nephew assisted." See also Prince's 
 Worthies, and Nichol's Leicestershire. 
 
 Robert Skinner, D.D. Bishop of Worcester, 166.">, 
 Bishop of Oxford before the Usurpation, and one of the 
 few prelates who lived to be re-established in their former sees. 
 lie was born in Northamptonshire, and educated at Trinity 
 College, Oxford, where he became an eminent tutor, conse- 
 crated the fust Bishop for the see of Bristol, [636, and in 
 1641 removed to that of Oxford. He joined with eleven 
 of his brethren in a protest against the proceedings of the 
 Parliament, for which they were all arraigned of high treason, 
 and ten of them committed to the Tower. He was confined 
 there seventeen months, when his sufferings taught him to 
 temporize, for when deprived of his bishopric, he complied 
 with the new ordinances so far as to preserve his rectory of 
 Launton, in Oxfordshire, till episcopacy itself was restored. 
 He died 1(370, aged SO, and was buried in Worcester 
 Cathedra}.. 
 
 John Vaughan, 
 Was born in Cardiganshire, September 14, 1608, and 
 educated at Worcester School, (Query, the College), whence 
 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1623. He made such 
 a figure in the law as caused him to be returned to the Par- 
 liament of 1640, as Member for the town of Cardigan. It 
 is said that he was in his heart an enemy to monarchy, but he 
 never engaged in open hostility to Charles I. In 1668, his 
 Majesty Charles II. conferred the honour of knighthood 
 upon him, and he was also sworn Serjeant at Law, and the 
 day following, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. 
 He died Dec. 10, 1674, and was buried in the Temple 
 Church, near the grave of his friend Selden, who had apr
 
 156 
 
 pointed him one of his executors, and whose friendship Tor 
 jiim is recorded on Sir John Vaughan's monument.* 
 
 William Stampe, D.D. 
 
 A Native of this county ; for he is presumed by Dr. 
 Nash to have been born in the parish of St. John's, Bed- 
 wardine; his mother was of Clent, and resided at St. John's. 
 The Rev. biographer had a picture of Dr. Stampe in his pos- 
 session, of whom he was a distant relation ; he also possessed 
 many letters written to his (Stampe's) mother at St. John's, 
 from different parts of Europe. Wood however says that 
 Dr. S. was the son of Timothy Stampe, of Brewern Abbey, 
 near Chipping Norton, Oxon, Gent, and that he was born in 
 that county in 1610. He was entered a student in Pembroke 
 College, Oxford, in the beginning of 1626, and was after- 
 wards made fellow of that house. He proceeded in arts, 
 entered into holy orders, and exercised the functions of his 
 profession in St, Aldate's church, joining to his college, in 
 16'37, Some time before the Rebellion broke out he was 
 presented by the Right Hon. Thomas Cleaveland, Baron of 
 Nettlestead, Lord Wentworth, to the living of Stepney, 
 near London, where he was much resorted to by persons of 
 orthodox principles, for his edifying way of preaching, but 
 from which he was ejected during the civil wars, and Hed to 
 save his life. At that time Oxford being the chief place of 
 refuge for men of his condition, he made shift to get there 
 about the beginning of 1G43, and his case being made known 
 to the King then there, this order following was written by 
 Lord Falkland, his Secretary, to the Vice-Chancellor of the 
 University, that he have the degree of D.D, conferred on 
 him;— 
 
 * Lord Clarendon says he was in truth a man of great parts of nattire, and 
 very well adorned by arts and books ; but he was of so magisterial and sin 
 percillious a humour, so prqud and insolent a behaviour, that all Mr. Sejden's 
 instructions, and authority, and example, could not file ofl' that roughness of 
 bis nature, so as to make him grateful,
 
 157 
 
 " The King's Majesty taking into his princely consideration the great suf- 
 ferings of William Stampe, who hath not only undergone a long and hard im- 
 prisonment of thirty-four weeks, but also is now outed of a very good living, 
 and all this for preaching loyalty and obedience to a disaffected congregation, 
 to the extreme hazard of his life, His Majesty, being willing to repair these 
 his sufferings, and to encourage his known abilities, (for which by special fa- 
 vour and grace he is sworn Chaplain to his dearest Son the Prince), hath 
 commanded me to signify to you, that you forthwith confer upon him the de- 
 gree of D. D. &c." 
 
 o 
 
 In obedience to which order he was actually created 
 doctor of that faculty in July the same year. Afterwards 
 upon the declining of the King and his party, he followed 
 the Prince beyond the seas, was afterwards made Chaplain to 
 the unfortunate Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I. 
 and following her fortunes, became a frequent preacher 
 among the Protestants at Charenton, near to Paris. 
 
 About the year 1650, he published a treatise of " Spi- 
 ritual Infatuation, being the present disease of the English 
 nation, delivered in several sermons at the Hague, in Hol- 
 land, by William Stampe, D.D. the imprisoned, plundered, 
 exiled Minister of God's Word, at Stepney, near London, 
 with an epistle dedicatory to his flock, the parishioners of 
 the said parish," wherein he exhorts them to return to their 
 allegiance to the King, and shews the advantage of a kingly 
 over a popular government. According to Dr. Nash, there 
 were many things in the treatise applicable to the govern- 
 ment of France, and the period of 1799- He was also the 
 author of several other Sermons, and a Vindication of the 
 Liturgy of the Church of England. A proof of his steadi- 
 ness to the Queen of Bohemia, who supported him in his 
 last illness, was found by Dr. Nash in the annexed copy of a 
 letter written to his mother at St. John's, which is now 
 pasted (continues the Doctor) on the back of his picture 
 painted by Ad. Hanneman : — 
 
 " My dearest Mother — With what a sad heart and trembling hand you will 
 receive these lines dated from my death-bed ! (for if I recover 1 do not in- 
 tend they shall ever be sent to you), I can only guess by your constant tender- 
 ness and care. It is true I came twice out of the kingdom without your 
 knowledge, but I dare not go out of the world without acquainting you of
 
 158 
 
 the manner of my passage. Truly God was never more merciful to roe than 
 in his gracious and gentle dealing with mc in the way of his visitation. I can- 
 not give you the history of my illness, without great prejudice to that strength 
 that remains, only desire you to believe that if my great Lord and Master 
 shall call me home from his embassy by this visitation, I shall think myself 
 the most happy of any man living, and therefore no tears for mc, but for 
 those that survive me iu misery and woe. Dear mother, God Almighty 
 bless, guide, protect, and govern by his power and grace, both yon and all 
 the branches that are sprung of you. 1 cannot name particular friends, but 
 must recommend all into the hands of a wise and gracious God, who can make 
 all things, even our sins, and his own punishments, aye and death too, to turn 
 to the benefit and advantage of them that serve and fear him, in which num- 
 ber I doubt not shall be comprised, dear Mother, 
 
 " Tour most obedient Son, 
 
 " Hague, February 11, 1653. " W. STAMPE.'* 
 
 This letter was enclosed in one to Mr. Thomas Clayton, 
 after Dr. Stampe's death, and by him forwarded from Ox- 
 ford Aprils, 1653, to the Doctor's mother, who had married 
 Mr. Gower, a gentleman of considerable property in this 
 parish (St. John's) — the envelope contained as follows : — 
 
 " Good Mrs. Gower, 
 " I am very sorry I shall be the messenger of so bad news as the enclosed 
 will bring, it being a letter from my very good friend, your son Dr. W. 
 Stampe, written to you upon his death-bed in Holland at the Hague, where 
 it pleased God he died after a month's sickness : it came enclosed to me from 
 a friend of mine and his, with a desire to convey it to you, and vvitlial to sig- 
 nify thus much, that he was handsomely buried and like a gentleman, at the 
 Queen of Bohemia her charge, whose Chaplain he was, and wanted nothing 
 that could be done to him in his sickness. He lies interred at a famous vil- 
 lage called Lasedune, three miles from the Hague. He left nothing behind 
 him but books and cloaths, which were disposed of towards the payment of 
 his debts, the remainder whereof, to the value of 160 are undertaken by th« 
 Queen. His picture was taken very well a little before his sickness, and be- 
 ing in thair hands that sent me this letter, will be sent over for you by the first 
 safe opportunity. These are times of tryal of all kinds, so that I hope you 
 are prepared for the greatest losses, among which I cannot but reckon this 
 of your son, being so honest a gentleman, and so generally beloved by all his 
 acquaintance; and with a particular affection and esteem from myself, that I 
 cannot but have a great share and grief of your loss in him, for which I pray 
 God comfort you with the enjoyment of those you have left, and the assurance 
 that he is an happy saint in Heaven. I beg your pardon for thus long trou- 
 bling you, and the favour to have my service presented to all your's that know 
 me ; and to take leave to rest 
 
 " Your assured friend and servant, 
 " Oxford, Jpril2, 1653. * THOMAS CLAYTON."
 
 IV") 
 
 Dr. Stainpe died of the black jaundice at the Hague, 
 February, 1653. 
 
 Joseph Crowther, D.D. 
 Rector of Tredington, in this county, in 1660. One of 
 the articles against the great Lord Clarendon was, " that he 
 did unduly cause his Majesty's letters patent to one Dr. 
 Crowther to be altered, and the enrolment to be razed ; n 
 but this erasure arose from a mistake of the attorney em- 
 ployed, who inserted " Warwickshire" for Worcestershire. 
 See Life of Clarendon. 
 
 Thomas Hall, 
 
 A Native of this city, was the son of Richard Hall, 
 clothier, by Elizabeth Bonnor, his wife, and was born in 
 St. Andrew's parish July 22, 1610, and after being edu- 
 cated in grammar at the Kind's School under Mr. Henrv 
 Bright, he was entered at Baliol College, in 16C4, from 
 whence he soon removed to Pembroke, and had for his tutor 
 a Mr. Thomas Lushington, a man eminent for his philolo- 
 gical learning. After taking his first degree in arts, he re- 
 turned home, and for a while taught a private school, and 
 preached in the chapels belonging to King's Norton, in 
 Worcestershire. About this time, says Wood, afterward? 
 being a frequenter of the lectures in Birmingham, he began 
 to adhere to the Puritans ; but he adds, " was so rigid in hi.s 
 pursuation that he was disliked by his bretheren." This 
 perhaps may be gathered from his works, some of which 
 were written in opposition to unlicensed preachers, fifth 
 monarchy men, and other extravagancies of the times. He 
 was afterwards master of the free school at King's Norton, 
 and curate of the place under his brother, Mr. John Half, 
 who at length resigned it all to him : this was the only pre- 
 ferment he had. He appears to have been a man of retired 
 and studied habits, and although averse to episcopacy and 
 the ceremonies, free from turbulence or open interference 
 in the commotions of the times. He died April 13, 1665,
 
 160 
 
 and was buried at King's Norton, to the school of which 
 he was a bountiful benefactor in the establishment of a 
 parochial library there, which is now, says Mr. Carlisle, hi 
 his History of Schools, in the upper school-house there, 
 dusty and neglected : he also contributed to the library of 
 Birmingham school. Among his works are many contro- 
 versial tracts enumerated by Wood, commentaries on some 
 parts of the scriptures, and some translations, adapted ap- 
 parently for the use of schools, from Ovid ; but his Treatise 
 on Long Hair, and against May Poles, have given him 
 much greater celebrity than his other works. 
 
 Henry Oasland, M.A. 
 
 A Native of this county, was born in the parish of 
 Rock, and educated under the curate of the parish in the 
 free school at Bewdley, and at Trinity College, Oxford, 
 under Dr. Hill, and " learnt more," says Wood, " from 
 his plain preaching in one year, than he had all the time 
 before." After spending four years in the University, he 
 went to see his friends, intending to return to his studies ; 
 but Mr. Tombes, after his dispute with Mr. Baxter, in 
 Bewdley Chapel, leaving the town, the magistrates pre- 
 vailed with Mr. Oasland to succeed him in 1650. The 
 next year he went to London, and was ordained in Bartho- 
 lomew Exchange, by Mr. S. Clarke, and Mr. Simeon Ash, 
 &c. In the printed testimonial of his ordination, (then 
 usual), the words relating to taking the covenant were razed 
 out, as he had not taken it, nor was it then insisted on. 
 When he was of a Master's standing he went to Cambridge, 
 and took that degree. When he was ejected Aug. 24, 1662, 
 from Bewdley Chapel to Ribbesford, he and his family of 
 five children were supported by his wife's jointure, which 
 she had by a former husband, but was contented. In the 
 hottest parts of Charles L's reign, he preached in several 
 counties ; but as much as he could out of church hours, and 
 when he was abroad, his family went to church. He was 
 for a time confined for Packington's plot, after which he re-
 
 161 
 
 tnoved with his family into Staffordshire, where he preached 
 to any that invited him without molestation. About the be- 
 ginning of King James's reign, he was cited into the Court 
 of Lichfield, but soon discharged without expence or trouble, 
 by the declaration for liberty. He left two sons, Edward 
 and Henry. The elder was pastor at Bewdley. Henry, 
 the vounger, died in Cambridgeshire. He was the author 
 of The Dead Pastor yet Speaking. Two Sermons, taken 
 in short hand, and printed without his knowledge. The 
 Christian's Daily Walk, in one sheet. 
 
 Silas Taylor, 
 
 A Captain in the Parliament army. " He was a great 
 lover of antiquities, and ransackt the MSS. of the Church 
 of Hereford ; (there were a great many that lay untoucht 
 and useless). He also garbled the library of the Church 
 of Worcester, and evidences, where he had the originall 
 grant of King Edgar (&x\xa-<Ttx^ns) ) whence the Kings of 
 England derive their right to the sovraignty of the sea. 'Tis 
 printed in Mr. Seidell's " Mare Clausum." I have seen it 
 many times, and it is as legible as but lately written; (Roman 
 character). He offered it to the King for 120 lib. but his 
 Majesty would not give so much. Since his death I ac- 
 quainted the Secretary of Estate that he dyed in debt, and 
 his creditors seized on his goods and papers. He told me 
 that it did of right belong to Worcester Church. I told one 
 of the prebends, and they cared not for such things. I be- 
 leeve it hath wrapt herrings by this time. He had severall 
 MSS. by him of great antiquity : one thin 4to. of the Phi- 
 losopher's Stone, in the hieroglyphicks, with some few 
 Latin verses underneath ; the most curiously limmed that 
 ever I sawe. His Majesty offered him 100 lib. for it, and 
 he would not accept it. Tell Dr. Crowder of the deed of 
 King Edgar." — See more of him in the Bodleian Letters 
 
 Silas Taylor had a brother also of a musical genius. — See 
 Wood's Lilt, \ . J j. 
 
 Y
 
 I(j2 
 
 William Rowland, 
 A Native of this city, was son of Griffin Rowland; he 
 Was born in 1610. He became, says Wood, either a battler 
 or sojourner of Exeter College, Oxford, in the beginning of 
 the year 1627 ; took the degree in arts, holy orders, and was 
 made either a reader or curate of St. Margaret's Church, 
 Westminster. In the time of the Commonwealth, when he 
 saw the Church of England declining, he changed his reli- 
 gion for that of Rome, and went to Paris, where by the 
 name of Rolandus Palingenius, he made a shift to get a 
 livelihood by his mendicant scribbles, his lepid vein, and art 
 of poetry, among the English gentlemen. He hath written 
 Varia Poemata, mostly in Latin, some in English, and 
 some in French, to which he would sometimes make addi- 
 tions of copies to them, on new patrons, as they came to 
 his knowledge, to shark money from those, continues Wood, 
 who delighted to see their names in print. This William 
 Rowland, who wrote himself in the title of his poems, 
 " Gul. Rolandus Poeta Regius," was a boon droll, a jolly 
 companion, and was generally called doctor, having had 
 that degree conferred on him, (as Wood heard), at Paris. At 
 length retiring for health's sake, to a village called Vambre, 
 near to that great city, he having brought his body into a 
 consumption by too much " lifting" ended his days there 
 in 16*59, or thereabouts. In a book entitled " Legenda 
 Lignea, containing a character of some hopeful saints re- 
 volted to the Church of Rome," Lond. 1653, 8vo. is a full 
 if not too smart a character of this William Rowland ; but 
 as the book is full of scurrilities, its authenticity may well 
 be questioned. 
 
 Thomas Haynes, 
 Serjeant of his Majesty's Chapel Royal, engaged and 
 erected rooms on the grounds of St. Oswald's Hospital for 
 six poor men. — Vide Chambers's Worcester, p. 284. He
 
 103 
 
 Hied June 30, 1687, in the 78th year of his age, and \- \ t 
 buried in the church of St. Martin, \V orcester. 
 
 John Toy, 
 A Native of this city, in which lie was educated in 
 "grammar learning," was born in 161 1. He afterwards 
 became either servitor or battler of Pembroke College, 
 Oxford, in 1627 took one degree in arts, entered into holy 
 orders, and became chaplain to the Bishop of Hereford, 
 under which title he took the degree of M.A. in 1634; 
 afterwards he was made master of the free, then of the 
 King's school of his native place, which last he held for 
 twenty years, and furnished the Universities with several 
 hopeful youths. He died December 28, 1663,* and was 
 buried in the Cathedral Church of Worcester. Over his grave 
 Mas a monument soon after put, with an inscription thereon, 
 m herein he is styled — " Vir ingenii perpoliti, industrial in- 
 defessas, euriditionis singularis eximias morura suavitatis, 
 vitas integer pubis instituendae scientissimus pietate, fide, 
 modestia gravitate nullaque non virtute spectabilis," 8tc. See 
 the whole in the Antiquities of Worcester, 8vo. p. 52. He 
 was the author of Worcester's Elegy and Eulogy, Lond. 
 12mo. 1638, 4to. (Bodl. 4to. M 3. art. B S), a poem before 
 which William Rowland the poet hath two Latin copies 
 of verses. Quisqui/lice poeticcs. Tyrunculis in re metrica 
 non inutilis. Lond. 1662, 8vo. (Bodl. 8vo. B. line 332). 
 
 Funeral Sermon on Mrs. Tomkins, on Job xiv. 14, 
 
 printed 1642, qu. ; and whether he was author of Gram- 
 matices Gr&cs, Enchiridion in usum Scholar Collegialis Wi- 
 gorniae, Lond. 1650, oct. Wood knew not to the contrary. 
 Worcester Elegie and Evlogie, by J. T. Master of Arts. 
 London, printed by Thomas Cotes, for Humphry Blunden, 
 at his shop at the Castle, in Cornehill, 1638. At sign C. 
 another title page, Worcester Evlogie, or a grateful acknow- 
 ledgement of her Benefactors, by J. T. Master of Arts. 
 
 * A John Toy was vicar of Stoke Prior in 1641.
 
 164 
 
 London, printed, fyc. as before, 4to. containing title page, 
 dedication to Thomas Coventry, Esq. (on A 2.) Then com- 
 mendary verses in Latin, by William Rowlands, and others, 
 in English, by T. N. (on a sheet marked §) ; other lines to 
 the author, by J. R. (on sign A3). The signatures then 
 run regularly to E 3, after which comes F, one leaf only, 
 and G two leaves, which conclude the volume. I have been 
 thus particular because Gough (British Topograph!/, ii. 389), 
 has erroneously described the book as duodecimo, and be- 
 cause any one who possesses the volume may conjecture 
 it is imperfect, without its being really so. The Elegie 
 records — 
 
 A sweeping plague, which from a flowing state 
 Brought Worcester to the lowest ebbe of fate. 
 
 There is a long extract from this work in Wood's Athena?, 
 vol. 3 ; also a list of the benefactors eulogized by Toy, as 
 having assisted the distressed inhabitants of Worcester, with 
 some account of the plague which raged there in 1638. 
 See also the article Tinker, Philip. 
 
 Clement Barksdale 
 Was author of the " Nympha Libethris," or " Cotswald 
 Muse," printed in Worcester, 1651. See Chambers's Wor- 
 cester, p. 367- There is a long account of this book in 
 Mr. Dibdin's Bib. Decamerer, vol. 2, p. 501 — 2. See also 
 the Monthly Mag. vol. 29, p. 51. William Barksdale was 
 a prebendary of Worcester Cathedral in 1604. 
 
 Samuel Butler, 
 A Native of this county, the father of the celebrated 
 author, whose name also was Samuel, had an estate of his 
 own of about £ 1 yearly, which still goes by the name of 
 Butler's Tenement, a vignette view of which is attached to 
 the superb edition of the Poet's W r orks, by the late Dr. 
 Nash. He held likewise an estate of £300 a year under
 
 105 
 
 "Sir William Russell, lord of the manor of Strensham, in 
 Worcestershire.* He was not an ignorant farmer, but 
 wrote a very clerk-like hand, kept the register, and managed 
 all the business of the parish, under the direction of his 
 landlord, near whose house he lived, and from whom, very 
 probably, he and his family received instruction and assist- 
 ance.f From his landlord they imbibed principles of loy- 
 alty, as Sir William was a most zealous loyalist, and spent 
 great part of his fortune in the cause, being the only person 
 exempted from the benefit of the treaty, when Worcester 
 surrendered to the Parliament in the year 1646. — Vide 
 Chambers's Worcester, p. 31 ; and the article Russel, in 
 this work. The poet's father was churchwarden of the parish 
 the year before his son Samuel was born, and has entered 
 his baptism, dated Feb. 8, 1612, with his own hand, in the 
 parish register. He had four sons and three daughters 
 born at Strensham ; the three daughters and one son older 
 than the poet, and two sons younger : none of his descend- 
 ants remain in the parish, though some of them are said 
 to be in the neighbouring villages. Our author received his 
 first rudiments of learning at home; he was afterwards sent to 
 the King's School at Worcester, £ then taught by Mr. Henry 
 
 * This information was imported by Mr. Gresley, Rector of Strensham, 
 from the year 1706 to the year 1773, when he died, aged 100, so that he was 
 born seven years before the poet died. In the " Letters by Eminent Men, by 
 Aubrey," it is said that " Butler was born at Pershore, in Worcestershire, 
 as we suppose, hard by Barton Bridge, half a mile from Worcester, in the 
 parish of St. John. Mr. Hill thinks, who went to school with him, his brother 
 lived there ;" but as Pershore is nine miles from Worcester, there is some in- 
 congruity in this statement. 
 
 + His father's condition is variously represented. Wood mentions him as 
 completely wealthy ; but the author of the short account of Butler, prefixed 
 to Hudibras, who, Dr. Johnson erroneously says, was Mr. Longueville, as- 
 serts he was an honest farmer, with some small estate, who made a shift to 
 educate his son at the Grammar School of Worcester, from whence he was re- 
 moved to Cambridge for a short time, but for want of money was never made 
 Fellow of any College. — Chalmers. 
 
 t If this be correct Mr. Carlisle is under a mistake, when in his History of 
 Endowed Schools, he affirms that Butler was educated at Queen Elizabeth'! 
 Grammar School.
 
 166 
 
 Bright. How Ions; Butler continued under his care is not 
 known, but probably till he was fourteen years old. Whether 
 he was ever entered at any University, is uncertain. One of 
 his biographers says he went to Cambridge, but was never 
 matriculated. Aubrey says he was prevented by the slender- 
 ness of his father's fortune from being sent to the University ; 
 and Wood, on the authority of Butler's brother, says, the 
 poet spent six or seven years there. His residing in the 
 neighbourhood might perhaps occasion the idea of his hav- 
 ing been at Cambridge ; but as other things are quoted from 
 Wood which Dr. Nash believed to be false, he very much 
 suspected the truth of this article. Some expressions in his 
 works look as if he were acquainted with the customs of 
 Oxford, particularly that of coursing, which was a term 
 peculiar to that University. 
 
 Returning to his native country, he entered into the ser- 
 vice of Thomas Jeffries, Esq. of Earl's Croombe, who be- 
 ing a very active justice of the peace, and a leading man in 
 the business of the province, his clerk was in no mean office, 
 but one that required a knowledge of the law and constitution 
 of his country, and a proper behaviour to men of every 
 rank and occupation ; besides, in those times, before the 
 roads were made good, and short visits so much in fashion, 
 every large family was a community within itself, the upper 
 servants or retainers being often the younger sons of gentle- 
 men, were treated as friends, and the whole family dined in 
 one common hall, and had a lecturer or clerk, who, during 
 meal times, read to them some useful or entertaining book. 
 
 Mr. Jeftries's family was one of this sort, situated in a re- 
 tired part of the country, surrounded by bad roads, the 
 master of it residing constantly in Worcestershire. Here 
 Butler had the advantage of living some time in the neigh- 
 bourhood of his family and friends ; and having leisure for 
 indulging his inclination for learning, he probably improved 
 himself very much, not only in the abstruser branches of it, 
 but in the polite arts : here he studied music, drawing, and 
 painting ; in the practice of the latter, his proficiency, it ap-
 
 1(>7 
 
 pears to some, was but moderate. He was thinking once, 
 says Aubrey, to have made painting his profession. His 
 love to, and skill in it, made a great friendship between him 
 and Mr. Samuel Cowper, the prince of limners. Dr. Nash 
 recollects seeing at Earl's Croombe in his youth, some por- 
 traits said to be painted by Butler, which did him no great 
 honour as an artist ;* and when he inquired for them some 
 years afterwards, he found them destroyed to stop windows, 
 and owns they hardly deserved a better fate. I have heard, 
 continues Dr. Nash, lately of a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, 
 said to be painted by our author. After continuing some 
 time in this service, he was recommended to Elizabeth, 
 Countess of Kent, who gave her gentlemen 201. a year a 
 piece ; she lived at Wrest, in Bedfordshire. Here he en- 
 joyed a literary retreat during great part of the civil wars ; 
 and here Aubrey says, beside his study, he employed his 
 time much in painting, drawing, and also in musique ; and 
 here he probably laid the ground work of his Hudibras, as he 
 had the benefit of a good collection of books, and the society 
 of that living library, the learned Selden.f His biographers 
 say, he lived also in the service of Sir Samuel Luke, of 
 Caple Hoo Farm, or Wood End, in that county ; and that 
 from him he drew the character of Hudibras : but such a 
 prototype was not rare in those times. We hear little more 
 of Butler till after the Restoration : perhaps, as Mr. Selden 
 was left executor to the Countess, his employment in her 
 affairs might not cease at her death, though one might sus- 
 pect by Butler's MSS. and remains, that his friendship with 
 
 * In bis MS. Common Place Book he says, " It is more difficult, and re- 
 quires a great mastery of art in painting, to foreshorten a figure exactly, 
 than to draw three at their just length ; so it is in writing, to express any 
 thing naturally and briefly, than to enlarge and dilate." 
 
 + Mr. Saunders, the Countess of Kent's kinsman, said, that " Mr. Selden 
 much esteemed him for his partes, and would sometimes employ him to write 
 letters for him beyond sea, and to translate for him. lie was Secretaire to the 
 Duke of Bucks, when he was Chancellor of Cambridge: he might have had 
 preferment at first, but he would not accept of any but very good ; so at last 
 he bad none at all, and dyed in want." — Jubrey.
 
 108 
 
 that great man was not without interruption, for his satirical 
 wit could not be restrained from displaying itself on some 
 particularities in the character of that eminent scholar. 
 Lord Dorset is said to have first introduced Hudibras 
 to Court November 11, 1062, and when known it was ne- 
 cessarily admired ; the King quoted, the courtiers studied, 
 and the whole party of the loyalists applauded it, and every 
 eye watched for the golden shower which was to fall upon 
 the author, who certainly was not without his share in the 
 general expectation. The author obtained an imprimatur, 
 signed " I. Birkenhead," for printing his poem ; accord- 
 ingly in the following year he published the first part, con- 
 taining 125 pages. Sir Roger L'Estrange granted an 
 imprimatur for the second part of Hudibras, by the author 
 of the first, November 5, 1663, and it was printed by 
 T. R. for John Martin, 1664. In the Mercurius Aulicus, 
 a ministerial newspaper, from January 1 to 8, 1662, 4to, is 
 an advertisement, saying, that " there is stolen abroad a 
 most false and imperfect copy of a poem called Hudibras, 
 without name either of printer or bookseller ; the true and 
 perfect edition, printed by the author's original, is sold by 
 Richard Marriatt, near St. Dunstan's church, in Fleet-street; 
 that other nameless impression is a cheat, and will but abuse 
 the buyer as well as the author, whose poem deserves to 
 have fallen into better hands." Probably many other editions 
 were soon after printed ; but the first and second parts, with 
 notes to both parts, were printed for J. Martin, and H. Her- 
 ringman, 8vo, 1674. The last edition of the third part, be- 
 fore the author's death, was printed by the same persons in, 
 l6?S : this Dr. Nash thinks was the last copy corrected by 
 himself, and is that from which Dr. N.'s edition is generally 
 printed ; the third part had no notes put to it during the 
 author's life, and who furnished them after his death is not 
 known. In the British Museum is the original injunction 
 by authority, signed John Birkenhead, forbidding any 
 printer or other person whatsoever to print Hudibras, or 
 any part thereof, without the consent or approbation of
 
 169 
 
 Samuel Butler, (or Boteler, Esq.) or his assignees ; given 
 at Whitehall, 10th September, l6'77, — a copy of which in- 
 junction may be seen in a note at page 8 of Nash's Hudi- 
 bras. It was natural to suppose, that after the Restoration, 
 and the publication of his Hudibras, our poet should have 
 appeared in public life, and have been rewarded for the 
 eminent services his poem did to the Royal cause ; but his 
 innate modesty, and studious turn of mind, prevented solici- 
 tations ; never having tasted the idle luxuries of life, he did 
 not make to himself needless wants, or pine after imagi- 
 nary pleasures ; his fortune, indeed, was small, and so was his 
 ambition; his integrity of life, and modest temper* ren- 
 dered him contented. Lord Clarendon, according to Wood, 
 gave him reason to hope for places and employments of 
 value and credit ; but no such advantages did he ever ob- 
 tain. It is also said that he once received from the Kino - an 
 order on the Treasury for £3000, but the order being 
 
 * Tli? annexed note is somewhat of a drawback upon this strong pane- 
 gyric : — " Butler, though he was a man of extraordinary wit and fancy — 
 though his merits deserved a much better fate, is said to have starved, which 
 extremity of poverty was owing to his own pride and foil}'. His necessities 
 were too well known to all his acquaintance, to leave him a possibility of 
 concealing them from them ; and yet his pride was so intolerable, that it was 
 the most difficult thing in the world to compel him to accept of any assistance, 
 though offered in the most friendly and genteel manner in the world. There 
 was a gentleman of his acquaintance, and of a considerable fortune, who 
 over a bottle one night had made a clean conveyance of a purse of an hundred 
 guineas into his pocket, which he did not at all perceive. The next morning 
 Butler finding it there, was extremely uneasy, and considered what company 
 he was in the day before, and found it could be nobody but the very gentle- 
 man that did it. He dressed himself, and went to his Chambers, and carried 
 with him the money, charging him with the affront, and went away in a pet, 
 leaving the purse behind biro." — The foregoing antidote is extracted from a 
 book rather uncommon, entitled, Miscellanea Aurea, or the Golden Medley, 
 Svo. 1720, p. 63. It was written in part, if not wholly, by Mr. Killigrew 
 av.tnor of a play called Chit Chat, acted at Drnry Lane, 1719; soon after 
 which the author died. It will occur to our readers, that the lapse of time 
 from Mr. Butler's death was not too long for such an anecdote to have been re. 
 lated by some person well informed. The above account, which has never 
 been inserted in any Life of Butler, has only appeared in print in the 
 European Magazine for September, 1798.
 
 170 
 
 written in figures, somebody through whose hands it passed, 
 by (uiiitig off a cypher, reduced it to £300. However 
 there is food authority for believing that he did receive a 
 handsome sum in the manner above stated, and that the 
 order, at the solicitation of Mr. William Longueville, of 
 the Temple, passed through all the offices without payment 
 of fees, Lord Danby being at the time Lord Treasurer. 
 It is also believed that the receipt of this money gave him 
 an opportunity of displaying his disinterested integrity, by 
 conveying the entire sum immediately to a friend for the use 
 of his creditors, himself refusing to touch a shilling of the 
 King's bounty. Dr. Zackary Pearse, on the authority of 
 Mr. Lowndes, of the Treasury, asserts, that Butler re- 
 ceived from Charles II. an annual pension of £100 ; in ad- 
 dition to this he was appointed Secretary to Richard Earl of 
 Carbcrry, Lord President of the Principality of Wales, and 
 about the year 1667, Steward of Ludlow Castle .* This 
 circumstance is however contradicted by all traditions — by 
 the complaint of Oldham, and by the reproaches of Dryden ; 
 and I am afraid, says Dr. Johnson, will never be confirmed. 
 It is perhaps therefore too true that the Court was thought 
 to have been guilty of a glaring neglect in his case, and the 
 public were scandalized at the ingratitude. The indigent 
 poets, who have always claimed a prescriptive right to live 
 on the munificence of their contemporaries, were the loudest 
 in their remonstrances. Dryden, Oldham, and Otway,* 
 
 * Aubrey says, " after the restoration of hrs Majestie, when the Court at 
 Ludlow was again sett up, he was then the King's Steward at the Castle there. 
 He printed a wittie Poeme called Hudibras, the first part, A°. 166, which 
 took extremely ; so that the King and Lord Chancellor Hyde would have him 
 sent for, and accordingly he was sent for: (the Lord Chief Justice Hyde hath 
 Iii. picture in his library, over the chimney) they both promised him great 
 matters, but to this day he has got no employment, only the King gave him 
 lib." 
 
 * 1 am aware, says Dr. Nash, of a difficulty that may be stated, that the 
 Tragedy of Constantine the Great, to which Otway wrote the prologue, ac- 
 cording to Giles Jacob, in his Poetical Register, was not acted at the Theatre 
 Royal till 1684, four years after Butler's death ; but probably he had seen- 
 the MS. or heard the thought, as both his MSS. differ from the printed copy.
 
 171 
 
 while in appearance they complained of the unrewarded 
 merits of Butler, obliquely lamented their private or parti- 
 cular grievances. Butler's own sense of the disappointnn nt, 
 and the impression it made on his spirits, are sufficiently 
 marked by the circumstance of his having twice transcribed 
 the following distich, with some variation, in his MS. Common 
 Place Book : — 
 
 To think how Spencer died — how Cowley mourned — 
 How Butler's faith and service were returned. 
 
 In the same MS. he says, " Wit is very chargeable, a 
 not to be maintained in its necessary expences at an ordinary 
 rate : it is the worst trade in the world to live upon, and a 
 commodity that no man thinks he has need of, for those who 
 have least believe they have most" — 
 
 Ingenuity and wit 
 
 Do only make the owners lit 
 For nothing, but lo be undone 
 Much easier than if th' had nonet 
 
 But to proceed. — Butler spent some time in France, pro- 
 bably when Louis XIV. was in the height of his glory and 
 vanity: and notwithstanding neither the language nor manners 
 of Paris were pleasing to the modest poet, yet some of his ob- 
 servations on them are amusing, and may be seen in i )r. X ash's 
 
 + See Lines by Oldham on Butler, in Monthly Magazine for November, 
 1811, p. 354. — Wood relates that he was Secretary to Villiers Duke of 
 Buckingham, when he was Chancellor of Cambridge; this is doubted by 
 another writer, who yet allows the Duke to have been his frequent benefactor. 
 That both these accounts are false, there is reason to suspect, from a story 
 told by Pack in his account of the Life of Wycherley, and from some verses 
 which Mr. Thyer has published in the author's Remains. Mr. Wycherly, 
 says Pack, " had always laid hold of any opportunity which offered of re- 
 presenting to the Duke of Buckingham how well Butler had deserved of the 
 Royal Family, by writing his inimitable Iludibras, and that it was a reproach 
 to the Court, that a person of his loyalty and wit should suffer in obscurity, 
 and under the wants he did. The Duke always seemed to hearken to him 
 with attention enough; and after some time, undertook to recommend his 
 pretensions to his Majesty. Mr. Wycherly, in order to keep him steady to 
 his word, obtained of his Grace to name a day when he might introduce that
 
 172 
 
 Life of him. While Steward of Ludlow Castle, Butler mar- 
 ried Mrs. Herbert, a gentlewoman of good family, but whe- 
 ther she was a widow, or not, is uncertain. Aubrey says 
 she was a good jointure, the relict of — — — Morgan ; 
 with her he expected a considerable fortune, but, through 
 various losses, from bad security and knavery, he found 
 himself disappointed : to this some have attributed his se- 
 vere strictures upon the professors of the law ;* but if his 
 censures be properly considered, they will be found to bear 
 hard only upon the disgraceful part of each profession, and 
 upon false learning in general; this was a favourite subject 
 with him, but no man had a greater regard for, or was better 
 judge of, the worthy part of the three learned professions, or 
 learning in general, than Butler. How long he continued 
 in office, as Steward of Ludlow Castle, is not known ; but 
 he lived the latter part of iiis life in Rose-street, Covent 
 Garden, in a studious retired manner, and died there Sep- 
 tember 25, 1C80. In this mist of obscurity passed the life 
 of Butler — a man whose name can only perish with his lan- 
 modest and unfortunate poet to his new patron. At last an appointment was 
 made, and the place of meeting was agreed to he the Roebuck. Mr. Butler 
 and his friend attended accordingly ; the Duke joined them ; but, as the devil 
 would have it, the door of the room where they sat was open, and his Grace, 
 who had seated himself near it, observing a pimp of his acquaintance (the 
 creature too a Knight) trip by with a brace of ladies, immediately quitted his 
 engagement to follow them, and though no one was better qualified than he 
 both in regard to his fortune and understanding, to serve men of genius, yet 
 from that time to the day of his death poor Butier never found the least effect 
 of his promise. The verses alluded to are written with a degree of acrimony 
 such as neglect and disappointment might naturally excite, and such as it 
 would be hard to imagine Butler capable of expressing against a man who 
 had any claim to his gratitude. Notwithstanding this discouragement and 
 neglect he still prosecuted his design ; and in 1678 published the third part, 
 which still leaves the poem imperfect and abrupt. How much more he origi- 
 nally intended, or with what events the action was to be concluded, it is in 
 vain to conjecture : nor can it be thought strange that he should stop here, 
 however unexpectedly. To write without reward is sufficiently unpleasing. 
 lie had now arrived at an age when he might think it proper to jest no longer ; 
 and perhaps his health might now begin to fail. 
 
 * Wood says he lived upon her fortune, having studied the common law, 
 but never practised it.
 
 173 
 
 guage. He is said to have been buried at the expence of Mr. 
 Wm. Longueville, though he did not die in debt. Some of 
 his friends wished to have interred him in Westminster Abbey, 
 with proper solemnity ; but not finding others willing to con- 
 tribute to the expence, his corpse was deposited privately in 
 the yard belonging to the church of St. Paul's, Covent 
 Garden, at the expence of Mr. Longueville, (the service 
 being read by Dr. Simon Patrick,) at the west end of the 
 said yard, on the north side, under the wall of the said 
 church, and under that wall which parts the yard from the 
 common highway. We have been thus particular, (conti- 
 nues Dr. Nash, from whose Life of Butler most of this ac- 
 count is taken), because, in the year 1786, when the church 
 was repaired, a marble monument was placed on the south 
 side of the church on the inside, by some of the parishioners, 
 which might tend to mislead posterity as to the place of his 
 interment : their zeal for the memory of the learned poet 
 does them honour ; but the writer of the verses seems to 
 have mistaken the character of Butler. The inscription 
 runs thus : — 
 
 This little monument was erected in the year 1786, by some of the pa- 
 rishioners of Covent Garden, in memory of the celebrated Samuel Butier, 
 who was buried in this church, A. D. 1680. 
 
 A few plain men, to pomp and state unknown, 
 O'er a poor bard have raised this humble stone, 
 Whose wants alone his genius could surpass, 
 Victim of zeal ! the matchless Hudibras ! 
 What though fair freedom suffer' d in his page, 
 
 Reader, forgive the author for the age 
 
 How few, alas ! disdain to cringe and cant, 
 When 'tis the mode to play the sycophant. 
 But oh ! let all be taught, from Butler's fate, 
 Who hope to make their fortunes by the great, 
 That wit and pride are always dangerous things, 
 And little faith is due to Courts and Kings. 
 
 In the year 1721, John Barber, an eminent printer, and 
 Alderman of London, erected a monument to the poet in 
 Westminster Abbey ; the inscription as follows : —
 
 174 
 
 M.S. 
 
 SAMUELIS BUTLER, 
 
 Qui Strenshamiae in agro Vigorn. nat. 1612. 
 
 Obiit Lond. 1680. 
 
 Vir doctus imprimis, acer, integer ; 
 
 Operibus ingenii, non item praemiis, faelix : 
 
 Satyrici apud nos carminis artifex egregius ; 
 
 Quo simulatae religionis larvam detraxit, 
 
 Et perduellium scelera liberrime exagitavit: 
 
 Scriptorum in suo genere, primus et postremus. 
 
 He, cui vivo deerant fere omnia, 
 
 Deesset etiam mortuo tumulus 
 
 Hoc tandem posito marmore, curavit 
 
 Johannes Barber, civis Londinensis, 1721. 
 
 Thus translated by the author of Westmonasterium, in 
 
 torn. 1. p. 79 : — 
 
 Sacred to the memory of 
 
 SAMUEL BUTLER, 
 
 Who was born at Strensham, in Worcestershire, 1612 ; 
 
 And died at London, 1680. 
 
 A man of extraordinary learning, wit, and integrity : 
 
 Peculiarly happy in his writings, 
 
 Not so in the encouragement of them: 
 
 The curious inventor of a kind of Satire amongst us, 
 
 By which lie pluck'd the mask from pious Hypocrisy, 
 
 And plentifully exposed the villainy of Rebels: 
 
 The first and last of writers in his way. 
 
 Lest he, who (when alive) was destitute of all things, 
 
 Should (when dead) want likewise a monument, 
 
 John Barber, citizen of London, hath taken care, 
 
 By placing this stone over him, 1721. 
 
 On the latter part of this epitaph the ingenious Mr. Sa- 
 muel Wesley wrote the following lines : — 
 
 While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, 
 
 No generous patron would a dinner give ; 
 
 See him, whenstarv'd to death, and turn'd to dust, 
 
 Presented with a monumental bust. 
 
 The poet's fate is here in emblem shewn — 
 
 He ask'd for bread, and he received a stone. 
 
 Soon after this monument was erected in Westminster 
 Abbey, some persons proposed to erect one in Covent 
 Garden Church, for which Mr. Dennis wrote the following 
 inscription : —
 
 175 
 
 Near this place lies interred the body of 
 
 Mr. SAMUEL BUTLER, 
 
 Author of Hudibras. 
 
 He was a whole species of poet in one ; 
 
 Admirable in a manner 
 
 In which no one else has been tolerable : 
 
 A manner which began and ended in him, 
 
 In which he knew no guide, 
 
 And has found no followers. 
 
 Nat. 1612. Ob. 1680. 
 
 Hudibras is Butler's capital work, and though the Cha- 
 racters, Poems, Thoughts, &c. published by Mr. Thyer, 
 of Manchester, in 2 vols. 8vo.* are certainly written by the 
 same masterly hand — though they abound with lively sallies 
 of wit, and display a copious variety of erudition, yet the 
 nature of their subjects, their not having received the 
 author's last corrections, and many other reasons which 
 might be given, render them less acceptable to the present 
 taste of the public, which no longer relishes the antiquated 
 mode of writing characters, cultivated when Butler was 
 young by men of genius, such as Bishop Earle, and Mr. 
 Cleveland ; the volumes, however, are very useful, as they 
 tend to illustrate many passages in Hudibras.}- The three 
 
 * From none of these pieces can his life be traced, or his character dis- 
 covered. Some verses in the last collection shew hiin to have been among 
 those who ridiculed the institution of the Royal Society, of which the enemies 
 were for some time very numerous, and very acrimonious ; for what reason 
 it is hard to conceive, since the philosophers professed not to advance doc- 
 trines, but to produce facts, and the most zealous enemy of innovation must 
 admit the gradual progress of experience, however he may oppose hypothe- 
 tical temerity. 
 
 + " As to these Remains of Butler, they are certainly his, but they would not 
 strike the public, if that public was honest ; but the public is a malicious 
 monster, which cares not what it affords to dead merit, so it can but depress 
 the living. There was something singular in this said Butler. Besides an 
 infinite deal of wit, he had great sense and penetration, both in the sciences 
 and in the world. Yet with all this he could never plan a work, nor tell a 
 story well. The first appears from his Hudibras ; the other from his Elephant 
 in the Moon ; he evidently appears to have been dissatisfied with it, by turning 
 it into long verse, from whence you perceive lie thought the fault lay in the 
 doggrel verse; but that was hi* forte — the fault lay in the manner of telling.
 
 176 
 
 small ones, entitled, Posthumous Works, in prose and 
 verse, by Mr. Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras, printed 
 1715, 1716, 1717, are deemed spurious, except the Pindaric 
 Ode on Duval the Highwayman, and perhaps one or two 
 of the prose pieces. As to the MSS. which after Mr. But- 
 ler's death came into the hands of Mr. Longueville, and 
 from whence Mr. Thyer published his genuine Remains in 
 the year 1759, what remain of them still unpublished, were 
 either in the hands of the ingenious Dr. Farmer, of Cam- 
 bridge, and Dr. Nash : for Mr. Butler's Common Place 
 Book, mentioned by Mr. Thyer, Dr. N. was indebted to 
 the liberal and public-spirited James Massey, Esq. of Rost- 
 hern, near Knotsford, Cheshire ; and this book is now in 
 the possession of Lady Somers, the daughter of the late 
 Dr. Nash, the biographer of Butler. The poet's frequent 
 and correct use of law terms* is a sufficient proof that he 
 was well versed in that science ; but if further evidence were 
 wanting, Dr. N. says " he could produce a MS. purchased 
 of some of our poet's relations, at the Hay, in Brecknock- 
 shire, which appears to be a collection of legal cases and 
 principles, regularly related from Lord Coke's Commentary 
 on Littleton's Tenures : the language is Norman, or law 
 French, and, in general, an abridgement of the above ce- 
 lebrated work; for the authorities in the margin of the MS. 
 
 Butler's heroics are poor stuff indeed ; only doggrel, made languid by heavy 
 expletives. He is sometimes wonderfully fine both in his sentiments and ex- 
 pression, as where he defines the proud man to be a fool in fermentation ; and 
 where speaking of the Antiquary, he says, he has a great veneration fur words 
 that are stricken in years, and are grown so aged that they have outlived their em- 
 ployments. Mr. Cray has certainly a true taste. I should have read Hudibras 
 with as much indifference perhaps as he did, was it not for my fondness of the 
 transactions of those times against which it is a satire. Besides it induced me 
 to think the author of a much higher class than his Remains shew him to have 
 been ; and I can now readily think the comedies he wrote were as execrable 
 as the satirists of that age make them to be." — See more of this in Warburton's 
 Letters, pages 287, and 296. — So much for the opinion of literary men on 
 literary subjects. 
 
 * We learned from some publication, the name of which has slipped our 
 memory, that Butler was once a member of Gray's Inn, and of a club with 
 Cleveland, and other wits inclined to the Royal cause.
 
 177 
 
 correspond exactly with those given on the same positions 
 in the first institute ; and the subject matter contained 
 in each particular section of Butler's legal tract, is to be 
 found in the same numbered section of Coke upon Lit- 
 tleton : the first book of the MS. likewise ends with 
 the 84th section, which said number of sections also ter- 
 minates the first institute ; and the second book of the 
 MS. is entitled by Butler, le second livre del primer 
 part del institutes de ley d'Engletene. The titles of the 
 respective chapters of the MS. also precisely agree with 
 the titles of each chapter of Coke upon Littleton ; it 
 may therefore reasonably be presumed to have been com- 
 piled by Butler solely from Coke upon Littleton, with no 
 other object than to impress strongly on his mind the sense 
 of that author ; and written in Norman, to familiarize him- 
 self with the barbarous language in which the learning of 
 the common law of England was at that period almost uni- 
 formly expressed. The ISIS, is imperfect, no title exist- 
 ing, some leaves being torn, and is continued only to the 
 193d section, which is about the middle of Coke's second 
 book of the first institute. As another instance of the Poet's 
 great industry, Dr. Nash had a French dictionary (now in 
 the possession of the Rt. Hon. Lady Somers) compiled and 
 transcribed by him : thus did our ancestors, with great la- 
 bour, draw truth and learning out of deep wells. It doth not 
 appear that ever he wrote for the stage, though in the MS. 
 common-place book above alluded to, time is part of an 
 unfinished tragedy, entitled Nero. Concerning Hudibras 
 there is but one sentiment — it is universally allowed to be 
 the first and last poem of its kind. The engravings which 
 embellish Dr. Nash's edition of Hudibras, were chiefly 
 taken from Hogarth's designs, an artist whose genius, in 
 some respects, was congenial to that of our Poet, though here 
 l;e cannot plead the merit of originality so much as in some 
 other of his works, he having borrowed a areat deal from the 
 
 2 A
 
 178 
 
 small prints in the 12mo. edition of 17 10.* Some plates 
 are added from original designs,f and some from drawings 
 by La Guerre, and one print representing Oliver Cromwell's 
 guard-room, from an excellent picture by Dobson, com- 
 municated by Robert Bromley, Esq. of Abberley Lodge, 
 in this county ; the picture being 7 feet long and 4 high, it 
 was difficult to give the likenesses in the engraving, upon so 
 reduced a scale ; the picture belonged to Walsh, the Poet, 
 and has always been called Oliver Cromwell's guard-room : 
 the figures are certainly portraits, but of whom, except 
 Oliver, is now unknown.^ 
 
 I shall end this memoir with the concluding words of 
 Aubrey, " When but a boy he (Butler) would make ob- 
 servations and reflections on every thing one sayd or did, 
 and censure it to be either well or ill. — He is of a middle 
 stature, strong sett, high coloured, a head of sorrell haire, a 
 severe and sound judgement : a good fellowe. He hath of- 
 ten said that way (e.g. Mr. Edm. Waller's) of quibling with 
 sence will hereafter grow as much out of fashion and be a* 
 ridicule § as quibling with words. 
 
 " Qd N. B. He hath been much troubled with the 
 gowt, and particularly, l679> he stirred not out of his cham- 
 ber from October till Easter. 
 
 " He y dyed of a consumption Septemb. 25, (Anno D n » 
 1680, 70 circiter,) and buried 27, according to his owne ap- 
 pointment in the church-yard of Covent Garden ; sc. in the 
 north part next the church at the east end. His feet touch 
 the wall. His grave, 2 yards distant from the pillaster of 
 the dore (by his desire) 6 foote deepe. 
 
 * Hogarth was born in 1698, and the 1st edition of Hudibras, with hi? 
 designs, was published in 1726, 
 
 t These were by Mr. Skip, of Ledbury, for some account of whom see 
 notes on Dunster, in this volume. 
 
 ^ See an account of John Townley, who translated Hudibras into French, 
 with some extracts, in Europ. Mag. for 1S02. He presented a copy of Hu- 
 dibras to the British Museum. 
 
 ^ Sic. Edit. 
 
 |] Evidently written some time after the former part. E.
 
 179 
 
 " About 25 of his old acquaintance at his funerall : 1 my 
 .self being one. 
 
 "hudibras unprinted. 
 
 " No Jesuite ever took in hand, 
 
 To plant a church in barren land ; 
 
 Or ever thought it worth his while 
 
 A Swede or Russe to reconcile. 
 
 For where there is not store of wealth, 
 
 Soules are not worth the chardge of health. 
 
 Spaine and America had designes 
 
 To sell their Ghospell for their Wines, 
 
 For had the Mexicans been poore, 
 
 No Spaniard twice had landed on their shore. 
 
 'Twas Gold the Catholic Religion planted, 
 
 Which had they wanted Gold, they still had wanted." 
 
 " He had made very sharp reflexions upon the Court in his 
 last part. 
 
 (< Writt my Lord (John*) Rosse's Answer to the Mar- 
 quisse of Dorchester. 
 
 " Memorandum. Satyricall witts disoblige whom they 
 converse with, Sic. consequently make to themselves many 
 enemies and few friends, and this was his maimer and case. 
 He was of a leonine-colored haire, sanguine, cholorique, 
 middle sized, strong." 
 
 Mr. Ractster, of Pershore, has an original portrait of 
 Butler and his wife ; at Eastnor Castle is another por- 
 trait of the Poet ; and there is also a miniature of him in 
 the possession of W. Welch, Esq. of Hawford. 
 
 Of the lines 
 
 " He who fights and runs away, 
 May live to fight another day," 
 
 which have been so often attributed to Butler, and on which 
 so many wagers have been lost and won, it may be necessa- 
 ry to say, that, according to a writer in the M. Mag. for May, 
 1817, they are the production of Sir John Mennes, a Poet 
 
 * In the hand writing of Anthony a Wood. Edit. A buffoon answer, 
 written by Lord Roos, afterwards Duke of Rutland, who was assisted in it 
 by Butler. Parke's Noble Authors, p. 586, vol. 1.
 
 180 
 
 of the reign of Charles II. who wrote a small volume of po- 
 ems on miscellaneous subjects, which book is now scarce. 
 The closest approximation of any lines of Butler's to these, 
 may be found in Hudibras, cant. 3, part 3, lines 235 to 244, 
 ending with 
 
 cc 
 
 For those that fly may fight again, 
 "Which he can never do that's slain." 
 
 William Thomas, Bishop of Worcester, 1683, 
 
 Was Dean of Worcester in 1665. He was a native of Bris- 
 tol, the son of a linen-draper, was born in 16 13, and was 
 sent to Jesus Coll. Oxford. He underwent misfortunes in 
 common with his fellow labourers during the Usurpation, for 
 being sequestered from his vicarage, he was obliged to 
 maintain himself by teaching youth in Carmarthenshire. 
 When he was about the age of 33, a party of the Parliament 
 horse came to Loughern, of which he was vicar, and en- 
 quired whether that Popish priest, Mr. Thomas, was still 
 there, and whether he continued reading the Liturgy and 
 praying for the Queen ; and one of them adding, that he 
 would go to church next Sunday, and if Mr. Thomas per- 
 severed in praying for that drab of the w e of Babylon, he 
 
 would certainly pistol him. Upon this, his friends earnestly 
 pressed him to absent himself, but he refused, thinking it 
 would be a neglect of duty. He no sooner began the ser- 
 vice than the soldiers came and placed themselves in the next 
 pew to him, and when he prayed for the Queen, one of them 
 snatched the book out of his hand, and threw it, with a 
 bitter speech, at his head. The preacher bore it with pa- 
 tience and composure, but the soldier who had committed 
 the offence was, it is said, instantly seized with such com- 
 punction, that his companions were forced to carry him 
 away, while Mr. Thomas continued, and delivered his ser- 
 mon with his usual emphasis. 
 
 The Restoration recalled him from his retirement in Wales, 
 and he was appointed Chaplain to James, Duke of York, 
 (James II.) Ju 1678, being consecrated Bishop of St.
 
 181 
 
 David's, he obtained permission to hold the Deanery of 
 Worcester with it, after which he was promoted to this See. 
 Steady in his duty as a Protestant, he refused to conform 
 to the wishes of James II. but he could not be prevailed 
 upon to withdraw his allegiance, and transfer it to William 
 and Mary. Preparatory to his deprivation, he was sus- 
 pended ; but the latter punishment was rendered of none 
 effect by his death, which occurred June 25, 1689, after 
 shewing much patience and fortitude under persecution. 
 This worthy prelate was buried in the cloister of his cathe- 
 dral. — His age, his piety, his virtues, deserved a better fate. 
 See an interesting and detailed life of Bishop Thomas, in 
 Chalmers's Biog. Diet. 
 
 John Oliver, D. D. Dean of Worcester, 1660, 
 Succeeded Holdsworth, after a vacancy of eleven years. 
 He was originally of Merton, but removing to Magdalen Col- 
 lege, was there demy and fellow, and at length president. 
 He was deprived of his preferment for opposing the visitors 
 of the University, and thereby reduced to the lowest ebb of 
 fortune. About a fortnight before the King's restoration, he 
 was reinstated in his college by authority of the Parliament, 
 and soon after, through the interest of Lord Clarendon, to 
 whom he had the honour to be preceptor, was raised to this 
 Deanery, which he enjoyed not long. Strangely desirous to 
 leave this world, though few had greater inducements to stay 
 in it, his desires were by providence granted him, Oct. 27, 
 1661. He was buried in Magdalen College Chapel, Ox- 
 ford. 
 
 Richard Baxter 
 Was born in Shropshire in 16 15 : he was a man famous 
 for weakness of body and strength of mind, for having the 
 strongest sense of religion himself, and exciting a sense of it 
 in the thoughtless and the profligate ; for preaching more 
 sermons, engaging in more controversies, and writing more 
 books than any other nonconformist of his age. Kiddermin-
 
 182 
 
 ster, of which he held the living, and Worcester, were mostly 
 his scenes of action ; he was some time with Cromwell dur- 
 ing the siege of the latter place.* He spoke, disputed, and 
 wrote with ease ; he reproved Cromwell, and expostulated 
 with the second Charles. See his life by Silvester, folio. 
 Ditto, written by himself, and abridged by Calamy. Long's 
 review of his life, and the Biog. Brit. The quakers have it 
 recorded, " that Thomas Goodaire was the first (ergo, there 
 were others,) sent to prison for speaking to Richard Baxter, 
 after he had finished his sermon." — Vide Chambers's Wor- 
 cester, p. 274. — But surely this was not at his instigation, 
 if it were, it pays no compliment to his liberality. Bax- 
 ter's pulpit was purchased by the dissenters from the 
 churchwardens of Kidderminster when the church was re- 
 paired ; it is still preserved in their meeting-house. Bax- 
 ter died December 8, 1691- Miss Warner, in her col- 
 lection of " Original Letters," has given one by this ce- 
 lebrated divine. An original picture of Mr. Baxter was in 
 the possession of the late Rev. Thomas Doolittle, M. A. till 
 the year 1707, and from that time in the hands of his grand- 
 son, Samuel Sheafe, of London, 1763. Dr. Nash says, 
 " Mr. Benjamin Fawcet is possessed of another original por- 
 trait of him," an engraving of which is inserted in his History 
 of Worcestershire. 
 
 Benjamin Baxter, 
 
 A Nonconformist Minister, of Upton-upon-Severn, was 
 the son of Mr. Geo. Baxter, Minister of Little Wenlock: 
 he continued at Upton till his death, and left his children in 
 a low condition. He wrote " A Posing Question put by 
 
 * June 9, 1646, two famous divines, Dr. Warmestry and Mr. Richard 
 Baxter, who was then chaplain to a regiment of horse that besieged the town, 
 took this opportunity of discoursing upon points of divinity : the first point 
 which Mr. Baxter undertook was, that there was no difference between a 
 church and any common place ; they disputed for several hours, and, con- 
 trary to what commonly happens among polemic divines, they parted good 
 friends. " Bish. Blandford's Collections," inserted in Dr. Nash's History.
 
 183 
 
 the Wise Men, &c. on the Ignorance of Man in what is 
 good for him," and " Sermons," &c. &.c. &c. 
 
 William Bagnall, 
 The preserver of Charles II. after the battle of Worces- 
 ter, by turning out to the Monarch a horse ready saddled, 
 was a loyal gentleman who then lived in Sidbury, and was 
 one of the Chamber of this city : he died Sept. 21, 1652, 
 aged 36, and was buried in the church of St. Nicholas. To 
 a son of this Mr. Bagnall, Dr. Thomas, when Dean of 
 Worcester, married his eldest daughter ; and from his pa- 
 pers the anecdote was preserved of the means by which the 
 King made his escape through St. Martin's Gate. Dr. Nash 
 undertakes to say, that the family never afterwards received 
 any consideration for the horse or saddle. Although Charles 
 II. was not remarkable for remembering all his friends, 
 surely some excuse may be made from the confusion at- 
 tendant on a battle ; or, Charles might never have known 
 the name of his benefactor, who died a year after this inci- 
 dent. The King had also another narrow escape, but whe- 
 ther before this, or afterwards, does not appear. See Cham- 
 bers's Worcester, p. 42 &. 43. 
 
 Thomas Warmestry, D. D. Dean of Worcester, l66l, 
 A Native of this city, in which he was also educat- 
 ed, was the son of William Warmestry, Registrar of the 
 Cathedral Church of Worcester. He became a student of 
 Christ Church, Oxon ; about 1G24 took the degree of Arts, 
 diat of Master being completed in 1631, and had some spi- 
 ritual cure in his own county conferred upon him soon after. 
 In 1640, he was Clerk for the Diocese of Worcester in the 
 two Convocations of the Clergy held that year; and in 1642 
 he retired, for security's sake, the nation being then unset- 
 tled, to the King at Oxon, where he was actually created 
 D. D. the same year; and afterwards lost what he had be- 
 fore obtained in the Church, notwithstanding he had been 
 always accounted a puritan. After the King's cause de-
 
 184 
 
 clined, he lived mostly in London, was the distributor of 
 money (obtained from generous loyalists) to sufferers in the 
 royal cause, was chief confessor to loyal martyrs, a constant 
 and indefatigable visitor and comforter of sick and distressed 
 cavaliers; very zealous also in converting infidels, industrious 
 in reclaiming the loose and establishing the wavering, zea- 
 lous and careful in preparing his auditors for the sacrament, 
 and for death. After the King's return, in 1660, he was re- 
 stored to what he had lost, was made Prebendary of Glou- 
 cester, and in the year following Dean of Worcester. He 
 died Oct. 30, 1665, aged 60, or thereabouts, was buried 
 near his father, grandfather, and other relations, in the body 
 of Worcester Cathedral, not far from the north door. Over 
 his grave is an inscription engraven on black marble — " Anno 
 1657, 23 June. The Parliament desires his Highness to re- 
 move from Margaret's, Westminster, one Warmestree, who 
 is employed as a lecturer there, (being a notorious delin- 
 quent) and to appoint some person of eminent godliness and 
 abilities to be public preacher there, which the Parliament 
 doth apprehend to be a matter of very great concernment to 
 the good of this place." Cole. He was notoriously abused 
 after his death in a scurrilous pamphlet entitled, " More 
 News from Rome" and in one called, " A New Font erect- 
 ed in the Cathedral Church of Gloucester in Oct. 1663." 
 Watts. He wrote a Convocation Speech against Images, 
 Sec; Pax Vobis ; Ramus Olivse; Answer to one Win. 
 Bridges concerning the present War, &c. ; an hearty and 
 friendly Premonition to the City of London, &c. ; Vindication 
 of the Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ ; Answer to cer- 
 taia Queries ; Sighs of the Church, &c. ; A Box of Spike- 
 nard ; The Baptized Turk (Dandulo), to which he caused 
 the print of the Turk to be put before it ; The Countermine 
 of Union. — See these titles at full length, with remarks, in 
 Wood's Athense, vol. 3, p. 714. 
 
 Walter Blaxdford, D.D. Bishop of Worcester, 1671, 
 Was Warden of Wadham College in 1 659, and Chaplain
 
 185 
 
 to Lord Clarendon, Vice Chancellor of the University ; in 
 1665 was consecrated Bishop of Oxford. He died, unmar- 
 ried, at the palace of Worcester, July Q, 1675, aged 59. 
 Bishop Blandford had at one time for his Chaplain, Nicholas 
 Lloyd, author of several works, for an account of which, 
 and the life of the author, see Wood's Athenae, v. 3, p. 1258. 
 This Lloyd, in 1670, was at Worcester with his patron. 
 According to the following statements, Bishop Blandford 
 was a man of what is called liberal ideas, for he contrived 
 to keep his fellowship during the whole usurpation of Crom- 
 well ; and when the Duchess of York (wife of James II.) was 
 dying a member of the Catholic Church, it is related that 
 Dr. Blandford came to see her ; the Duke meeting the 
 Bishop in the drawing-room, told him that she was recon- 
 ciled to the Church of Rome, when the Bishop said, he 
 made no doubt but that she would do well, since she was 
 fully convinced, and did it not out of any worldly end ; and 
 afterwards went into the room to her and made her a short 
 Christian exhortation, suitable to the condition she was in, 
 and then departed. — Vide Life of James II. from his own 
 papers, v. 1 . p. 452 & 3. 
 
 Thomas Weaver, 
 A Native of this city, was born in lGlG, and was the 
 son of Thomas Weaver. He applied his poetical genius to 
 academical learning in Christ Church, Oxford. Anno 1633, 
 he took the degree of Arts, that of master being complet- 
 ed in 1640, about which time he was made one of the 
 petty Canons of Worcester Cathedral, from which place, 
 being ejected by the Parliamentarian visitors in 1648, he 
 shifted from place to place, and lived upon his wits, a spe- 
 cimen of which he published to the world, entitled Songs 
 and Poems of Love and Drollery, printed 1G54, 8vo. in 
 which book is a ballad entitled Zeal overheated, or a re- 
 lation of a lamentable jirc which happened at Oxon in a 
 religious brother's shop, &c. to the tune of Chevey Chase, 
 
 2 15
 
 18(3 
 
 The said religious brother was Thomas Williams, a milliner, 
 living- some time against All Saints' church, where holy Cor- 
 nish teached, (that is Henry Cornish, a Presbyterian Mi- 
 nister, Canon of Christ Church,) by authority of Parlia- 
 ment, anno 1648; but the said songs and poems being 
 looked upon by the godly men of those times as seditious 
 ;md libellous against the Government, he was imprisoned, 
 and afterwards tried for his life : whereupon his book being 
 produced in open court, (after it had been proved he was 
 the author of it) the judge read some pages, and then spoke 
 to this effect, — " Gentlemen, the person that we have here 
 before us is a scholar and a man of wit : our forefathers had 
 learning so much in honour, that they enacted, that those 
 that could but as much as read should never be hanged, ex- 
 cept for some great crime, and shall we respect it so little 
 as to put to death a man of parts ? I must tell you, I should 
 be very unwilling to be the person that should condemn him ; 
 and yet, I must be forced to it, if the jury bring him in 
 guilty," ccc. So that, upon this harangue, too large to be 
 here set down, the jury brought him in not guilty ; where- 
 upon being set at liberty, he was ever after highly valued by 
 this boon and generous Royalist. He hath also certain epi- 
 grams extant, which Wood had not seen ; and wrote the co- 
 py of verses called, the Archbishop of York's revolt, print- 
 ed in the poems of Joh. Cleaveland, besides divers pieces 
 of poetry printed in several books published in his time. 
 After his Majesty's return, in 1660, he was made exciseman 
 for Liverpool, and was commonly called Capt. Weaver; 
 but prosecuting too much the crimes of poets, brought him 
 to his grave, in the church there, on the 3d of January, 
 1662. About the beginning of 1656, was a book pub- 
 lished, entitled, Choke Drollery, with Songs and Sonnetts, 
 which giving great offence to the pious of that time, who 
 esteemed it a scandalous thing, it was ordered by the Protec- 
 tors council to be burnt on the 8th of May the same year: 
 but who the author of that book was, Wood did not know.
 
 18: 
 
 Thomas Foley, Esq. 
 
 A Native probably of this county, was the founder of 
 the Hospital at Old Swinford, and of Whitley Court, Wor- 
 cestershire, of which county he was High Sheriff. He* was 
 born in 16*18, and was the ancestor of the present family of 
 that name.* At the time he gave to his charity an estate worth 
 £600 a year, he had five children unsettled and unprovided 
 
 * Mr. Seward, in his Anecdotes of Lord Mansfield, respecting (he difficul- 
 ties of his early life, says, that Murray acquainting a late Lord Foley that lie 
 feared he must give up the law, and go into orders on account of his slender 
 income, Lord Foley generously requested his acceptance of SCO), a year ; 
 and this will account for the great attention paid by Lord Mansfield to Lord 
 Foley, of which the biographer of the former, Mr. Holliday, seems igno- 
 rant. — Vide p. 131 of his work. 
 
 The following is an extract of a letter written by the Poet Shenstone : — 
 
 " The Leasowes, Nov. 20, 1762. 
 " About a week ago I paid a visit of two or three days, which I had lor» 
 promised, to Lord Foley. His table, for a constancy, is the most magnifieelil 
 I ever saw ; eighteen or twenty elegant dishes ; a continual succession of com- 
 pany; his behaviour perfectly hospitable, and his conversation really enter- 
 taining. I most readily own myself to have been under a mistake, with re- 
 gard to his companionable character. My reception was as agreeable as it 
 could possibly be. As to the rest, he has a most admirable house and furni- 
 ture; but without any room or utensil that would stand the test of mod 1 
 criticism. The views around him, wild and great ; and the park capable 0! 
 being rendered fine; twice as striking as it is at present, if he would fell sOmi 
 oaks, under the value of a crown, and some hawthorns, under the value of a 
 halfpenny; but 'tis possible, at his time of life, &c. nothing of this sort nill 
 be undertaken. The things at present remarkable are, his lodge and his 
 chapel. The portico of the former (designed by Fleetcroft) affords three dif- 
 ferent and striking prospects. The chapel is so very superb and elegant, that 
 Mrs. Gataker has nothing to do but send you and me thither, to say our prayers 
 in it. In reality, it is perfect luxury ; as I truly thought it la^t Sunday 
 se'en-night. His pew is a room, with a handsome fire- pi ace ; the deling carved, 
 and painted in compartments, and the remainder enriched with gilt stucco 
 ornaments ; the walls enriched in the same manner ; the best painted u indow - 
 1 ever saw : the monument to his father, mother and brothers, cost, he said, 
 20001. The middle aisle rendered comfortable by iron stoves, in the shape of 
 urns; the organ perfectly neat and good, in proportion to its size; and to 
 this chapel you are led through a gallery of paintings seventy feet long — and 
 what would you more ? — You'll say a good sermon. I really think \\\- p ir-or. 
 js able to preach one."
 
 188 
 
 for; and the register shews the first admission of boys to 
 this charity to have been almost seven years before the 
 founder's death. This Hospital constantly feeds, clothes, 
 teaches, and apprentices sixty poor boys, from seven to 
 eleven years of age, according to Baxter, who highly eulo- 
 gizes him, and who preached Mr. Foley's funeral sermon. 
 " He raised himself from almost nothing to £.5000 a year, 
 or more, by his iron works." — See Nash, vol. 2, p. 211, 
 465, 466, and Baxter's Life. Mr. Foley died Oct. 1, 1677- 
 
 Andrew Yarrington,* 
 A Native of this county, being bom, says Dr. Nash, 
 in Astley Parish, about the year l6l6. He was, according to 
 his own account, apprenticed " to a linen draper, -f when this 
 King (Charles II.) was born, and continued at the trade some 
 years. But the shop being too narrow and short for my 
 large mind, I took leave of my master, but said nothing. 
 Then I lived a country life for some years, and in the late 
 wars J I Mas a soldier, and sometimes had the honour and 
 misfortune to lodge and dislodge an army. In the year 
 1652 I entered upon iron works, and plied them several 
 years, and in them times I made it my business to survey the 
 three great rivers of England, and some small ones, and 
 made two navigable, and a third almost completed. I next 
 studied the great weakness of the rye lands, and the surfeit 
 it was then under by reason of their long tillage. I did by 
 pracfick and theorick find out the reason of its defection, 
 as also of its recovery, and applyed the remedy in putting- 
 out two books § which were so fitted to the countryman's 
 capacity, that he fell on pell mell, and I hope, and partly 
 know, that great part of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, 
 Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire, have doubled 
 
 * This name frequently occurs in the list of bailiffs of Bewdley. 
 + Granger is therefore wrong in calling him a mercer. 
 J From this circumstance he is probably called Captain Y. by Dr. Nash. 
 \ His book of " England's Improvement, &c." was licensed by Roger 
 L'Estrange in 1676.
 
 189 
 
 the value of the land by the husbandry discovered to them. 
 See my two books printed by Mr. Sawb ridge, on Ludgate- 
 hill, entituled, Yarrington's Improvement, by Clover ; and 
 there thou maist be further satisfied. I also for many years 
 served the countreys with the seed, and at last gave them the 
 knowledge of getting it with ease and small trouble ; and 
 what I have been doing since, my book tells you at large ; 
 and as to any that are my enemies upon the account of this 
 subject, or of such as speak, or assert my pains to be to 
 them acceptable, both parties are to me alike. I only wish 
 and pray, that what is here treated upon may by the Powers 
 above us, be seriously considered of, and if it be found it 
 tends to the benefit of this present age, and for the good of 
 the generations to come, then let them pursue the ends to 
 bring it to pass. If any gentleman or other please to put pen to 
 paper in opposition to what is here asserted, I shall give him 
 a civil return, bound up with the second part, where these 
 seven heads shall be treated on : — 
 
 " 1st, Demonstrate, and make it appear, that England 
 and Ireland are the only northern kingdoms unimproved ; 
 
 " 2dly, Discover that it is a great and wonderful provi- 
 dence of God it is so at this time; 
 
 " Sdly, Shew how England may be improved in all its 
 parts to thirty years' purchase, and how things may be fitted 
 for the doing thereof; as also how Ireland maybe brought 
 to twenty years' purchase, and made as useful to England, 
 and of as great strength as Norway is to Denmark ; 
 
 " 4thly, Where manufactures may be fitted, and where 
 settled, and how they must be ordered for the benefit of the 
 kingdom and trade universal ; 
 
 " othly, Shew how and where all manner of naval stores 
 are to be had and provided at three-fifths they now cost the 
 King, with the way, means, and manners of accomplishing 
 them ; 
 
 " 6thly, How to employ 6000 young lawyers, and 3000 
 priests, for the good of the public and mankind, which now 
 have neither practice, nor cure of souls ;
 
 190 
 
 " 7thly, With observations of the balance of Europe, and 
 of the public bank therein, with their use, order, rule, and 
 riches." 
 
 It appears that Yarrington was sent to foreign parts to 
 acquire knowledge of trade, &c. by Sir Walter Kersham 
 Blount, Sir Samuel Baldwin, Sir Timothy Baldwin, Knts. ; 
 Thomas and William Foley, and Thomas Smith, Esqrs. ; 
 Joseph Newbreak, Samuel Whyle, Nicholas Baker, John 
 Finch, and Nicholas Harrison, Gents. ; and encouraged by 
 these gentlemen, he travelled through Holland, Germany, &c. 
 to bring home from thence any thing that might improve our 
 manufactures : his charges were borne by twelve gentlemen, 
 to bring with him the secret of linen-making.* He arrived 
 in Holland during the Treaty of Breda, in 1667, and was 
 then satisfied we could not beat the Dutch with righting. 
 In about the year 1674 he was prevailed upon by some 
 money bankers and other gentlemen to go over to Ireland, to 
 survey iron works, woods, and lands. He was afterwards 
 taken by Lord Clarendon, on the decline of his popularity 
 in 1677, to Salisbury, to survey the River Avon, to find 
 where that river might be made navigable, and also whe- 
 ther a safe harbour could be made at Christ Church for 
 ships to come in and out, and be safe ; and having found 
 where he thought safe anchorage might be attained, his 
 Lordship proceeded to act upon his information. 
 
 His literary works are " England's Improvement by 
 Sea and Land.-}- To outdo the Dutch without Fighting. To 
 pay Debts without Money. To set at Work all the Poor 
 of England with the Growth of our own Lands. To pre- 
 vent unnecessary Suits in Law, with the benefit of a volun- 
 
 * In speaking of the silent manner of correcting the children at the spin- 
 ning schools of Germany, he says, " and I believe their way of ordering (by 
 silent motions) the young women in Germany is one great cause that the 
 German women have so little of the twit-twat, and I am sure it would be 
 well if it were so in England." 
 
 + In this work he recommends a brother projector, Mr. Roger Cook.
 
 191 
 
 Vary Register. Directions where vast quantity of Timber 
 are to be had for the building of Ships, with the advantage 
 of making the great Rivers of England navigable. Rules 
 to prevent Fires in London and other great Cities, with 
 direction how the several Companies of Handicraftsmen in 
 London may always have cheap Bread and Drink : all by 
 Andrew Yarrington, Gent." The copy I have before me was 
 licensed in 1676, and printed by R. Everingham, for the 
 author, and are to be sold by T. Parkhurst, at the Bible and 
 Three Crowns in Cheapside, and N. Simmons, at the 
 Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard, MDCLXXVIL 
 Dr. Nash says, the first part was published in 1677, 
 and the second in 1698. The copy I have is all under one 
 title page, and dedicated first to Arthur Earl of Anglesea, 
 Lord Privy Seal, and to the Chamberlain of the City, Sir 
 Thomas Player. The second dedication which immedi- 
 ately follows is to Thomas Lord Windsor,* whom he thanks 
 for the encouragement his Lordship has given to his pursuits. 
 His favourite schemes were a public register for lands, &c. — 
 Vide his book. Dr. Nash says, that Yarrington, in concert 
 with Capt. Wall, undertook, for the sum of 7501. to make 
 the river Salwarp navigable, and to procure letters patent 
 for doing it from Cromwell ; but the times being unsettled, 
 and Yarrington and Wall not rich, this scheme, the authors 
 of which were more disinterested than projectors generally 
 are, was never carried into execution. The river Stour 
 was also attempted to be rendered navigable by this pub- 
 lic-spirited and well-meaning projector, which however 
 proved abortive, as we learn from poor Yarrington's account 
 of the matter : — " It was my projection," says he, in his 
 England's Improvement, " and I will tell you the reason 
 why it was not finished. The river Stour, and some other 
 rivers, were granted by an Act of Parliament to certain per- 
 sons of honour, and some progress was made in the work : 
 but within a small while after the act passed, it was let fall 
 again ; but it being a brat of my own, I was not willing it 
 
 * See article William Sandys, p. 127.
 
 192 
 
 should be abortive, therefore I made offers to perfect it, 
 having a third part of the inheritance to me and my heirs for 
 ever, and we came to an agreement ; upon which I fell on, 
 and made it completely navigable from Stourbridge to Kid- 
 derminster, and carried down many hundred tons of coal, 
 and laid out near a thousand pounds, and there it was ob- 
 structed for want of money." Brindley, the engineer, af- 
 terwards proposed a canal at Stour, on an improved prin- 
 ciple of the ingenious and unfortunate Yarrington : when 
 his scheme was first brought forward, it naturally met with 
 violent opposition and ridicule. The undertaking was 
 thought wonderfully bold, and the attempt of Yarrington, 
 joined to the great extent of the undertaking, the sandy, 
 spongy nature of the ground, the high banks necessary to 
 prevent the inundation of the Stour on the new canal, fur- 
 nished its opponents, if not with sound argument, at least 
 with very specious topics for opposition and laughter. It 
 was not long, says Dr. Nash, since some of the boats 
 made use of in Yarrington's navigation were found ; but he 
 knows of no cause why this navigation was neglected. 
 
 The following critique on his book is extracted from the 
 Phil. Trans. — The author, it seems, has discovered the mys- 
 teries of trade universally for all parts of England ; and he 
 detected the mysteries of iniquity, how some wealthy mer- 
 chants and overbusy factors hinder trade and our staple ma- 
 nufactures, for private lucre, to the great damage of our own 
 native country; he advises good remedies, and proposes 
 what trades are proper to be advanced, and what the pecu- 
 liar inconveniencies. Thus he runs through all the intrigues 
 of trade, noting the secret abuses and obstacles, and offer- 
 ing genuine remedies, confirmed by the experience of fo- 
 reign nations, large territories, and principalities. 
 
 In the second part of his work, he speaks of the disco- 
 very of the hearth of a Roman foot blast, and of a pot of 
 Roman coin found by its side, near the walls of the city of 
 Worcester. " In the forest of Deane, and thereabouts, as 
 high as Worcester, there are great and infinite quantities of
 
 19^ 
 
 cinders, (the rough and offal thrown by in the Roman times, 
 they then having only foot blasts to melt the iron stone,) 
 some in vast mounts above ground, some under ground, 
 which will supply the iron works some hundreds of years. 
 
 Yarrington had a .son, whom he relates twice surveyed 
 the river Thames and the Cherwell.* 
 
 Richard Moore, 
 Rector of Alvechurch, which living he intruded on during 
 the Commonwealth, and was ejected thence for noncon- 
 formity at the Restoration. Dr. Walker says, he gave up 
 his living in 1661, to Mr. Hallington. He published, in 
 1675, in 8vo. a book entitled, " A Pearl in an Oyster Shell, 
 or Precious Treasure put in Perishing Vessels ;" several 
 Sermons ; an Account of the Holy Life and Death of Mr. 
 Thos. Hall ; Paul's Prayer for Israel. Wood says, he was 
 living in 1682, at Wetherock-hill, in Worcestershire, where 
 he preached privately. 
 
 Elias Ashmole, 
 Founder of the Museum at Oxford, was born May 23, 
 1617, being always a zealous and steady loyalist; he became 
 one of the gentlemen of the ordnance in the garrison at Ox- 
 ford, whence he removed to Worcester, where he was com- 
 missioner, receiver, and register, of the excise, and soon 
 after went into Lord Ashley's regiment. When the affairs 
 of the King became desperate, Mr. Ashmole withdrew him- 
 self, after the surrender of the garrison of Worcester, into 
 Cheshire, and died May 18, 1692. 
 
 Anthony Palmer, 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Anthony Pal- 
 mer, and born at Great Comberton in 1618. He became a 
 student in Baliol College, 1634, admitted fellow thereof, 
 after he had taken one degree, Nov. 29, 1640, and in the 
 
 * In St. Helen's church lie buried, Mr. William Yarrine;ton, clothier, of 
 this city, who died February 25, 1687 ; also two sons and one daughter. 
 
 2 c
 
 194 
 
 vrar after, being M. A. he entered into orders; he sided 
 with the presbyterians, and took the covenant; at length he 
 got possession of the rich rectory of Bourton-on-the-W ater, 
 Gloucestershire, and resigned his fellowship 1649, took the 
 engagement, and was assistant to the commissioners for 
 ejecting the Church Ministers. On the Restoration, he re- 
 tired to London, where A. Wood accuses him of having a 
 hand " in that stupendous tragedy which was intended to be 
 acted by the Satanical saints in 1662," for which many suf- 
 fered. He died 26th January, 1678, and was buried in the 
 dissenters' burial ground at Moorfieids. He was the author 
 of (* A Scripture Raile to the Lord's Table, &c. ;" Me- 
 moirs of Godliness and Charity, &c. ; The Christian's Free- 
 dom by Christ; The Gospel New Creature; The 
 Tempestuous Soul calmed, Sec. See also Calamy, Non. 
 Mem. 
 
 Roger Manwaring, D. D. Dean of Worcester, 1633, 
 
 Was educated at the College School of Worcester, under 
 Mr. Henry Bright. He was one of the most abject tools of 
 power ; he not only preached at Court, but published two 
 sermons, wherein he maintained " that the King is not 
 bound to observe the laws of the realm relating to the rights 
 and liberties of the subjects, but that his royal will and com- 
 mand imposing on them loans and taxes, without common 
 consent in Parliament, doth oblige the conscience of the 
 subjects, on pain of eternal damnation." It was the general 
 desire of the nation to see such an apostle of slavery pu- 
 nished : he was arrested by order of the House of Lords, 
 and sentenced to make his submission at the bar of the 
 House, to pay a fine of £1000, to be suspended from 
 preaching for three years, and incapacitated from holding 
 any preferment : but Charles I. granted him a full pardon, 
 remitted the fine, and immediately preferred him to a rich 
 benefice in Essex ; and, but a few years after, to the 
 Deanery of \V orcester ; and, as if all this was not sufficient 
 for a service so meritorious, he advanced him, in l635 > tx>
 
 195 
 
 the see oi St. David's. lie died in privacy at Caerinarthen, 
 lGj'3, and was buried at Brecknock. 
 
 Thomas Blount, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born at Bordesley in 
 iGlS : he was the son of Myles Blount, of Orleton, in He- 
 refordshire, who was the fifth son of Roger Blount, of 
 Monkland, in the same county. He appeals to have sup- 
 plied the want of an university education by diligent appli- 
 cation, and, after studying the classics, entered himself of 
 the Inner Temple, and was in due course admitted to the 
 bar. Being, however, a Roman Catholic, he never plead- 
 ed ; but after some time, resided mostly at Orleton. He 
 married Ann, daughter of Edmund Church, of Maiden, in 
 Essex. A sedentary life having much impaired his health, 
 and the Popish plot breaking out in 1678, he was so hur- 
 ried from place to place, that the fatigue brought on a pal- 
 sey, of which he died at Orleton, Dec. 26, HiTfJ, at which 
 place he was buried. Whether by this mention of the 
 Popish plot, his biographer means he was concerned in it, 
 does not appear. Wood seems to insinuate he was only 
 alarmed, as he was known to be a zealous Roman Catholic ; 
 he was, however, a man of general know ledge, and an in- 
 dustrious and useful writer. His works are — 1. " The 
 Academy of Eloquence, or complete English Rhetoric," 
 1654, l2mo. often reprinted; 2. " Glossograpbia, or a 
 Dictionary of Hard Words," Loud. l(i.06. Svo. of this there 
 have been at least live editions ; 3. " The Lamps of the 
 Law, and the Lights of the Gospel," ibid. 16.38, Svo. ; 4. 
 Boscobel, or the History of his Majesty's Escape after the 
 Battle of Worcester, ibid. 1G60; 5. Boscobel, 2d part, 
 with the addition of the " Claustrum regale reseratum," or 
 the King's Concealment at Trent, in Somersetshire, pub- 
 lished by Mrs. Ann Windham, of Trent, ibid. 1()S1. Both 
 these now are among the scarce and high-priced curiositi 
 
 * I have been much obliged by the loan of a copy of this rare production, 
 which has been reprinted, to the owner of which 1 owe many thanks, for ar-
 
 19G 
 
 of the seventeenth century. Extracts are given from them 
 in the addenda to Lord Clarendon's History. It appears, 
 however, by the following extract from Dr. Nash, that 
 doubts may be entertained with regard to Mr. Blount's 
 being the author of Boscobel. " In a MS. I have seen, he 
 (Mr. Blount) denies that he was the author of Boscobel ; 
 and says, the first time he ever saw the book was at Lord 
 Oxford's, at Brampton Bryan, as will appear by the follow- 
 ing letter : — 
 
 * Counsellor Blount was the author of the Antiquities of Herefordshire ; 
 he was my grandfather : one of the volumes was lent to the late Sir Robert 
 Cornwall, the other I had, but my son took it with him to London, in hopes 
 of meeting with the present Baronet, and with an intent of revising the whole 
 with Mr. Booth, if he could get it ; but I had often applied, particularly after 
 you lived at Ludlow, thinking that, by your acquaintance with the country, 
 you might examine its veracity, and make additions of what jou saw defective; 
 butl never was able to obtain it. The volume which my son took up to town 
 was in MS. and after his death, whether my son Edward took care to pre- 
 serve it, I do not know. I will enquire of him, if you want it. If you do, I wish 
 he may not have neglected it, as thinking one without the other of no use ; 
 and his bashfulness, I am sure, will not sutler him to apply to a stranger for 
 that which was lent to Sir Robert Cornwall. My grandfather's name was 
 Thomas, he died at Orleton ; I dare say he was not the author of Boscobel ;* 
 
 sisting my researches to the utmost of his power. In this work, Mr, Blount 
 more loyally than religiously compares the sufferings of his master with those 
 of King David : it has a fine head of Charles II. engraved by P. H. Van 
 Houe : an exact ground plot of the city of Worcester, as it stood fortified 
 Sept. 3, 1651, with the sorties of the besieged, &c. and a larger view, en- 
 graved by Burnford, in which Boscobel-house, the White Ladies, the Royal 
 Oak, &c. are in one plate, and an engraved title of the burning or rejoic- 
 ing for the supposed death of the King, at Trent, and the battle of Worcesr 
 ter. Sold by 11. Brome, &c. 1680-1. In the M. Mag. vol. 36, p. 113, is the 
 following extraordinary paper, extracted from " The Kingdom's Intelligencer, 
 1661-2;" — " By express command from his Majesty, we are to acquaint the 
 reader that a little book, named Boscobel, (being a relation of his Majesty's 
 happy and miraculous escape after the fight at Worcester) hath divers errors 
 and mistakes in it, and therefore not to he admitted as a true and perfect 
 narrative of his sacred Majesty's deliverance." And yet much of this book 
 is confirmed by the King's (Charles II.) own account, as dictated to Mr. Pepys. 
 * The preface to " Boscobel," which I have now befpre me, is signed 
 Thomas Blount. It is said, that the MS. that formed the Bishop Percy's 
 Collection of Reliques, was believed to be transcribed by Mr. Blount, the 
 author of Boscobel, and the author of Jocular Tenures, who, according to
 
 197 
 
 lor in a letter to my father, I have seen the following sense expressed ; — 'Th« 
 •other day, being on a visit to Lord Oxford, I met with a tract entitled Bos- 
 cobel. My Lord expressed great surprise in seeing me eager to peruse it, 
 saying, I was deemed the author. How the world tomes to be so kind as to 
 give it me, I know not; but whatever merit it may have, for I had not time 
 to examine it, I do not chuse to usurp it, I scorn to take the fame of another's 
 productions: so, if the same opinion prevails amongst my friends in your 
 part of the world, I desire you will contradict it, for I do not so much as 
 Jtuow the author of the piece.' 
 
 ** Upon the strength of this information," continues Dr. 
 Nash, " I wrote to Mr. Cornwall, the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons, who very obligingly examined all his 
 father's papers, and wrote me word he could find nothing 
 of Mr. Blount's, but a very short account of his own fa- 
 mily, which he sent me." Mr. Blount was the author of 
 " The Catholic Almanac, for 1661-2-3, &c." 7- " Booker 
 Rebuked, or Animadversion on Booker's Almanac"; 8. "A 
 Law Dictionary,"* ibid. 1671, fol. reprinted with addi- 
 tions ; 9- " Animadversions on Sir Richard Baker's Chro- 
 nicle," Oxf. I672,f 8vo.; 10. " A World of Errors dis- 
 covered in Mr. Edward Philips' World of Words," Lon- 
 don, 1673, fol. 11." Fragmenta Antiquitatis ; Ancient Te- 
 nures of Land, and Jocular Customs of some Manors," 
 ibid. 1679, 8vo. of which Josiah Beckwith, of York, pub- 
 lished a new edition in 1784; 12. "Animadversions on 
 Blome's Britannia," not published ; 13. " The Art of 
 
 Wood, was a Herefordshire man. — Query, might not this be the father of 
 Thos. Blount ?— Vide Dibdin's Bibliograph. Decameron, vol. 3, p. 339, arti- 
 cle Percy, Bishop of Dromore. 
 
 * Wood says, in his life, " Received from Thomas Blount, of the Inner 
 Temple, Esq. a book of his writing, entitled, a Law Dictionary, inter- 
 preting such difficult and obscure words as are found either in our common or 
 statute, ancient or modern laws, &c. printed in folio : this book he gave 
 A. W. because he had, in his great reading, collected some old words for bit 
 use which were remitted therein, afterwards sending to him more ; they were 
 remitted in the 2d edition of that book." 
 
 + A book, entitled " Animadversions, &c." first of all published 
 at Oxon, in Svo. having been printed there. — The Book was written 
 by Thos. Blount, of the Inner Temple, Esq. and it was sent to A. W. 
 to have it printed there, and to be by him corrected."— A. Woods Life. 
 In the 9th page of this work, Mr. B. introduced a couplet on Wood'*
 
 198 
 
 making Devises, treating of Hieroglyphics, Symbols, Sec.'" 
 a translation from the French, 1646, 4to.; 14. " A Cata- 
 logue of the Catholics who lost their Lives in the King's 
 Cause during the Civil War," printed at the end of Lord 
 Castleman's Catholic Apology; 15. "A Chronicle of Eng- 
 land," left imperfect, and a History of Herefordshire, a 
 MS. left with his heirs, but which was probably lost, or has 
 escaped the researches of Mr. Gough ; 16. " A Pedigree of 
 the Blounts," printed in Peacham's Complete Gentleman, 
 ed. 1661. 
 
 The Penderills, Pendrills, or Penderells, 
 
 Of whose devoted attachment and services to Charles H. 
 some notice may be expected in a work professing to record 
 the actions of every person worthy notice as connected with 
 the county of Worcester; particularly as Mr. Green, in his 
 history, seems to convey an idea that the family was after- 
 wards neglected bv a Government which it endeavoured to 
 preserve. Mr. Green's words are these :— u A descendant 
 of the Pendrill's, of the name of John, is now (1796) liv- 
 ing in Worcester. His pretensions to the inheritance of the 
 royal grant have been approved by many who have enquired 
 into, and have examined them. The preservers of Kings in 
 another nation are proscribed characters. It is a pity, how- 
 ever, that in any kingdom those who have deserved so well 
 should be forgotten, or that their seed should be neglected. 
 Query, who last enjoyed this pension ?" I have taken 
 some pains to enquire if this charge of neglect, as as- 
 serted by Mr. Green, was correct, and at length I am ena- 
 bled to lay the following extracts before my readers, the first 
 of which is from the Worcester Journal : — On Friday, Dec. 
 26, 1784, was married, at the Collegiate Church, Wolver- 
 hampton, Geo. Richards, Esq. late of Poland-street, Lon- 
 
 History of Oxford University. These animadversions were called in and 
 silenced, in the beginning of January, by Dr. Mews, the Vice Chancellor, 
 because therein, p. 30, 'tis said, that the word conventicle was first taken up 
 in the time of Wickliffe.
 
 199 
 
 don, to the relict of the late Mr. Shaw, and a descendant of 
 the family of the Pendrils, who preserved the life of Charles 
 II. after the battle of Worcester, from which she now en- 
 enjoys a handsome premium from his Majesty."* Add to 
 this, I was at length so fortunate as to obtain the following- 
 answer to a letter I was directed to send to Birmingham ; 
 and for the ready manner in which it met my enquiry, I beg 
 to thank the communicator : 
 
 " Sir, " St. Martin's Place. Birmingham, Nov. 12, 1817. 
 
 " Tn answer to your letter, I hereby inform you that I do receive an an- 
 nuity of about /24 half yearly ; and there is also a Mr. Hill, in this town, a 
 descendant of the Pendrells in a female line, who also receives an annuity on 
 the same account, which is something more than mine; it was originally 
 granted to five brothers, Pendrells; to two of them was granted £ 100 each 
 per annum, and to the other three one hundred marks each per annum ; it is 
 paid out of certain lands lying in the several counties of Stafford, Salop, 
 Worcester, Hereford, &c. which probably at that time might belong to Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 " JOHN PENDRILL. 
 " I believe I am the only descendant in the male line." 
 
 The contributor of this letter is now carrying on the busi- 
 ness of a carpenter and joiner at Birmingham, and his son is 
 a printer. 
 
 The christian name of Mr. Hill is Richard ; he is en- 
 gaged in a brewery at Birmingham, and is in the receipt 
 of £3.5 half-yearly 
 
 The portrait of William Penderill, says Mr. Grainger, 
 which was done in the reign of William III. represents him 
 in the 84th year of his age. Richard Penderill or Penderell's 
 portrait was painted by Zoust, and is engraved by Houston: 
 these six brothers, continues Mr. G. rented little farms on 
 the borders of Staffordshire, and were frequently employed 
 
 * Among the descendants op the Pendrils, we may also add, that in De- 
 cember, rol5, died, at Gresley Green, the residence of the Rev. G. W. 
 Kempson, near Wolverhampton, in the 82d year of his age, Mr. Thos. Pen- 
 drill Rock, of Brewood, surgeon. The name of Pendrill was given to him 
 as a descendant of the loyal Staffordshire Miller, who preserved Charles 1 1.
 
 200 
 
 as labourers, in cutting down timber. Richard died 8th 
 February, 1671, and lies buried in the church of St. Giles 
 in the Fields, London, where a monument is erected to his 
 memory : the author of his epitaph styles him " the great 
 and unparallel'd Penderel." Richard was the third of these 
 brothers, and he was commonly called Trusty Richard; he 
 and his five brothers lived at or near the White Ladies, in a 
 little farm within the wood ; they were employed in cutting 
 down timber, and watching it to prevent its being stolen. 
 They subsisted chiefly upon the profits of some cow grass. — 
 See Pepysian Miscellany, published by Sir David Dalrym- 
 ple. The portrait of trusty Dick Penderell, engraved by 
 Lamborn, Mr. Grainger does not think genuine. At the 
 Restoration, King Charles II. confirmed on Pendrel and his 
 heirs, forever, the sum of £ 100 per annum. Of the other 
 characters whom Charles was obliged to for his escape, 
 
 Thomas Whitgreaves was of Moseley, in Stafford- 
 shire. In the Worcester Journal for 1810, is inserted, " On 
 Friday se'nnight died, at Moseley-hall, Staffordshire, Tho- 
 mas Whitgreaves, Esq. the worthy descendant of the faith- 
 ful preserver of Charles II." 
 
 Jo.Hurlston, or Huddleston, was, at the time al- 
 luded to, Chaplain to Mr. Thomas: he was a Benedictine 
 Monk. Wood, who gives some account of him, says, he 
 prevailed upon him to commit to writing the adventures of 
 Boscobel Wood ;* surely this could not be the account that 
 bears the signature of Thos. Blount. — See his article. Hud- 
 dlestone administered extreme unction to Charles II. when 
 on his death bed, at the request of James Duke of York, 
 See an account of the death of that Monarch, by Huddle- 
 ston, in the memoirs of King James, written by himself, 
 p. 748, vol. 2. 
 
 Mrs*|* Jane Lane married Sir Clement Fisher, of 
 
 * Charles, after his restoration, gathered some acorns from the Royal Oak 
 at Boscobel, set them in St. James's Park, and used to water them himself 
 Vide Tour through Britain, 1753. 
 
 + Mrf. was at that time the title of Spinsters.
 
 201 
 
 Paekington-hall, Warwickshire, Bart. Mr. Evelyn, in his 
 Diary, mentions that she visited him at Paris in November, 
 1 65 1 : [September 6th of this year was the fatal Battle of 
 Worcester.] In the European Mag. for October, 1 794-, is a 
 copy of a letter from Charles II. regretting that " he cannot at 
 present reward Mrs. Lane according to his wishes and her de- 
 serts :" this is dated during his exile. Her sister, Mrs. Let- 
 tice Lane, was blind many years before she died in 1709. 
 She assisted her sister Jane in polishing pebbles, by rubbing 
 them one against another. See Nash, vol. 2, p. 168. 
 
 For an account of the escape of Charles, see Boscobel , the 
 Monthly Mag. vol. 30, p. 137, and Grainger. 
 
 Simon Ford, D. D. 
 Rector of Old Swinford, Worcestershire, was the son of 
 Richard Ford, and descended from Nicholas Wadham, 
 founder of \\ adham College, was born, about 1619, at 
 East Ogwell, near Newton Bushel!, Devon ; and educated 
 at the free schools of Exeter and Dorchester ; admitted of 
 Magdalen College, Oxford, \GJd ; disappointed of a scho- 
 larship at Wadham, he retired to London, 1641, and ad- 
 hered to the Parliament, under whom he had some employ- 
 ment; M.A. lG48, senior student of Christ Church, and 
 B. D. 1649, and turned out of this place for preaching against 
 the engagement. He was Rector of Newington Green, 
 and Vicar of St. Lawrence, at Reading; in 1659, chosen 
 by the Corporation of Northampton Vicar of All Saints 
 there, D. D. and was appointed King's Chaplain, Minis- 
 ter of Bridewell Chape!, and of St. Mary, Aldermanbury ; 
 but London air not agreeing with his health, he accepted the 
 Rectory of Old Swinford. He was accounted a very able 
 scholar, a noted preacher, and most eloquent Latin poet. 
 Besides a number of sermons and polemical pieces, and 
 translations from Plutarch, enumerated by Wood, he pub- 
 lished Latin Poems on the Fires of London and Northamp- 
 ton. He printed also, 167S, " A Discourse concerning 
 God's Judgments, resolving many weighty questions and 
 
 <2 D
 
 202 
 
 cases relating to them, preached (for the substance of it) at 
 Oldswinford, in Worcestershire, and now published to ac- 
 company the annexed narrative concerning the man whose 
 hands and legs rotted off, in the neighbouring parish of 
 King's Swinford, in Staffordshire, penned by another au- 
 thor, London, 1678," 12mo. It is dedicated to his patron, 
 Thomas Foley, of Kidderminster, and his brother, Philip 
 Foley, of Prestwood Hall, and is the substance of several 
 sermons preached in this parish on that memorable event, 
 which was related at large by James Illingworth, B.D. of 
 King's Swinford, and attested by Dr. Ford, and others, to 
 have happened to one John Duncalf, a young man of 22, 
 who, after a vicious course of life, and imprecating God's 
 vengeance on himself, and that his hands might rot off, if 
 he had committed a theft which he was charged with, died 
 in the course of four months, in a state of perfect mortifica- 
 tion and neglect of cure : Illingworth's narrative was printed 
 in 1678, 12mo. and dedicated to Dr. Ford ; and reprinted 
 in this century, with Mr. Whiston's account of this fact, 
 from his Memoirs, p. 4. 
 
 On the south wall of the body of the church of Old Swin- 
 ford is this inscription, to the memory of Dr. Ford : — 
 " H. S.E. Simon Ford, S.T.D. Devoniensis hujus ec- 
 clesiae per 22 annos rector, juxta Martham Stampe Redin- 
 gen sem. conjugem fidelissimam : obiit ille 7° Aprilis, 1699, 
 anno setatis octogesimo, obiit ilia 13 Novemb. A. D. 1684." 
 
 Lady Dorothy Pakington,* 
 "Whose talents are handed down to us with no small pa- 
 negyric, as being, from her acquirements, the probable au- 
 
 * The Pakington family were originally of Warwickshire ; they first came 
 into this county by the marriage of a John Pakington (see Nash's Worcester- 
 shire, vol. 1, p. 537,) with a daughter of the family of Washborne, of Stanford, 
 about the latter end of Henry VI. and who died 1461. In 1380, W. de Pa- 
 kington was Secretary and Treasurer to the Black Prince, 4th Richard II. -, 
 lie was also Treasurer of the King's Household, Keeper of the Wardrobe, 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rector of East Wrotham, Northamptonshire, 
 Prebendary of Tamworth, Lincoln, and York, Rector of Ivinglio and Wear-
 
 203 
 
 tlior of the Whole Duty of Man, was the wife of Sir John 
 Pakington, of whom some account will be found in the 
 notes attached to this article : she was the youneest dauHi- 
 ter of the Lord Keeper Coventry, and was born in London 
 about the middle of the reign of James I. : her tutor and pre- 
 ceptor was the learned Sir Norton Knatchbull ; and, after she 
 was married, the famous Hammond, and others, were her 
 instructors. She died on May 10, 1679, and was interred 
 in the church of Hampton Lovett, in this county, where a 
 memorial of her virtues and talents is inscribed at the bottom 
 of a monument erected by her husband. The Whole Duty 
 
 mouth, Archdeacon of Canterbury, Dean of the Royal Chapel of St. Mary, 
 Stafford, St. Martin le Grand, and Lichfield : he died about 1392. Leland 
 quotes largely in English from his Chronicle, which began at 9 John, and 
 was continued to his own time, but does not appear to be now extant. He 
 wrote, in French, the victorious achievements of the Black Prince. — Pitts, 
 p. 530 ; Nicbol's Hist. Library, p. 66 ; Tanner's Bib. Brit. p. 569. He al- 
 so wrote, in French, the History of Five English Kings, John, Henry III. 
 Edward I. II. and III.— Vide Dr. Nash. 
 
 SIR JOHN PAKINGTON, 24 Henry VIII. was Chirographer of the 
 Common Pleas, Serjeant at Law, a Welch Judge, and Recorder of Wor 
 cester. He had a memorable grant from the King, that, duringhis life, he should 
 wear his hat in the King's presence, and not be uncovered upon any occasion 
 whatsoever, against his good liking ; that he should not be compelled to take 
 any office or charge upon him, be created a knight or serjeant, or suffer any 
 fine or amerciament for refusing the same. — Pat. 28 Henry VIII. p. 2, in 
 the Rolls Cbapel. Dugd. Orig. Jurid. Chron. sec. p. 83. He died seized of 
 thirty-one manors, had the grant of Westwood d. 2 Eliz. and was buried at 
 Hampton. 
 
 ROBERT PAKINGTON, born at Stanford, died April, 1537; he was 
 M. P. for the city of London, and was barbarously murdered in the streets 
 of London, A. D. 1537, by the Papists, whom he had opposed. — Stow, vol. i, 
 b. 3, p. 29. 
 
 SIR JOHN PAKINGTON, called the lusty, a favourite of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, died of the gout, aged 77, and wasburied at Ailesbury, 1625. Queen Eliz. 
 first took notice of this gentleman in her progress to Worcester; afterwards 
 he went to Court, and was made Knight of the Bath. He entered into arti- 
 cles to swim against three noble courtiers, for i/3000, from the bridge at 
 Westminster to the bridge at Greenwich; but the Queen, by her specia 
 command, prevented it. He spent great part of his estate at Court, an' 
 then retired into the country. Queen Elizabeth called him her Temperance 
 and Leicester his Modesty : by the courtiers he was called Moderation. — Vid< 
 Lloyd's State Worthies, and Pennant's MS. Outlines of the Globe and Li
 
 204 
 
 of Man has probably, with as little reason, been attributed 
 to the pens of many others : the limits of this work will not 
 allow of any length of discussion of the question, and which, 
 after all, would be left in obscurity : I shall therefore refer 
 those readers who may wish to enter into the arguments for 
 and against Lady P. as the author of that work, to Ballard's 
 British Ladies; the Female Worthies; Aubrey's Letters; 
 Mrs. Hays's Female Biography; Nash's Worcestershire; 
 the Gents. Mag. for 17-54; and Nichol's Literary Anec- 
 dotes, in which latter work the author is presumed to have 
 been a French woman. Mr. Evelyn, in his Diary, says, 
 " I went to visit the Bishop of Lincoln, when, amongst 
 
 terary Life. Mr. Tomkins, Prebendary of Worcester, in the Memoirs of 
 his Life, which Dr. Nash had seen, says, that he bought, of the Karl of Lei- 
 cester, as much timber out of the forest of Wire at one time as cost the sum 
 of J: 48, for marking, at4d. a tree : he had also a monopoly of starch from 
 the Queen. He was a man of a high but liberal spirit, and a good scholar. — 
 See a long account of him in the Biog. Mirror. 
 
 SIR JOHN PAKINGTON. Bart, husband to the presumed author of the 
 Whole Duty of Man, was a Knight of the Siiire. In the loth Charles I. he was 
 tried for his life by the Parliament, sequestered and plundered for his loyalty, 
 and compounded withjthe Parliamentary Committee for ,£5000. He served 
 in Parliament for Worcestershire and Aylesbury, and died in 1679. His 
 house was a comfortable asylum for all the men of learning in those limes. 
 
 SIR JOHN PAKINGTON, Bart, born March 10, 16? 1, buried August 13, 
 1727, was constantly elected one of the Knights of the Siiire for Worcester- 
 shire in every Parliament, except one, from his first being chosen, at 19 
 years of age, notwithstanding the powerful opposition that was generally 
 made to him. He was an active man on the Tory side during the reigns of 
 Anne and George I. The inscription on his monument, at Hampton church, 
 «tys, — " He spoke his mind in Parliament without reserVe, neither fearing 
 or flattering those in power, but despising all their offers of titles and pre- 
 ferment upon base and dishonourable compliances." Bishop Lyttelton, 
 whose family always opposed the Pakingtons in the county, says, in a note 
 upon this, that Sir John l'akington had a pension from the Whig ministry 
 of JtbOO per annum, charged upon the Salt Office. 
 
 Westw^od, the seat of the Pakingtons, hath often afforded an asylum to 
 !r;ji ijcd men : Dr. Hammond, Bishops Morly, Fell, Gunning, and others, 
 always met with hospitable entertainment here, during the troubles of the 
 kingdom. At the Revolution, the doors of Westwood were open to some 
 persons who scrupled to take the oaths to King William. And here Dean 
 Hickes wrote great part of his Linguarum Septentrionalium Thesaurus, &c.
 
 205 
 
 other things, he told me, that one Dr. Chaplain, of Uni- 
 versity College, Oxford, was the person who wrote the 
 Whole Duty of Man, that he used to read it to his pupils, 
 and communicated it to Dr. Sterne, afterwards Archbishop 
 of York, but would never suffer any of his pupils to have a 
 copv of it. The following works have been also attributed 
 to her Ladyship, and to the author, whoever it may be, of 
 the Whole Duty of Man, viz. — 1. On the Impartial Survey 
 of the Ruins of the Christian Religion, &c. ; 2. The Gentle- 
 man's Calling; 3. The Ladies' Calling, in two parts; 4. 
 On the Government of the Tongue ; 5. The Art of Con- 
 tentment ; 6. The Lively Oracles given to us, and a Prayer 
 for King Charles II. during his banishment, and another for 
 Resignation to the Almighty Will. These also prove the 
 abilities of the author, and evince the pious sentiments of a 
 religious mind. The life of this amiable woman was ex- 
 tended to a long period, and she died, says Ballard, full of 
 years and good works. She is said to have received so 
 learned an education as to be able to read the Scriptures in 
 their original language ; and Hammond, Morley, Fell, and 
 Thomas, averred that she was as great an adept, and as well 
 versed in divinity as themselves ; she also possessed a great 
 knowledge of antiquities. An almost incontrovertible evi- 
 dence of Lady Pakington being the author of the book in 
 question, arises from the assertions of Archbishop Dolben, 
 Bishops Fell, and Abbestry, who are said to have declared 
 this of their own knowledge, after her death, which she 
 obliged them to keep private during her life — that she really 
 was the author of that best and most masculine religious 
 book extant in the English language, the Whole Duty of 
 Man. 
 
 George Hopkins, M.A. 
 A Native of this county, was the father of William 
 Hopkins, a Prebendary of Worcester. See his article. 
 He was of New Inn, Oxford, and the son of William Hop-
 
 '206 
 
 kins, a member of the Long Parliament. Wood says he 
 was born at Bewdley, April 15, 1620, and was educated 
 partly there in school learning, under John Graile, and 
 partly at Kinfare, county of Stafford. He became a battler 
 of New Inn, 1637 ; and having in 1641 taken one degree in 
 arts, he left the University for a time, being puritanically 
 affected. He afterwards sided with the Presbyterians, took 
 the covenant, retired to Oxford after the garrison thereof 
 had surrendered for the use of the Parliament, and he then 
 submitted to the visitors appointed by them, took the degree 
 of M.A. and soon afterwards became Minister of All 
 Saints, Evesham. In 1654, was an assistant to the com- 
 missioners " for ejecting scandalous ministers." After his 
 ejectment from Evesham, for want of conformity, he re- 
 tired to Dumbleton, in Gloucestershire. When the Oxford 
 oath came out he was over-persuaded to take it, according 
 to his own idea of it, that he might not be forced live miles 
 from the people, but died just at the time when he should 
 have had the benefit of it, March 2,3, 1666, and was buried 
 in the chancel of the parish church. He was a judicious, 
 godly, peaceable, upright man, and a useful preacher. 
 Wood says he was a good mathematician, and an example 
 of great candour and moderation ; he constantly (continues 
 he) frequented the parish church, with his family, received 
 the holy communion, and did all things required of a lay 
 member of the Church of England. He was the author of 
 Salvation from Sin by Jesus Christ, or the Doctrine of* 
 Sanctification founded upon Christianity, &c. in seven ser- 
 mons, on Matt. i. 21, levelled at the Antinomians. 
 
 John Evelyn, Esq. 
 
 Author of Sylva, 8cc. purchased the manor of Hurcott, 
 (Hircourt) in this county, of his brother George, in 1648, 
 for 33001. and sold it in the same year to Mr. Bridges, for 
 3,400. — See his Diary. This circumstance has not been 
 mentioned by Dr. Nash.
 
 207 
 
 Thomas Barlow, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1660, 
 Was also a Librarian at the Bodleian, and Provost of 
 Queen's College, Oxford. He was installed Archdeacon of 
 Oxford in the Cathedral of Christ Church, June 12, 1664, 
 and translated to the See of Lincoln in 1675. He died 
 October 8, 1691- He was a very learned man, though be- 
 lieved to be a rigid Calvinist, consequently no friend to his 
 order ; insomuch that he was remarkable for having never 
 visited any part of his diocese while he sat in it. He had a 
 very high opinion of the virtues of tobacco, of which, like 
 Drs. Aldrich and Barrow, he smoked great quantities. For 
 a further account of Bishop Barlow, see A. Wood ; Grain- 
 ger and Nichol's Literary Anecdotes. 
 
 Giles Collier, 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Giles Collier, 
 of Pershore, where he was born in l6'2'2, or at least in 
 Worcestershire. He became either a battler or servitor at 
 New Inn, Oxon, in Lent term, 1637, took the degree of 
 B.A. and left college for a time, and went over to the 
 Presbyterians. In 1648, when the Parliamentarian visitors 
 were in Oxon, he proceeded in arts, took the covenant, and 
 afterwards became Vicar of Blockley, near Evesham, and 
 of Shipston, both in this county (Worcester); and became an 
 active man as assistant to the commissioners of Worcester- 
 shire, for the ejection of such whom the puritans called 
 " scandalous, ignorant and insufficient ministers and school- 
 masters," about the year 1654. At his Majesty's restoration, 
 he continued in Blockley ; and when the Act of Uniformity 
 was published, he conformed, not without the regret of some 
 loyalists in the neighbourhood, whom he had much dis- 
 pleased in the interval. He died at Blockley the latter end 
 of July, 1678, and was buried in the church there. He was 
 the author of Vindiche Thesium de Sabbato, &c. Appendix 
 to ditto, wherein is briefly examined the Assertion of Bishop 
 Fisher, viz. — there is an equal authority and equal antiquity
 
 208 
 
 for the observation of the 25th of December, as for the 
 Lord's Day. Answer to Fifteen Questions lately published 
 by Edward Fisher, Esq. and the suggestions therein deli- 
 vered against suspended ignorant and scandalous persons 
 from the Lord's Supper ; and a Funeral Sermon. — Vide 
 Wood's Athenae. 
 
 Henry Greisley, M.A. Prebendary of Worcester, 1672, 
 Was educated at Westminster School, and became a 
 student of Christ Church, Oxford, 1634. He was the in- 
 cumbent of Severn Stoke, 1661, and died 1678. Griesley 
 translated from the French Balsahs Prince, and Senault's 
 Christian Man. — See a further account in Anthony Wood. 
 
 Ralph Sheldon, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Bewdley, Aug. 4, 
 1623. He was commonly called the great Sheldon; and an 
 ancestor of his, of the name of William, about the year 
 1553, introduced the working of tapestry in England. — See 
 an account of the Sheldons in Dr. Nash's Worcestershire, 
 vol.1, p. 66. Ralph, the subject of this memoir, received 
 the early part of his education in his father's house, under 
 Woodhip, the family priest. At the age of nineteen he com- 
 menced his travels, and having visited Fiance, resided for 
 some time at Rome. After spending four years away from 
 his native country, he returned to England, the troubles here 
 having ceased, about 1647, and married Maria Savage, a 
 daughter of Lord Savage, a handsome woman ; but so lavish 
 and imprudent, as much to diminish his estate. Fortunately, 
 however, he had no family ; he therefore indulged in a taste 
 for the study of heraldry and antiquities, and bestowed a 
 considerable time in collecting and writing genealogies of the 
 noblemen of England. At length his wife dying in 1663, he 
 spared no money in forming a library, at his house at Weston, 
 in Warwickshire, and became a great patron of learning and 
 learned men, and well skilled in history and antiquities. In 
 1667 he once more visited Rome, where remaining about
 
 209 
 
 two years, he collected there many choice books, medals, and 
 coins. After his return in l6?0, John Vincent, son of Au°us- 
 tus Vincent, some time Windsor Herald, and like himself, an 
 able genealogist, (to whom he had for several years allowed an 
 annual pension to encourage his works) being at that time dan- 
 gerously ill of a dropsy, was advised to leave all his MSS. to Mr. 
 Sheldon, upon condition of his paying his debts, "and (conti- 
 nues Wood) relieving several of his books which were then 
 pawned for ale." His will was made, and his MSS. amount- 
 ing to at least 240, besides many rolls of pedigrees left to 
 Mr. Sheldon, who conveyed them to Weston, and he pur- 
 chasing more printed books, and all the MSS. he could lay 
 his hands on. Becoming acquainted with A. Wood, at 
 Oxon, he employed him to catalogue and arrange his library, 
 which he formed in a large square room over his kitchen, 
 and arranged his medals, curiosities, and pictures, in a little 
 room over the entry into the hall, which continued there till 
 16S2, at which time they were removed to the north end of 
 the gallery. Mr. Sheldon died in 16S4, and having be- 
 queathed his closet of rarities to his uncle's daughter, 
 T. Sheldon, they were conveyed to London soon after his 
 death, and the books put in their place by his successor, 
 R. S. of Barton. Mr. Sheldon was a great friend to 
 A. Wood, and left him 1001. towards printing his Athena?, 
 and committed to him the charge of sorting his papers after 
 his decease, bequeathing him 401. for his trouble : the va- 
 luable MSS. of Augustus Vincent he left to the Herald's 
 College, and allowed the son of Vincent a yearly pension for 
 many years. He acquired the name of great from his great 
 integrity, charity, and hospitality, which gained him the 
 esteem of all the neighbouring gentry. The reader will find 
 :i long account of Sheldon in Anthony Wood's Life attached 
 to his Athenae ; also the following memorandum : " Received 
 from Mr. Ralph Sheldon a book entitled the Rule of Faith, 
 translated by his uncle, Mr. Edward Sheldon, with several 
 others, to put in the hands of the Oxford booksellers." 
 
 2 E
 
 210 
 
 Mr. Sheldon and his father suffered much from the civil 
 wars, and their estate being then valued as the largest but one 
 in the county, except that of the Middlemores, he was to 
 have received the honour from Charles II. of the order of the 
 Royal Oak. His epitaph is in Nash's Worcestershire. 
 
 Adam Littleton, 
 A Native of this county, was born at the vicarage-house 
 of Hales Owen, November 8, 1624 ; his father, Mr. 
 Thomas Littleton, being then Vicar. He was descended 
 from the Westcot family, of Mounslow, Worcestershire. He 
 was educated under Dr. Busby, at Westminster school, and 
 in 1644 was chosen student of Christ Church, Oxford, but 
 was ejected by the Parliament visitors in November, 1648. 
 This ejection, however, does not seem to have extended so 
 far as in other cases, for soon after he became an usher of 
 Westminster school ; and in 1658, was made second master, 
 having for some time in the interim taught school in other 
 places. In July, 1670, being then Chaplain in Ordinary to 
 the King, he took his degrees in divinity, which were con- 
 ferred upon him without taking any in arts, as a mark of 
 respect due to his extraordinary merit. This indeed had 
 been amply attested to the University, by letters from 
 Henchman, Bishop of London. In September, 1674, he 
 was made Prebendary and Sub-dean of Westminster, and 
 Rector of Chelsea, where he lies, with an epitaph. Among 
 his numerous publications is " A Sermon at a solemn Meet- 
 ing of the Natives of the City and County of Worcester, in 
 Bow Church, London, 24th June, 1680 ;" but it does not 
 appear that he ever resided or held any situation in this 
 county. Among the works presumed to be written by 
 Littleton, the Tragico Comsedia Oxoniensis was said by 
 Anthony Wood to be in reality written by Mr. John Carrick, 
 a student of Christ Church, whom the doctor noted as the 
 author in a copy of the poem in his own study. He died 
 June 30, 1694.
 
 211 
 
 Sir William Coventry, Knt. LL.D. 
 Was the younger son of the Lord Keeper Coventry. He 
 was born in 1626. In 1642 he became a Gentleman Com- 
 moner of Queen's College, Oxford, and afterwards travelled 
 on the Continent. On his return to this country, adhering 
 to King Charles II. he entered into his army, and had the 
 command of a company of foot. He shortly after travelled 
 into France, where he remained after the defeat of his master, 
 while there was any chance of getting another army to as- 
 sist him against his enemies, or of the other powers exert- 
 ing themselves in the cause of monarchy. But when all 
 hopes of this became desperate, he returned to England, 
 and became, according to Clarendon, with whom he appears 
 to have been no favourite, indifferent to the cause to which 
 he had been once so warmly devoted. The fact is, as I 
 learn from King James's Memoirs of his own Life, that Sir 
 William constantly opposed the opinions of the Chancellor 
 and his friend the Treasurer Nicholas : and his Lordship 
 does not scruple to affirm that he incensed the House of 
 Commons against him, and strove by every means to seek 
 his ruin. The Chancellor, however, highly praises his bro- 
 ther, Henry Coventry, for his able negociation with Sweden ; 
 and he declares him to be a man equal to any business. Sir 
 William became at length the chief actor in the affair of im- 
 peaching the Chancellor, and gave up his situation as Se- 
 cretary to the Duke, that he might be more at liberty to pro- 
 secute him : indeed, of all that Lord's enemies, he was the 
 most dangerous, as having the greatest abilities ; but no 
 sooner was Lord Clarendon removed, than Courtnev in turn 
 became subject to the persecution of Buckingham and Ar- 
 lington. It is said, in James's Memoirs, that the Chancellor, 
 finding Sir William to be a very industrious man in business, 
 grew jealous of him, and secretly endeavoured to keep him 
 back, which the other was clear-sighted enough to perceive ; 
 and therefore, when the opportunity offered, he failed not 
 to give his helping hand towards disgracing the Chancellor.
 
 On the King's restoration, Sir William was one of those who 
 waited on his Majesty to congratulate him on his arrival, and 
 Mas made Secretary to the Duke of "York, Secretary to the 
 Admiralty, and elected Burgess of the town of Great Yar- 
 mouth, in Norfolk, in the Parliament which met at West- 
 minster, May 8, l66l, (2 Charles II.) and also to that 
 which was summoned in 1678 : and in 1663 he was created 
 Doctor of the Civil Law, at Oxford. He was sworn of the 
 Privy Council, and received the honour of Knighthood, 
 June 26, I6G0, and was made one of the Commissioners of 
 the Treasury on May 24, 1667 ; being, according to Bi- 
 shop Burnet, " a man of great notions and eminent virtues, 
 the best speaker in the House of Commons, and capable of 
 bearing the chief Ministry, as it was once thought he was 
 very near it, and deserved it more than all the rest ;" yet, as 
 he was too honest to engage in the designs of that reign, and 
 quarrelled with the Duke of Buckingham, a challenge passed 
 between them, upon which he was forbid the Court, and re- 
 tired to Minster Lovel, near Whitney, Oxfordshire, where 
 he gave himself up to a religious and private course of life, 
 without accepting any employment, though he was after- 
 wards offered, more than once, the best posts in the Court. 
 He died June 23, ]6S6, unmarried, at Somerhill, near 
 Tollbridge, Kent, where he had retired for the benefit of 
 the waters, being afflicted with the gout in his stomach ; 
 and was buried at Penshurst, in the same county, under a 
 monument erected to his memory. 
 
 By his last will he gave £2000 for the relief of the French 
 Protestants, then lately arrived in England, and banished 
 for the sake of their religion ; and £3000 for the redemption 
 of captives from Algiers. Sir William Coventry wrote, 
 1. " England's Appeal from the Private Cabal at Whitehall 
 to the Great Council of the Nation, the Lords and Com- 
 mons in Parliament assembled," Lond. 1673, 4to. ; 2. " Let- 
 ter written to Dr. Gilbert Burnet, giving an account of Car- 
 dinal Pole's secret powers, &c. respecting the alienation of 
 the Abbey Lands," ibid. 1685, 4to.; 3. "The Character
 
 213 
 
 of a Trimmer," ibid. 1689, 2d ed. with his name, which did 
 not appear to the first : this work was not published until 
 1689, a year after the author's death. Mr. Bliss, the editor 
 of Bishop Earl's Microcosmography, says, that the book 
 was written long before it was published, as may be seen by 
 article xlix of Characters in this Bishop's work. — " Charac- 
 ter of a Tory in 1659," in answer to that of a Trimmer (ne- 
 ver published), both written in King Charles's reign, and 
 reprinted in the works of George Villiers, second Duke 
 of Buckingham, 4to. London, \~'2i, but not mentioned 
 by Mr. Parke, in his Noble and Royal Authors. I there- 
 fore presume that the " Character of a Tory" was not 
 the production of the Duke, or it would not have escaped 
 the indefatigable author of that interesting work. Mr. 
 Evelyn, in his Diary, thus speaks of the subject of this 
 article: — " 16.59, Mr. William Coventry visited me ; he is 
 son to the Lord Keeper ; a wise and witty gentleman." The 
 attachment of Sir William Coventry to James II. seems 
 constant and ardent, and to which that Monarch has borne 
 ample testimony in his Memoirs, written by himself, and 
 edited by the Rev. Mr. Clark. When the unpopularity of 
 the Duke of York had obliged Charles to banish his brother 
 from England, we find Sir William Coventry, his Secretary, 
 (although he had, with the Duke of Ormond, advised him 
 to leave this kingdom,) was the only person who dared to 
 oppose the vote, " that the Duke of York, being a Papist, 
 had given rise to the Popish Plot :" yet, when the bill to 
 exclude the Duke of York from the succession was agitated, 
 we find no mention made of the name of Sir William Co- 
 ventry ; and from this it may be imagined that, much as he 
 loved his master, he loved his country yet more. At the 
 time the Duke ventured to return from Brussels, on being 
 sent for by Charles II. who was taken ill, and on the re- 
 covery of Charles ordered back again, Mr. Secretary Co- 
 ventry thought proper to represent his reasons to the King 
 against this latter measure, but these not availing, he urged 
 the great impropriety of putting the heir of the Crown into
 
 214 
 
 the power of a foreign Prince, and that if his Majesty 
 would not suffer him to remain in England, it were more 
 prudent to send him to Scotland ; this was the first time 
 that design had been named or thought of, and it ap- 
 peared so reasonable, that Lord Sunderland, and the King 
 himself, soon entered into it; only they would have him first 
 go back to Brussells and fetch the Duchess, and from 
 thence go straight to Scotland. 
 
 Thomas Lamplugh, B.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1669, 
 Afterwards Archbishop of York, Mas a native of Thiving, 
 in the East Riding of Yorkshire ; he was some time a Ta- 
 berder of Queen's College, Oxford. In 1672 he was pre- 
 ferred to the Deanery of Rochester, and in 1676 to the 
 Bishopric of Exeter. Upon the landing of the Prince of 
 Orange in the west, he, in a public address, exhorted those 
 of his diocese to adhere to King James ; but, upon the ap- 
 proach of the Prince of Orange, he fled from Exeter to Lon- 
 don, and was presently after made Archbishop of York. 
 He set the Crown upon the Prince of Orange's head, and 
 died May 5, l6Ql. There is nothing extant of his writings 
 but a sermon on Luke 55, 5(), preached November 5, 1678. 
 See an anecdote of him in Baxter's Life, fol. edit. 
 
 John Flavel, 
 
 A Native of this county, was born about 1627, and 
 educated at University College, Oxford, where he took his 
 degree of B. A. In 1650 he settled as Assistant Minister 
 to Mr. Walplate, Rector of Deptford, in Devonshire, and 
 shortly after succeeded to the Rectory, which, however, in 
 1656, he resigned, to become Minister of a very populous 
 parish at Dartmouth, though the stipend at this situation 
 was much less. In 1662, when ejected, with other non- 
 conformists, he occasionally preached, and administered the 
 sacrament, privately, till the passing of the Oxford Act, in 
 1665, when he was obliged to retire to Slapton, a village 
 five miles from Dartmouth, where also he sometimes
 
 215 
 
 preached, when he could do it with safety ; and sometimes 
 when his safety was endangered. In 1680, a mob was ex- 
 cited against him, and would probably have destroyed him, 
 had he fallen into their hands : he then came to London, 
 where he narrowly escaped being apprehended, but return- 
 ing to Dartmouth, when in 1 687 King James granted more 
 liberty to nonconformists, Mr. Flavel's congregation im- 
 mediately obtained for him a large place, in which he was 
 enabled to exercise his ministerial functions ; and by the 
 Revolution in 1688, he enjoyed complete liberty. He died 
 at Exeter in l69l> in his 64th year, having long possessed, 
 in an eminent degree, the respect and esteem of all good 
 men. He was a man of exemplary piety, and his various 
 works are still in considerable popularity, and are regarded 
 by those who hold Calvinistic sentiments. They were col- 
 lected, after his death, in 2 vols, folio, and have been since 
 often printed in 6 vols. Svo. 
 
 Joseph Cooper, 
 
 Chaplain of Kingsnorton, Worcestershire, was the son 
 of Mr. Hugh Cooper, Minister of Preston, in the county of 
 Salop. He took great pains to compare oriental versions, 
 and the Septuagint with the Hebrew text. He read the 
 Massoreh, and other Jewish and Rabbinical Commentaries, 
 as if they had been in Latin. Mosely was a poor place : 
 the inhabitants made up the salary to him £50 a year, but 
 the legal income was but 20 nobles : on this account there 
 was no one to supply his place after St. Bartholomew's day, 
 1662, so that he continued till December, when a troop of 
 horse came to apprehend him ; he was taken out of the pul- 
 pit, and confined in Worcester gaol six months, but preach- 
 ed again the very day on which he was released. He was 
 the author of Domus Mosaics Clavis, sive legis Sepimen- 
 tum, a book that gained the author reputation among 
 linguists ; the Dead Witness still speaking to his Living 
 Friends; the Substance of eight Sermons, by way of Fare-
 
 216 
 
 well ; MtsQoffxowtx, or a Prospect of Heavenly Glory, for the 
 comfort of Sion's Mourners. 
 
 Sir Thomas Street, Lord Chief Justice 
 Of the King's Bench: he was for many years Town Clerk 
 of the city of W orcester, and also represented the city in 
 Parliament : he was advanced to the degree of Serjeant at 
 Law by Charles II. appointed a Judge on the Welch Cir- 
 cuit, and a Baron of the Exchequer ; from thence he was re- 
 moved to the King's Bench, and made Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas Oct. 29, 1684. Sir Thomas Street was the on- 
 ly one of the twelve Judges who gave his opinion against the 
 King's dispensing power.* The singularity of his being 
 
 " faithful found 
 
 among the faithless," 
 
 is recorded on his tomb, which has many pretensions to 
 taste in its sculpture. — See Chambers's Worcester, p, 186. 
 He died March 8, 1696, in the 70th year of his age. There 
 is a portrait of him engraved by R. White, 1686. 
 
 About seventy years ago, says Dr. Nash, Judge Street's 
 grand-daughter renewed the inscription ; and at her death 
 left money to erect his monument in the Cathedral. 
 
 William Lloyd, Bishop of Worcester, 1699, 
 Was born at Tilchurch, Berks, 1627 : having been in- 
 structed by his father in classical learning and Hebrew, at 
 eleven years of age he was entered, in 1638, a student of 
 Oriel College, Oxford ; the following year he was elected 
 to a scholarship of Jesus College. Dr. Nash, who intro- 
 duces a note on this life to correct the date of other biogra- 
 phers, says, that he was ordained Deacon in 1649, and 
 
 * 1687. — This year King James II. resolved to grant, by proclamation, 
 without consulting the Parliament, an indulgence or liberty of conscience, 
 Deing fully convinced, by the opinions of all the Judges, except Mr. Baron 
 Street, that he might do it by virtue of his prerogative. Life of James 11. 
 frain Memoirs written by his own hand.
 
 217 
 
 Priest in 1635. In 1654, upon the ejection of Dr. Pordage 
 by the Presbyterian committee, he was presented to the 
 Rectory of Bradneld, Essex, which he soon after resigned, 
 being threatened with a contest. In 1668, after various 
 small preferments, he was installed Archdeacon of Me- 
 rioneth, and then promoted to the See of St. Asaph. He 
 had shewn his zeal against Popery, and in the same spirit 
 published, in 1677, " Considerations teaching the true way 
 to suppress Popery," a work which, it is rather singular, 
 subjected him to a suspicion of his being favourable to the 
 Catholics, and which brought him under the satirical lash of 
 Shippen. All suspicion, however, vanished when he was 
 committed to the Tower, with six other Prelates, for not 
 complying with the order of publishing the Royal Decla- 
 ration of liberty of conscience. Having concurred heartily 
 in the Revolution, he was made Lord Almoner to William 
 III. On this occasion, Lord Clarendon says, "the Bishop 
 of St. Asaph was with me ; and, in discourse, we quickly 
 fell upon the new oaths : I told him I could not take them, 
 thinking myself bound by the oath of Allegiance and Su- 
 premacy which I had already taken. He told me those oaths 
 did no longer oblige me than the King to whom I took them 
 could protect me, and that I was free from my allegiance to 
 King James, and that these new oaths were no more than to 
 live quietly under King William ; and he would fain have 
 persuaded me to take them, but I answered, that I was 
 fully satisfied that I could not be absolved from the oaths I 
 had taken, to which these new ones were contradictory ; 
 that having already taken the former oaths, my allegiance 
 was due to King James, and not in my power to dispose 
 of." According to Sir John Dalrymple, of the seven Bi- 
 shops persecuted by James, only one, Lloyd, Bishop of 
 Asaph, waited on the new King, William, and took the 
 oaths to his government. In 1692 he was translated to the 
 See of Lichfield and Coventry, and afterwards to Worcester. 
 He lost the situation of Almoner to Queen Anne, in con- 
 sequence of a petition to her Majesty, praying that the Bi- 
 
 2 r
 
 218 
 
 shop might be prosecuted for interfering in an improper man- 
 ner in an election to return his son for this county. He died 
 at Hartlebury Castle, August 30, 1717, and was buried in 
 the church of Fladbury. Bishop Lloyd furnished a large 
 share of the materials to Burnet's History of the Reform- 
 ation, and to him the learned are obliged for that stu- 
 pendous work, Pool's Synopsis, which was undertaken by 
 his advice. Bishop Wilkins also acknowledges himself 
 obliged to his continual assistance, panegyrising him for 
 great industry and accurate judgment. 
 
 He is also supposed to have had a hand in a book published 
 by his son at Oxford, in 1700, entitled, Series Chronolo- 
 gica Olympiadum, &c. He collected, in the course of 
 many years, an immense treasure of remarks upon the Bible, 
 filling up, from time to time, a large folio edition of it, in- 
 terleaved and interlaced even to the margin, but all in short 
 hand, known only to himself and his Chaplain : this book 
 was extant in 1764. There was a letter from Queen Mary, 
 in the possession of Dr. Tottie (see his article) written with 
 her own hand, desiring Bishop Lloyd to publish his Col- 
 lections upon the Bible ; this was never done : his Lordship 
 corresponded upon particular texts with many learned 
 abroad, who made it their study to discuss the matter, and 
 send him their answers. There is a letter of abjuration, by 
 Bishop Lloyd to Humphrey Wanley, in page 100, vol. 1, 
 Letters from the Bodleian Library. 
 
 In Swift's Letters, we read : — " Yesterday the old Bi- 
 shop of Worcester, who pretends to be a prophet, went 
 to the Queen, by appointment, to prove to her Majesty, 
 out of Daniel and the Revelation, that four years hence 
 there would be a war of religion ; that the King of France 
 would be a Protestant, and light on their side ; that the 
 Popedom would be destroyed, &c. ; and declared, that he 
 would be content to give up his Bishopric if it were not 
 true.* Lord Treasurer, who told it me, was by, and some 
 
 * Dr. William Lloyd, Bishop of Worcester, was a man of great learning, 
 and author of a " History of the Government of the Church ;" a " Chro-
 
 219 
 
 others ; and I am told, Lord Treasurer confounded lam 
 sadly in his own learning, which made the old fool very quar- 
 relsome. He is near ninety years old." 
 
 Baxter, in his Life, says, that Bishop Lloyd set himself 
 with vigour to reduce Dissenters, and affected to do it in a 
 reasoning May; he publicly discoursed with the Quakers, 
 &c. 
 
 When Dr. Sacheverell passed through Worcester, Bishop 
 Lloyd ordered the churchwardens to take care that there 
 should be no bells rung ; but some of the mob broke into 
 the churches, and finding the ropes taken away, began to 
 knock with hammers on the bells ; several pamphlets were 
 also published on this affair. 
 
 Mr. Evelyn has the following notice in his work : — " Nov. 
 23, 1679, -Dr. Lloyd preached before the King. I never 
 heard a more christian and excellent discourse ; yet w ere 
 some offended that he seemed to say the Church of Rome 
 was a true church ; but 'twas a captious mistake, for he 
 never affirmed any thing that could be more to their reproach, 
 and that such was the present Church of Rome, shewing 
 how much it had erred : there was not in this sermon so 
 much as a shadow for censure ; no person of all the clergy 
 having testified greater zeal against the errors of the Papists 
 than this pious and learned person." — See Diary. 
 
 Anthony Wood relates the following anecdote of Bishop 
 
 Lloyd : — """Sept. 16j9, one Kinaston, a merchant, of 
 
 London, with a long beard, and hair overgrown, was at the 
 Miter Inn, and faigning himself a patriarch, and that he 
 
 nological Account of the Life of Pythagoras ;" and many tracts against 
 Popery. For Popery, indeed, he had an ancient and irreconcileable hatred 
 and terror ; having preached that funeral sermon upon the death of Sir Ed- 
 mondbury Godfrey, two able-bodied divines attending as a guard to his per- 
 son in the pulpit, lest, before all the congregation, he should be murdered 
 by the Papists. His chronological studies led him to write a Commentary on the 
 Revelation, the result of which, and perhaps some confidence in the force of his 
 own controversial tracts, led him, it seems, to hope for the conversion of the 
 King of France from the errors of Rome. The Bishop is described, in a Poem 
 called " Faction Displayed," under the title of Old Mysterio.— Note by Scott.
 
 220 
 
 came to Oxford for a model of the last reformation, divers 
 royalists repaired to him, and were blest by him, viz. Joh. 
 Ball, Gilb. Ironside, and Henry Langley, of Wadham Col- 
 lege ; Bernard Rawlins, a glazier, was there, and also craved 
 his blessing on his knees, which he obtained. Joh. H ai- 
 mer, the Greek professor of the University, appeared very 
 formally, and made a Greek harangue before him ; where- 
 upon some of the company, who knew the design to be 
 waggish, fell a laughing, and betrayed the matter. It was 
 a piece of waggery to impose upon the royalists, and such 
 that had a mind to be blest by a patriarch instead of an 
 archbishop or bishop, and it made a great sport for a 
 time ; and those that were blest were ashamed of it, they 
 being more than I have set down. Mr. William Lloyd 
 then living in Wadham College, in the quality of tutor to 
 William Buckhouse, of Swallowfields, in Berks, was the 
 author of this piece of waggery, as he himself used to make 
 his braggs : and because the Dean of Christ Church, Dr. 
 Owen, and some of the Canons of that house, and other 
 Presbyterian Doctors, resorted to him, or he to them, for 
 to draw up and give him a model ; they were so incensed 
 when they found the matter a cheat, that Lloyd was forced 
 to abscond for the present; or, as he used to say, run away. 
 This Mr. Lloyd was afterwards successively Bishop of St. 
 Asaph, Lichfield and Coventry." Wood also records, " that 
 in January, 1693, it was proposed, that Dr. Lloyd's book, 
 entitled God's Way of Disposing Kingdoms, &c. should be 
 burnt, but it was carried against it in the House of Peers, 
 by eleven votes." 
 
 The following circumstance bears ample testimony that, 
 though Bishop Lloyd, in common with all mankind, had his 
 weak side, avarice at least was not one of his vices : — *' In 
 the night of November, 1707, Mrs. Palmer, of Upper 
 Snodsbury, and her maid servant, were murdered, and her 
 house burnt, by part of a gang of desperate villains, at the 
 head of whom were Palmer, her only son, and one Symonds, 
 whose sister Palmer had married. They were both persons
 
 221 
 
 uf some property. Palmer was possessed of an estate of 
 near £'200 per annum, and £740 in bonds, &c. and Sy- 
 monds was descended from Justice Symonds, ■who was a 
 Healous friend of Cromwell, and entertained him at his own 
 house the night before the battle of Worcester. They 
 were executed for this murder, and hung in chains, May 8, 
 1708. There were inferior criminals associated with them, 
 who also suffered. While they lay under condemnation, 
 Talbot, Dean of Worcester, (see his article) interested 
 himself in their conduct. By the death of Palmer, a lease 
 of a portion of the tythes of Sheriff's Lench and an estate 
 at White Lady Aston were forfeited to Lloyd, the for- 
 mer valued at about £35 a year, the latter at about £30. 
 His Lordship, unwilling to receive the price of blood, as he 
 himself called it, gave both estates to charitable uses ; the 
 latter to found a school, the former to pay £5 a year each to 
 three curates, namely, those of Bengeworth, Church Lench, 
 and All Saints, in Evesham ; the remainder to clothe poor 
 boys in the school before mentioned." (See Chambers's 
 Worcester, p. 293.) This act of Bishop Lloyd, who was 
 by no means a rich man, and who had a family, ought not 
 to be forgotten. See Bishop Madox. But no written au- 
 thority seems to represent Bishop Lloyd's temper and cha- 
 racter in a more amiable light, than the interesting account 
 of his conduct towards the dissenters of his diocese, as given 
 in the Life of the Rev. Philip Henry, see p. 118, ed. 1712. 
 The reader will find an account of the minor circum- 
 stances of Bishop Lloyd's life in the several Biographical 
 Dictionaries ; and in Dr. Nash's History of Worcestershire 
 is to be seen an account, by the Bishop, of the murder of 
 Sir Edmund bury Godfrey, on whose death he preached a 
 sermon, when Dean of Bangor ; and also some further par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 W'illiam Lloyd, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1714, 
 Was also Chancellor of this Diocese. His library was 
 sold in 1775.
 
 ±1-1 
 
 Rev. Thomas Doolittle, or Doolitell, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Kidderminster in 
 1630. Having discovered an early inclination to learning, 
 he was sent to Cambridge, and admitted of Pembroke Hall, 
 where he studied with a view to the church, or rather to the 
 meetino-, as the church was then under the controul of the 
 Republican party. His first destination, however, was to 
 the law ; and he went for some time to receive instructions 
 in an attorney's office ; but his master having employed him 
 to copy some writings on a Sunday, he relinquished the bu- 
 siness. It appears to be after this that he went to the Uni- 
 versity, and having taken his degree in Arts, became a 
 preacher. His first settlement was at St. Alphage, London 
 Wall. This living being then vacant, Mr. Doolittle ap- 
 peared as a candidate, with several others, and the pa- 
 rishioners preferred him to become their pastor, in 1(5.54, and 
 remained a very popular preacher until 1662, when he was 
 ejected for nonconformity. From this he removed to Moor- 
 fields, and opened a kind of boarding school, in which he 
 was so successful as to be obliged to hire a larger house in 
 Bunhill Fields, where he continued until the great plague, 
 and then he removed to Woodforde. After the plague 
 abated he returned to London, and saw it laid in ashes by 
 the oreat fire ; on this occasion he and some other noncon- 
 formists resumed their preaching, and were for some time 
 unmolested. Mr. Doolittle has the credit of projecting the 
 first meeting-house, which was a hired place in Bunhill 
 Fields ; but that proving too small, when the city began to 
 be rebuilt, he erected a more commodious place of worship 
 in Mugwell, or Monkwell-street, Cripplegate, which re- 
 mains until this day : here, however, he was occasionally 
 interrupted by the magistrates, who put the laws in execu- 
 tion ; but in 1672 he obtained a license from Charles II. 
 which is still suspended in the vestry room of the meeting, 
 and for some time continued to preach, and likewise kept an
 
 223 
 
 academy at Islington for the education of young men in- 
 tended for the ministry among the nonconformists. On the 
 Corporation Act being passed, when his license became use- 
 less, he was again obliged to leave London, and resided 
 partly at Wimbleton and partly at Battersea, where, al- 
 though his house was rifled, he escaped imprisonment. 
 At the Revolution he was enabled to resume his ministry 
 in Monkwell-street, and here he closed the public labours 
 of fifty-three years on May 24, 1707, the 77th year of 
 his age. Much of his time was spent in writing his various 
 works, many of which attained a high degree of popularity : 
 as, l."A Treatise concerning the Lord's Supper," 1665, 
 12mo. which has, perhaps, been oftener printed than al- 
 most any book on that subject ; 2. " Directions how to live 
 after a wasting Plague," (that of London) 1666, 8vo. 3. " A 
 Rebuke for Sin by God's Burning Anger," (alluding to the 
 great fire) ; 4. " The Young Man's Instructor and the Old 
 Man's Remembrancer," 1673, Svo.; 5."A Call to De- 
 laying Sinners," 1683, 12mo. of which there have been 
 many editions ; 6. " A Complete Body of Practical Divi- 
 nity," fol. 1723, 8cc. Sec. Among the books written by 
 Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Chalmers has not mentioned his " Suf- 
 ferings of Christ." " The first copy," says Dunton, " I 
 would venture to print, was written by the Rev. Mr. Doo- 
 little, and intituled ' The Sufferings of Christ ;' this book 
 fully answered my end, for, exchanging it through the whole 
 trade, it furnished my shop with all sorts of books saleable 
 at that time ; and it also brought me acquainted with Messrs. 
 Shewel, Clark, Benson, Wells, and Sunders, who were 
 then students of Mr. Doolittle." — Nichols. His son, Sa- 
 muel, was settled as a dissenting minister at Reading, v\here 
 he died in 1717. 
 
 Richard Morton, M. D. 
 Was born in the county of Suffolk : on leaving the Uni- 
 versity, where he took orders, he was for some time Chap- 
 lain i:i the family of Foley, in Worcestershire. Having
 
 224 
 
 adopted the opinions of the nonconformists, he left the pro-' 
 fession of theology and adopted that of medicine, and died 
 at his house in Surrey, 1698. 
 
 Sir Francis Winnington, 
 A Native of this city, was born November 7, 1634 : 
 this family is of great antiquity in Cheshire, it appearing, by 
 their pedigree in the Herald's Office, that they were lords of 
 the manor of Winnington, near Nantwich, in Cheshire, 3d 
 Edward I. 1275, and intermarried with the Grosvenors, 
 Manwarings, Warburtons, and other principal families of 
 that county : they continued to reside at Winnington till 35 
 Elizabeth, when Sir Richard Winnington, Knt. dying with- 
 out issue male, his only daughter became his heir, and mar- 
 ried Sir Peter Warburton, who thus became possessed of 
 the manors of Winnington, Pulford, &c. and his male issue 
 enjoyed them till the only daughter of General Warburton 
 married Samuel Pennant, Esq. The only brother of Sir 
 Richard Winnington was made a Colonel, resigned his post 
 in the army, and settled at Powick, where he married, and 
 had one son, Francis, the subject of this memoir, who was 
 a servitor in Trinity College, and bred to the law. He be- 
 came eminent in his profession, and was made Solicitor Ge- 
 neral to Charles II. in 1674, and opposed the exclusion bill, 
 for I find him telling the Commons, " That those arguments 
 which had just been used for temporizing, were only proper 
 to lull themselves into a fatal negligence and security, as if 
 it were needless, or to no purpose to oppose Popery." Life 
 of James II. from his own Papers, vol. 1, p. 610: and 
 again, " that it was the prospect of a Popish succession that 
 gave life and encouragement to the designs of destroying the 
 government and introducing Popery ;" p. 637. — Vide the 
 opening of the trial of Stafford : in the same work, it is said 
 that he raised a great estate by the law, though his talents 
 consisted rather in speaking fluently than elegantly, knowing 
 how to wrangle better than»to argue. But Mr. Evelyn calls 
 him a famous pleader; and says, that in November, 1680.
 
 225 
 
 he was on the trial of the Earl of Stafford, afterwards behead- 
 ed, for conspiring the death of the King. He died May 1, 
 1700, and was buried in Stanford church, in this county. 
 
 The body of Sir Francis Wilmington was as active as his 
 mind ; he was a great sportsman, and would frequently ride, 
 in the months of November and December, from London 
 to Stanford in a day, about 125 miles, and this when he 
 was upwards of 60 years of age ; December 13, 1698. The 
 expence of post horses being £3. 2s. 6d. and the expences 
 on the road, for himself and servant, 7s. 6d. It was much 
 easier done in those days than now, before the country was 
 enclosed, and before turnpike-roads and post-chaises had 
 rendered long journies on horseback so unfrequent and dis- 
 agreeable as at present. See the MS. Diary of Sir Francis 
 Wilmington. He was eminent for his knowledge in the 
 laws of England, a great master of eloquence, and a most 
 zealous defender of the liberties of his country in Parliament, 
 where he for some time represented the city of W 01 cester, 
 and afterwards the boroughs of Windsor and Tewkesbury ; 
 and was the first patron of Lord Somers, who is said to 
 have lived with him two or three years as his cierk in cham- 
 bers. 
 
 The will of Sir Francis Wilmington, says Dr. Nash, is 
 now before me, dated 1697; it is very short; and, though 
 a great lawyer, he avoids all law terms and phrases, gives an 
 account of his children and wife, and exhorts them to prac- 
 tise an holy and virtuous life, which, sailh he, will bring 
 them more content than any thing this world can afford. 
 There is a letter of Sir Francis Wilmington's in Series 1 of 
 Epistolary Curiosities, p. 163, respecting the affair of 
 Boraston : see his article ; but the matter is of little or no 
 importance. 
 
 Thomas Badland, 
 A Nonconformist Minister, ejected from Willenhall, Staf- 
 fordshire, was afterwards Pastor of the Presbyterian con- 
 gregation at Worcester, for whom he drew up the declare- 
 
 2 a
 
 220 
 
 tion of its religious sentiments, dated 1687- — See Calamy's 
 Abridgment of Baxter, p. 358. Mr. Palmer is therefore 
 wrong when he says, in his continuation of Calamy's Non- 
 conformist's Memorial, p. 245, note, that there was not 
 any ejected minister of that name. For the dispute, whe- 
 ther Badland and Baldwin were the same persons, see Me- 
 morial, vol. 3, p. 245, 389. — See also article White, in 
 this book. 
 
 In the Appendix to Dr. Nash's History of Worcestershire, 
 is the following entry : — " On a monument fixed to the 
 south wall of the south aisle of St. Martin's church — Under 
 these seats lies interred the body of the Rev. Mr. Thomas 
 Badland, a faithful and profitable preacher of the gospel in 
 this city for the space of 35 years. He rested from his la- 
 bours May 5, A.D. 1698, aetat. 64. 
 
 " Mors mihi vita nova." 
 
 Sir Thomas Cookes, Bart. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Bentley Paunce- 
 fort, in the parish of Tardebig, where he had a good house. 
 He was founder of Worcester College, in 1714, some years 
 after his death. — (See Sir Thos. White.) By his will, dated 
 June 8, 1701, he left the sum of £10,000 at the disposal 
 and management of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bi- 
 shops of Worcester, Oxford, Lichfield, and Gloucester, 
 and ail the heads of the colleges and halls of the University 
 of Oxford, for the time being, for the erecting of an orna- 
 mental pile of building in Oxford, and thereto adding, rais- 
 ing, creating, or endowing, such and so many scholars' 
 places and fellowships as they should think the product or 
 yearly revenue of the sum of £ 10,000, and the lands there- 
 with purchased, would support and maintain; or otherwise, 
 for the adding to, creating, raising, or endowing such other 
 college or hall in Oxford, with such and so many fellowships 
 and scholars' places as they should think most fit and con- 
 venient, with preference to such as are bred in and educated 
 at Ins schools ofBromsgrove and Feckingham, in the coun-
 
 227 
 
 ty of Worcester, as for their learning should be thought fit 
 for the University ; and such of them principally as should 
 be of his relations ; and from a default of such boys in those 
 schools, then such as are bred and educated at the lice 
 schools in Worcester, Hartlebury, and Kidderminster, and 
 other free schools in the county of Worcester. He also ap- 
 pointed the Bishops of Worcester and Oxford, and the Vice 
 Chancellor of the University for the time being, and their 
 successors for ever, to be especial visitors. The sum al- 
 ready mentioned remained so long unapplied, according to 
 the direction of his will, that it accumulated to £15,000. 
 At length, Gloucester Hall being thought a proper place to 
 receive the benefaction, and the trustees having made a pur- 
 chase of the said hall of St. John's College, and also of 
 other lands, and framed a body of statutes, her Majesty 
 Queen Ann granted her royal letters patent, dated July 14, 
 1714, for erecting this hall into a college, by the name of 
 Worcester College. — See a further account of this bequest 
 in Chambers's Worcester, p. 290. Sir Thomas Cookes 
 Mas Lord of tire Manor of Norgrave, in the parish of Feck- 
 ingham. He endowed the school of Feckingham with £50 
 a year for ever, issuing out of the lands near the town, called 
 Feckingham Pools, and ordered it to be the second school 
 from whence the scholars of Worcester College should be 
 chosen. Bromsgrove, the first, was augmented with £50 a 
 year by Sir Thomas Cookes ; and here twelve boys are 
 taught and clothed, and afterwards apprenticed, or they are 
 eligible to scholarship on his foundation in Worcester Col- 
 lege, Oxford. He died in 1701, and was buried in a chan- 
 cel built on purpose, adjoining the old parish church of Tar- 
 debigg, which did not join the chancel built by Lord Wind- 
 sor. Over his grave was a marble monument, which " I 
 suppose," says Dr. Nash, " will be put up in the new chan- 
 cel, though he erected a much more lasting monument for 
 himself in the foundation of Worcester College, Oxford ; 
 for which purpose, at the persuasion of Bishop Lloyd, he 
 left £10,000; but various disputes arising about the place
 
 228 
 
 where the said college should be placed, before it was paid 
 in for this charitable purpose, the interest and principal 
 amounted to about 15,0001. He married Mary, eldest 
 daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Plymouth, and dying, 
 1702, by his own directions was buried with a gold chain 
 and locket round his neck, and two diamond rings, of no 
 great value, on his fingers: about 1750, David Cookes, 
 Esq. heir of the family, came with a hook and a pair of 
 tongs, and searching round, found the things above men- 
 tioned." — See vol 2, p. 40<). The epitaph on his wife's 
 monument is printed in Dugdale. The portraits of Sir T. 
 Cookes were presented to Worcester College, Oxford, by 
 Dr. Samuel Wauley and Dr. Clarke. 
 
 William Wyatt, 
 Was of St. John's College, and created B. D. at Oxford, 
 September 12, l66l. He was born at Todenham, in 
 Gloucestershire, and was prevented taking his degree in 
 Arts by the breaking out of the civil war : afterwards 
 he was assistant to Dr. Jer. Taylor, when he taught school 
 in Carmarthenshire, and wrote, as was usually said, which 
 he himself also acknowledged, " A new and easie Institution 
 of Grammar, &c." which was published under Dr. Taylor's 
 name. Afterwards Wyatt taught at Evesham, in Worces- 
 tershire ; and at length assisted Mr. William Fuller, while 
 he taught a private school at Twickenham, in Middlesex ; 
 and when Fuller became Bishop of Lincoln, he made him, 
 not only his Chaplain, but also Prebendary, and afterwards 
 Chanter of his cathedral, which dignities he resigned in 
 1681. He retired to Nuneaton, in Warwickshire, where 
 he died, in the house of Sir Richard Newdigate, about 
 ]6S(3. — See a further account of this book in Bonney's Life 
 of Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 John Hall, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1G76, 
 Afterwards Bishop of Bristol, 1691, was a scholar of 
 Pembroke Hall, Oxford; he was afterwards Master of
 
 229 
 
 Pembroke College ; and he bequeathed his collection of 
 books to this Society. He died in 17C9, aged 77. 
 
 Edward Stillingfleet, Bishop of W orcester, 1GS9, 
 Was the seventh son of Samuel Stillingfleet, Gent, de- 
 scendant from the ancient family of the Stillingfleets, of Stil- 
 lingfleet, about four miles from York. His mother was Su- 
 sannah, the daughter of Edward Norris, of Petworth, in 
 Sussex, Gent. He was born at Cranbourne, in Dorset- 
 shire, April 17, 1635, and educated at the grammar school 
 of that place, by Mr. Thomas Garden, for the University, 
 and from thence he was removed to Ringwood, in Hamp- 
 shire, that he might have a chance for one of Lynne's ex 
 hibitions, who was the founder of that school. Having suc- 
 ceeded in this, he was entered, in Michaelmas, 1648, of 
 St. John's College, Cambridge ; and in the beginning of 
 November was admitted a scholar of the house, on the no- 
 mination of the Earl of Salisbury. He took his Bachelor's 
 degree in lf>52, and was now so much esteemed by his so- 
 ciety, that at the very next election he was chosen ii.to 
 a fellowship, and admitted March 31, 1653. While ba- 
 chelor he was appointed tripos, and was much applauded 
 for his speech on that occasion, which was " witty and in- 
 offensive," a character not often given to those compositions. 
 About 1654, he left the University to accept the invitation 
 of Sir Robert Burgoyne, who wished him to reside with 
 him at his seat at Wroxhall, in Warwickshire. He had 
 been recommended by Dr. Pamau, one of the fellows of his 
 college, but in what capacity, whether as chaplain, or com- 
 panion, does not appear. His patron, Sir Roger Bur- 
 goyne, presented him to the living of Sutton, in Bedford- 
 shire. Before institution, he received orders at the hands 
 of Dr. Brownrig, the ejected Bishop of Exeter. V\ hile at 
 Nottingham, as tutor to Mr. Pierrepoint, he composed his 
 first publication, and printed it in lG3<J, under the title of 
 Irenicum, a Weapon Salve for the Church's \\ ounds, or 
 the Divine Right of particular Forms of Church G overa- 
 
 ct
 
 230 
 
 ment discussed and examined, &c." As this was an attempt 
 to promote the return of the nonconformists to the church, 
 and consequently implied some concessions which were ir- 
 reconcilable with the divine right of episcopacy, for which 
 the adherents of the church contended, and yet not enough 
 to please either presbyterians or independents, the author 
 bad not the satisfaction of meeting with full credit even for 
 his intentions ; and, upon more mature consideration, he 
 himself thought his labour in vain, and did not scruple af- 
 terwards to say of his work, that " there are many things in 
 it which, if he were to write again, I would not say." # It 
 was this work which probably gave such offence to James II. 
 — See his Life. In 1662 he reprinted this work, with the 
 addition of " A Discourse concerning the Power of Ex- 
 communication in a Christian Church," in which he at- 
 tempts to prove, that " the church is a distinct society from 
 the state, and has divers rights and privileges of its own, 
 particularly that it has a power of censuring offenders, re- 
 sulting from its constitution as a christian society ; and that 
 these rights of the church cannot be alienated to the state, af- 
 ter their being united, in a christian country." Whatever 
 difference of opinion there was respecting some of the posi- 
 tions laid clown in this work, there was one point in which 
 all agreed, that it exhibited a fund of learning, and an ex- 
 tent of reading and research, far bevond what could have 
 been expected in a young man of twenty-four years of age, 
 and was, as it will afterwards appear, mistaken for the pro- 
 duction of a man of full years and established fame. At Sut- 
 ton, while he performed all the duties of a diligent and 
 faithful pastor, he adhered closely to his studies, and in 
 16G2, produced his " Origines Sacra? ; or a rational Ac- 
 
 * A. Wood relates, that "July 10, 1681, Mr. John Fairclough, or 
 (Richard) vulgo Featley, a .nonconformist minister, was buried in the fana- 
 tical burial place near the Artillery-yard, London ; 500 persons accompa. 
 nied him to the grave, amongst whom Drs. Tillotson and Stillingfleet, and 
 other conformable ministers, were present." Might not this add to the strength 
 of the report of Stillingfleet being favourable to the nonconformists ?
 
 •231 
 
 count of the Christian Faith as to the Truth and Divine 
 Authority of the Scriptures, and the matters therein con- 
 tained," 4to. The highest compliment paid him in conse- 
 quence of this very learned work, was at a visitation, when 
 Bishop Sanderson, his diocesan, hearing his name called 
 over, asked him if he was any relation to the great Stillino-- 
 fleet, author of the Origines Sacrae ? When modestly in- 
 formed that he was the very man, the Bishop welcomed him 
 with great cordiality, and said, that " he expected rather to 
 have seen one as considerable for his years, as he had already 
 shewn himself for his learning." This work has, indeed, 
 been always justly esteemed one of the ablest defences of 
 revealed religion that had then appeared in any language. 
 It was republished by Dr. Bentley (see his article) in 1709, 
 with " Part of another book upon the same subject, writ- 
 ten in I6y7, from the author's own ISIS." folio. Bishop 
 Sanderson, as a special mark of his respect, granted the 
 author a licence to preach throughout his diocese ; and 
 Henchman, Bishop of London, conceived so high an opi- 
 nion of his talents, that he employed him to write a vindi- 
 cation of Archbishop Laud's conference with Fisher, the 
 Jesuit. Laud's conference had been attacked in a publi- 
 cation entitled " Labyrinthus Cantuariensis, or Dr. Laud's 
 Labyrinth, by T. C." said to have been printed at Paris in 
 1658, but which did not appear till ]66"3. Stillingfleet's 
 answer was entitled "A rational Account of the ground of the 
 Protestant Religion, being a Vindication of the Ld. Abp. of 
 Canterbury's Relation of a Conference, &c." Lond. l6§4, 
 fol. Such was his readiness in composition, that he is re- 
 ported to have sent to the press six or seven sheets a week of 
 this volume, which Dr. Tillotson said, " he found in every 
 part answerable to its title, a rational account." The coun- 
 try was now no longer thought a proper field for the exertions 
 of one who had already shewn himself so able a champion 
 tor his church and nation. His first advance to London was 
 inconsequence of his being appointed preacher to die Rolls 
 Chapel, by Sir Harbottle Grimston ; and, in January,
 
 232 
 
 1 565, he was presented by Thomas, Earl of Southampton, 
 to the living of St. Andrew's, Ho! born : with this he kept 
 his pr,eachership at the Rolls, and was, at the same time, 
 Afternoon Lecturer at the Temple Church, which pro- 
 cured him the esteem and friendship of many eminent men 
 in the law, particularly Sir Matthew Hale and Lord Chief 
 Justice Vaughau : nor were his discourses less adapted to 
 the common understanding. The eminent nonconformist, 
 Matthew Henry, was often his auditor and admirer. In 
 February, 1607, he was collated, by Bishop Henchman, 
 to the Prebend of Islington, in the church of St. Paul. 
 Having, in 1663, taken his degree of B. D. he commenced 
 D. D. in 1668, at which time he kept the public Act with 
 great applause. He was also King's Chaplain ; and, in 
 1670, his Majesty bestowed on him the place of Canon 
 Residentiary of St. Paul's. In October, 1672, he ex- 
 changed his Prebend of Islington for that of Newington, in 
 the same church. These preferments were succeeded, in 
 
 1677, by the Archdeaconry of London, and, in January, 
 
 1678, by the Deanery of St. Paul's. To all these he had 
 recommended himself, by the abilities with which he carried 
 on controversies with various enemies to the established re- 
 ligion. In 1669 he had published some sermons, one of 
 which, " On the reason of Christ's suffering for us," in- 
 volved him in a controversy with the Socinians ; and he was 
 engaged soon after in other controversies with the Popish 
 writers, with the deists, and with the separatists. It would 
 be unnecessary to give the titles of the pamphlets he wrote 
 against all these parties, as they are now to be found in the 
 edition of his collected'works. Successful as he was against 
 these opponents, and few writers in his time were more so, 
 he was not a lover of controversy, and seldom could be pre- 
 vailed upon to encage in it, but in consequence of such pro- 
 vocation as he thought it would have been a desertion of his 
 post if he had neglected to notice. About 1679, Dr. Stil- 
 lingfteet turned his thoughts to a subject apparently foreign 
 to his usual pursmls y but in which he displayed equal abi-
 
 233 
 
 lity ; this was the question as to the right of Bishops to vote 
 in capital cases, and was occasioned by the prosecution of 
 Thomas Osborne, Earl of Dauby. Among othors who 
 contested that right was Denzil Lord Holies, who pub- 
 lished " A Letter, shewing that Bishops are not to be 
 Judges in Parliament in cases capital," 1679, 4to. In 
 answer to this, Dr. Stillingfleet published " The grand 
 question concerning the Bishops' right to vote in Parlia- 
 ment in cases capital, stated and argued from the Parlia- 
 ment rolls, and the history of former times, with an inquiry 
 into their Peerage, and the three estates in Parliament." In 
 1685 he published his " Origines Britannicae, or the Anti- 
 quities of British Churches," a work of great learning, and 
 in which he displayed a knowledge of antiquities, both civil 
 and ecclesiastical, which would almost induce the reader to 
 think they had been the study of his whole life. Just before 
 the Revolution, he was summoned to appear before King 
 James's Ecclesiastical Commission, but had the courage, in 
 that critical time, to draw up a discourse on the illegality of 
 that commission, which was published in 1689- Besides 
 his other preferments, Dr. Stillingfleet was Canon of the 
 twelfth stall in the church of Canterbury, and Prolocutor of 
 the Lower House of Convocation, for many years, in the 
 reigns of Charles II. and James II. At the Revolution, he 
 was advanced to the Bishopric of Worcester, and conse- 
 crated October 13, 1689, and in this station conducted him- 
 self in a very exemplary manner, and delivered some excel- 
 lent charges to his clergy, which were afterwards published 
 among his " Ecclesiastical Cases " In the House of Lords 
 he is said to have appeared to much advantage, but two on- 
 ly of his speeches are upon record ; one on the case of vi- 
 sitation of colleges, occasioned by a dispute between Dr. 
 Trelawney, Bishop of Exeter, as visitor of Exeter College, 
 and Dr. Bury, the rector of that College ; and the other on 
 the case of commemlams. Soon after his promotion to the 
 see of \\ orcester, he was appointed one of the commission- 
 ers for reviewing the liturgy, and his opinion was highly va-
 
 234 
 
 fued by his brethren. The last controversy in which he had 
 any concern, was with Locke, who, having laid down some 
 principles in his " Essay on Human Understanding," which 
 seemed to the Bishop to strike at the mysteries of revealed 
 religion, fell on that account under his Lordship's cogni- 
 zance. Although Dr. Stillingfleet had always the reputa- 
 tion of coming off in triumph in all his controversies, in this 
 lie was supposed to be not successful ; and some have gone 
 so far as to conjecture, that being pressed with a clearer and 
 closer reasoning by Locke, than he had been accustomed to 
 from his other adversaries, it created in him a chagrin which 
 shortened his life. There is, however, no occasion for a 
 supposition so extravagant : he had been subject to the 
 gout near twenty years, and it having fixed in his stomach, 
 proved fatal to him. He died at his house in Park-street, 
 Westminster, March 27, 1699- His person was tall, grace- 
 ful, and well proportioned ; his countenance comely, fresh, 
 and awful : his apprehension was quick and sagacious, his 
 judgment exact and profound, and his memory very te- 
 nacious : so that, considering how intensely he studied, and 
 how he read every thing, it is easy to imagine him, what he 
 really was, one of the most universal scholars that ever lived." 
 His body was carried for interment to Worcester Cathedral, 
 after which an elegant slab monument was erected over him, 
 with an inscription, written by Dr. Bentley,who had been his 
 Chaplain. — (See matter respecting this in article " Bentley.") 
 
 While he was Rector of Sutton, he married a daughter of 
 William Dobyns, a Gloucestershire gentleman, who lived 
 not long with him, yet he had two daughters, who died in 
 their infancy, and one son, Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, after- 
 wards Rector of Wood Norton, Norfolk : he then married 
 a daughter of Sir Nicholas Pedley, of Huntingdon, Ser- 
 jeant at Law, who lived with him almost all his life, .and 
 brought him seven children, of whom two only survived him, 
 (see their articles.) Mr. Evelyn mentions the Bishop's library 
 as one of the first in his time. 
 
 His writings were all collected, and reprinted in 1710, in
 
 235 
 
 (5 vols. fol. — See Biog. Diet. Fuller's Abel Redivivus, 
 Prince's Worthies, Wood's Fasti, Harrington's Brut' Re- 
 view, Strype, and Whitgift. 
 
 Barnabas Oley, M. A. Prebendary of Worcester, 1666, 
 Was President of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and Vicar of 
 Great Gransdon, Huntingdonshire ; he was born at Thorpe, 
 in Yorkshire, of which place his father was Vicar, and was 
 Proctor of the University in 1635. In the Rebellion, he 
 was active in collecting the University plate, which he con- 
 veyed to the King at Nottingham ; but for this, and other 
 loyal acts, he was turned out of his fellowship, and forced 
 to leave his vicarage, to both of which he was restored in 
 1660, at which time he also was presented with a prebend's 
 stall at Worcester; and Bishop Gunning (to whom he had 
 formerly been tutor) collated him to the Archdeaconry of 
 Ely, November 8, into which he was inducted by proxy, 
 November 17, 1679: this dignity, however, after little 
 more than a year's possession, he resigned, from a feeling 
 of humility. He was a learned, pious, and charitable man : 
 he died 1686, and was interred in Great Gransdon church. 
 Oley published Dr. Jackson's works, and Mr. Herbert's 
 Country Parson, to both of which he prefixed a preface. — 
 See a further account of Oley, and his character, in Au- 
 brey's Bodleian Letters. 
 
 Joseph Glanville, Prebendary of Worcester, l6?8, 
 Although he is not mentioned as such in many biographi- 
 phical notices, appears in the list of Prebendaries of the se- 
 cond stall. Granger says, he is so titled in the inscription 
 on his monument in the Abbey Church, Bath, and as dying 
 in November, 1680, which date, agreeing witli that attach- 
 ed to an engraved portrait of him, corrects a mistake of An- 
 thony a Wood's, who informs us that he died October 4. Glan- 
 ville was born at Plymouth in 1636, and was of Exeter Col- 
 lege, Oxford, but removed to Lincoln College, where he 
 remained until the restoration of Charles, to whom he after-
 
 236 
 
 Maids became Chaplain in Ordinary. He was a great ad- 
 mirer of the celebrated Baxter, although he conformed to 
 the established church, and became a zealous convert to the 
 principles of the new philosophy, in opposition to that of 
 Aristotle, and published " The Vanity of Dogmatizing, or 
 Confidence in Opinions, Sec." a work in justification of his 
 principles. About this time he entered into orders, became 
 Rector of Wimbish, in Essex ; and, in 1662, was inducted 
 to Frome Selwood, Somersetshire, and was afterwards 
 presented to the Rectory of Bath, which he exchanged, 
 in 1672, for that of Streat, in the same county, with the 
 chapel of Watton annexed ; and died of a fever, at the age 
 of 44. As a preacher, he was elegant and pathetic ; and 
 his private life Mas praiseworthy. He Mas the author of 
 " Lux Orientalis ;" " Some Considerations touching the 
 Being of Witches, and Witchcraft" which engaged him in 
 controversy that lasted as long as his life. — See a further ac- 
 count of his works in Wood's Athena?, and a letter to him 
 by Mr. Evelyn, in the works of that gentleman. 
 
 Richard White, B. D. 
 Vicar of Kidderminster, instituted 18th October, 1677, 
 M'as the author of " The ReM-ard of Christian Patience, as 
 it Mas discovered in a Sermon preached at the Funerabof 
 Mr. Thomas Badland, a Nonconformist Minister, of Kid- 
 derminster, 1693." Over the copy of this sermon, in my 
 possession, some one has altered the name in the title to 
 Baldwin. — See Badland. 
 
 Martin Lister, M.D. 
 The author of Certain Observations on the Midland Salt 
 Springs of Worcestershire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire; 
 of the crude Salt which grows from the Stone Powder, de- 
 jected by the said Brines in boiling, &c. &c. &c. inserted in 
 a letter to the editor of the Philosophical Transactions, who 
 makes the following observations on the Doctor's communi- 
 cation : — " There is nothing in Dr, Lister's observations on
 
 237 
 
 these Salt Springs, or in his conjectures respecting the 
 Trade Winds, worth preserving. The only parts of this 
 paper entitled to notice are those which relate to the chris- 
 tillation of sea salt, and to the distillation of sweet or fresh 
 water from sea water." 
 
 Dr. Lister was born at Radcliffe, county of Buckingham, 
 about 1638, and died February, 1711-12. See an account 
 of his Life in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, where, 
 however, these papers by Dr. Lister are not mentioned. 
 
 Robert Brown 
 Is said to have been the Incumbent of White Lady As- 
 ton,* from which he was ejected. He was a nonconformist, 
 and a fifth monarchy man, and wrote against the parish 
 minister. Dr. Slillingfieet remarked of his Jerubbaal, that 
 that contained the substance of all that had been said by the 
 old Brownists. He was generally esteemed a good scholar, 
 and was of the Baptist denomination. In 1670 he resided 
 in London, and in 1678, at Worcester. He was that year 
 invited to succeed Mr. Hardcastle, at Broadmead, Bristol ; 
 in 1679, he Mas settled at Westmancot, Worcestershire ; 
 from thence he was invited to London in November, 168/ : 
 he accepted the call, and died on the 22d of February, 1688, 
 of excessive preaching. See Palmer's Non. Mem. vol. 3. 
 p. 415. 
 
 William Pardoe, 
 
 Pastor of a society of Baptists in Worcester, in the 
 reign of Charles II. was of Armenian sentiments. In 1664 
 he was imprisoned at Worcester for non-conformity, and 
 continued in confinement near seven years. He afterwards 
 travelled on foot from place to place to preach. He died at 
 Worcester in 1692, after a confinement in various prisons ; 
 and was author of Bethania, and a paper called the 
 Mariner's Compass ; and left a collection of letters written 
 
 * His name, however, is not in Dr. Nash's List of Incumbents.
 
 238 
 
 to his friends during his imprisonment. See Calamy's 
 Abridgment of Baxter, and Crosley's History of the Bap- 
 tists. I am informed that there is at Leominster a full ac- 
 count of this person in MS. Mr. Pardoe being excommu- 
 nicated, was, 1 am informed, buried in a garden at Lose- 
 more, near the city of Worcester, where his body, with 
 that of his wife, were discovered some little time since in 
 digging for the purpose of building. The bodies were not 
 disturbed ; and it is said that there are persons yet in Wor- 
 cester who remember the stone erected to his memory, and 
 are also acquainted with the precise spot in which Mr. Pardoe 
 and his wife lie interred. 
 
 Robert Steynoe, 
 
 A man of considerable fortune, and of an enterprising 
 and undaunted spirit, discovered and sunk two salt pits upon 
 his own freehold ground at Droitwich about the year 1 6Q0 ; 
 and in defiance of the Act of William and Mary, the Corpo- 
 ration suing him, he defended himself at the expence of 
 above 60001. and after various trials both in Chancery and in 
 the King's Bench, it was finally determined, Jan. 24, 16Q3, 
 before the Lord Keeper, that Mr. Steynor might lawfully 
 sink the two pits on his own freehold land, draw brine there- 
 out, make salt thereof, and dispose of the salt. Mr. Steynor 
 argued that King John's grant did not convey the whole town 
 and all the salt works, but only such a part as he was pos- 
 sessed of; and that a pit called Sheriff's Pit, and Lench's 
 Lands, wherein Mr. S. sunk one of his pits, were never in 
 the Crown, and that many private persons had lands and 
 brine pits which were not included in King John's grant. 
 In consequence of this determination, many persons sunk 
 upon their own lands, which before they had been prevented 
 doing, and found brine as good as in the old pit. The mono- 
 poly being thus destroyed, the trade was greatly extended, and 
 the price of salt reduced from 2s. per bushel to 4d. The 
 proprietors of the old pit now finding that the value of their 
 property was very much decreased, and that they were charged
 
 239 
 
 with a fee farm rent of 1001. per annum, and other expences, 
 brought a bill into the House of Commons in the year 1708, 
 " for better preserving the ancient salt springs in Droitwich, 
 and the rights of the proprietors thereof." The plan of this 
 bill was to enable the old proprietors to bring the brine in 
 pipes from Droitwich to Hawford, in the parish of Claines, 
 to empower the Bishop of Worcester to convey to them in 
 fee, in exchange for other lands, about twenty acres, at and 
 near Mytam hill and pit, whereon they might erect salt works, 
 and to subject the owners of the free pits to a portion of the 
 fee farm, and all expences attending this project. Here 
 again Mr. Steynor and the owners of the new pits, with the 
 landholders in the neighbourhood, exerted themselves, and 
 the bill was thrown out. In this state the pits continued till 
 1725, the old proprietors working their pit, though to very 
 little advantage, and the different freeholders their several 
 works j but in that year Sir Richard Lane, sometime Mayor 
 of Worcester, and Representative in Parliament for that city, 
 being informed by some persons concerned in the salt works 
 of Cheshire, that the strongest brine there lay lower than the 
 pits in Droitwich were commonly sunk, ordered the talc 
 which was at the bottom of the pits to be sunk through. 
 Upon this the strong brine broke out with such violence, and 
 in such abundance, that two men who were at work in the 
 pit were thrown to the surface, and killed. Soon after every 
 one sunk his pit through the talc, and obtained such a pro- 
 fusion of strong brine, that not one-tenth part of it hath ever 
 been used, but run to waste. From henceforth the old pit 
 became of no value at all, which some years before was worth 
 near 50001. per annum, and esteemed the surest property a 
 man could enjoy. Charities designed to be perpetual, were 
 funded in it, many women were jointured upon it, and such 
 an estate was in every respect judged far preferable to land. 
 The confusion and distress which ensued in the town and 
 neighbourhood, cannot easily be described ; near two hun- 
 dred persons had lost their property, many of them their 
 whole fortune; many schools, hospitals, and alm^-houses,
 
 240 
 
 their whole establishment. Mr. Philpot, of the Heriot's, 
 lost above 7001. per annum, and this event happened the day 
 he came to what he thought an ample possession. Dr. Nash's 
 father lost about 2001. a year. " This is a revolution," con- 
 tinues Dr. Nash, " in the history of the salt pits which I do 
 not find noticed by any author." — See a further account of 
 the state of the salt pits in the work quoted above. 
 
 Mr. Steynor shared the fate of many other projectors and 
 persons engaged in law suits. He spent an estate of above 
 10001. a year, and for several years before his death received 
 weekly pay from the parishes of St. Andrew and St. Nicholas, 
 they allowing him 17s. a week, in consideration of his former 
 services. In the more fortunate part of his life he lived in 
 the western skirts of the town of Droitwich, in a house with 
 wreathed and ornamental chimnies of the time of Queen Eli- 
 zabeth ; the house I believe is still standing. A daughter of 
 this Mr. Steynor lived in 1773, and received pay from 
 Claines parish. — See also article Baker. 
 
 George Hooper, D.D. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Grimley Nov. 18, 
 1640; he was the son of George Hooper, Gentleman, and 
 educated in grammar and classical learning, first at St. Paul's, 
 and afterwards at Westminster School, where he was a 
 King's scholar ; from thence he was elected student of 
 Christ Church, Oxford, in 1656, or 7, where he took his 
 degree, and distinguished himself above his cotemporaries 
 by his superior knowledge in philosophy, mathematics, Greek 
 and Roman antiquities, and the oriental languages, particu- 
 larly Arabic, in which last he was assisted by Dr. Pococke. 
 In 1672 he became Chaplain to Morley, Bp. of Winchester, 
 who collated him to the Rectory of Havant, in Hampshire, 
 which situation being unhealthy, he resigned for the Rectory 
 of Eastwood Hay, in the same county. In July, l673> 
 he took the degree of B. D. and not long after became 
 Chaplain to Archbishop Sheldon, who begged that favour of 
 the Bishop of Winchester, and who, in 1675, gave him the
 
 241 
 
 Rectory of Lambeth, and afterwards the Precentorship of 
 Exeter. In 1677 he commenced D.D. and the same year 
 being made Almoner to the Princess of Oranoe, he went 
 over to Holland, where, at the request of her Royal High- 
 ness, he regulated her chapel according to the usage of the 
 Church of England. After one year's attendance, he re- 
 passed the sea, in order to complete his marriage to Abigail, 
 daughter of Richard Guildford, Gent, the treaty for which 
 had been set on foot before his departure. This done, he 
 went back to her Highness, who had obtained a promise 
 irom him to that purpose ; but after a stay of about eight 
 months, she consented to let him return home. In 1680 
 he is said to have been offered the Divinity Professorship at 
 Oxford, (but the succession to that Chair had been secured 
 to Dr. Jane) which he declined, but was made King's Chap- 
 lain about the same time. In 1685, by the King's com- 
 mand, he attended the Duke of Monmouth, and had much 
 free conversation with him in the Tower, both the evening 
 before, and the day of, his execution, on which the unhap- 
 py nobleman assured him, " he had made his peace with 
 God," the nature of which persuasion Dr. Hooper solemnly 
 intreated him to consider well, and then waited on him in 
 his last moments. The following year he took a share in 
 the Popish Controversy, and wrote a treatise, inserted in a 
 list of his works. In 1691 he succeeded Dr. Sharp in the 
 Deanery of Canterbury. As he never made the least applica- 
 tion for preferment, Queen Mary surprised him with this offer, 
 when the King her husband was absent in Holland : with a dis- 
 ir.terestedness not very common, he now proposed to resign 
 either of his livings, but the Queen observed, that " though 
 the King and she never gave two livings to one man, yet 
 they never took them away," and ordered him to keep both : 
 however he resigned the Rectory of Woodhay. He was 
 made Chaplain to their Majesties the same year. In 16Q8, 
 when a preceptor was chosen for the Duke of Gloucester, 
 though both the royal parents of that Prince pressed ear- 
 nestly to have Hooper, and no pretence of any objection 
 
 2 1
 
 242 
 
 was ever made against him, yet the King named Bishop 
 Burnet for that service. In 1701 he was chosen Proculator 
 to the Lower House of Convocation, and became a zealous 
 defender of the rights and privileges of the English Presby- 
 ters, and constantly refusing the offers of removal to Lon- 
 don on the death of Dr. Compton, or York, on the death 
 of Dr. Sharp. It is said of him, that he considered himself 
 as married to his diocese, and he uniformly promoted his 
 own clergy to all the instances of preferment that fell in his 
 disposal ; he regarded no interest, but made those the object 
 of his favour who were most attentive to the duties of their 
 situation. The care of his parish was the best recommend- 
 ation of a pastor to this vigilant prelate ; and the continuance 
 in his duty, the most satisfactory requital that could be made 
 him. The same year he was offered the Primacy of Ireland 
 by the Earl of Rochester, then Lord Lieutenant, which he 
 declined. The year after the accession of Anne to the throne 
 (May, 1703,) he was nominated to the Bishopric of St. 
 Asaph, which was the last promotion conferred by that 
 Queen before her death :* this he accepted, though against 
 his inclination ;-f and in half a year after his promotion to St. 
 Asaph, receiving a like command to remove to the see of 
 Bath and Wells, he earnestly requested her Majesty to dis- 
 
 * Here it was that he was received with the universal applause both of the 
 clergy and laity, and by the future conduct of his Jife verified that saying of 
 his master, Busby, " that Dr. Hooper was the best scholar, the finest gentle- 
 man, and the completest Bishop that was ever educated at Westminster 
 School." " Tiiis boy," said the disciplinarian, " is the least favoured in 
 features of any in the school, but he will be the most extraordinary of any of 
 them." But Burnet says, "he was reserved, crafty, and ambitious; dis- 
 satisfied with his Deanery, because he thought he deserved to be raised 
 higher:" but this Bishop, and Atterbury, are the only persons who speak 
 disrespectfully of the Bishop. Dr. Coney, who knew the Bishop well, 
 proved the testimony of Busby to be correct. 
 
 + On this occasion he resigned Lambeth, but retained his other prefer- 
 ments with this Bishopric, in which indeed he continued but a few months, 
 and on that account he generously refused the usual mortuaries, or pensions, 
 then so great a burthen to the clergy of Wales, saying, " they should never 
 pay so dear for the sight of him."
 
 243 
 
 pense with the order, not only on account of the sudden 
 change of such a translation, as well as a reluctance to re- 
 move, but also in regard to his friend Dr. Kenn, the deprived 
 Bishop of that place, for whom he begged the Bishopric. 
 The Queen readily complied with Hooper's request, but the 
 offer being declined by Kenn, Hooper, at his importunity, 
 yielded to become his successor. He now relinquished the 
 Deanery of Canterbury, but wished to have retained the 
 Precentorship of Exeter in commendam, solely for the use 
 of Dr. Kenn, but this was not agreeable to Dr. Trelawney, 
 Bishop of Exeter. His intention however was supplied by 
 the bounty of the Queen, who conferred an annual pension 
 of £200 on the deprived prelate. In 1705, Bishop Hooper 
 distinguished himself in the debate on the danger of the 
 Church, which, with many other persons, he apprehended 
 to be more than imaginary. His observation was candid ; 
 he complained, with justice, of that invidious distinction 
 which the terms High Church and Loiv Church occa- 
 sioned, and of that enmity which they tended to produce. 
 In the debate, in 1706, he spoke against the union between 
 England and Scotland, but grounded his arguments on fears 
 which have not been realised. In 1709-10, when the arti- 
 cles of Sacheverell's impeachment were debated, he endea- 
 voured to excuse that divine, and entered his protest against 
 the vote, which he could not prevent. But whatever were 
 his political opinions, his prudent, courteous, and liberal be- 
 haviour in his diocese, secured the esteem both of the laity 
 and clergy. To the latter he was a faithful friend ; for 
 while he confined his preferments to those of his own dio- 
 cese, his disposal of them was judicious and disinterested: 
 the modest were oftentimes dignified without any expecta- 
 tion, and the diligent were always advanced without the least 
 solicitation. His regulation also of official proceedings was 
 so conspicuous, " that no tedious formalities protracted bu- 
 siness ; no imperious officers insulted the clergy." The re- 
 gard which he experienced inseparably attached him to this 
 diocese. He sat in the see of Bath and Wells twenty-three
 
 244 
 
 years and six months; and, September 6, 1727, at 
 the advanced age of 90, died at Bockley, in Somer- 
 setshire, whither he sometimes retired, and Mas interred, 
 in pursuance of his own request, in the cathedral of 
 Wells, under a marble monument with a Latin inscrip- 
 tion ; adjoining to it is a monument, with an inscription, 
 to the memory of his wife, who died the year before him. # 
 The following character of Bishop Hooper was printed 
 in Mist's Journal soon after his decease, and dated from 
 Somersetshire, October 11, 1723 : it may be seen at length 
 in vol. 4, p. 570 of Nicholl's Literary Anecdotes. After 
 giving the Bishop credit for every virtue under Heaven, it 
 thus concludes : " As long as religion shall lift up her 
 head, and learning retain a sense of gratitude, the memory 
 of this great and good man shall be blessed ; and nothing 
 shall be able to hate him but vice, nothing to traduce his 
 character but envy, and nothing to insult his ashes but fac- 
 tion." — Orthodoxus. Mr. Evelyn says, he was one of the 
 first rank of pulpit orators then in the nation. Besides eight 
 sermons, he published several books in his life-time, and 
 left several MSS. behind him, some of which he permitted 
 to be printed. The following Js a catalogue of both : — 
 1. " The Church of England free from the Imputation of 
 Popery," 16S2 ; 2. "A fair and methodical Discussion of 
 the first and great Controversy between the Church of Eng- 
 land and the Church of Rome, concerning the Infallible 
 Guide, in three discourses ;" the two first of these were 
 licensed by Dr. Morrice in 1(587, but the last was never 
 printed ; S: " The Parson's Case, under the present Land 
 Tax, recommended, in a Letter to a Member of the House 
 of Commons," 1639; 4. "A Discourse concerning Lent, 
 in two parts ; the first an historical account of its observ- 
 ation, the second an essay concerning its original ; this sub- 
 divided into two repetitions, whereof the first is preparatory, 
 
 * By this lady he had nine children, one of whom only, a daughter, sur- 
 vived him; then the widow of Prowse, Esq. 
 
 K
 
 245 
 
 and shews that most of our Christian ordinances are derived 
 from the Jews, and the second conjectures that Lent is of 
 the same original," 1694 ; 5. A Paper in the Philosophical 
 Transactions for October, 1699, intitled " A Calculation 
 of the Credibility of Human Testimony ;" 6. " New Danger 
 of Presbytery," 1737 ; 7. " Marks of a Defenceless Cause ;" 
 8. " A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Lower House of 
 Convocation, from February 10, 1700, to June 25, 1701, 
 vindicated;" 9- " De Valentinianorum Hseresi conjectural 
 quibus illius origo ex iEgyptiaca Theologia deducitur," 
 1717; 10. " An Enquiry into the State of the Ancient Mea- 
 sures ; the Attic, the Roman, and especially the Jewish ; 
 with an Appendix concerning our old English Money and 
 Measures of Content," 1721 ; 11. " De Patriarch* Jacobi 
 Benedictione, Gen. 49, conjecturas," published by the Rev. 
 Mr. Hunt, of Hart Hall, in Oxford, with a preface and 
 notes, according to the Bishop's directions to the editor, a 
 little before his death. The MSS. before-mentioned are the 
 two following: — 1. A Latin Sermon, preached in 1672, 
 when he took the degree of B. D. ; and 2. A Latin Tract on 
 Divorce. A beautiful edition of his whole works was 
 printed at Oxford, 1757, fol. under the superintendance of 
 Dr. Thomas Hunt, Canon of Christ Church. Bishop 
 Hooper was a perfect and general scholar, a lawyer, a ca- 
 suist, a divine, an antiquary, a linguist, a philosopher, and 
 an accomplished gentleman. He blended the gravity of a 
 bishop with the pleasantry of a wit ; but the former always 
 restrained the latter. He had a numerous set of friends, 
 but neither they or his relations could claim or receive his 
 patronage as friends alone. His clergy were his family ; he 
 knew their wants ; and, by his patronage, raised the dis- 
 tressed, laborious pastor, to ease, and, when necessary, to 
 independence ; and he died regretted by the good and the 
 wise in all parts of the kingdom. 
 
 John Deacle 
 Was a Native of Bengworth, in this county, who,
 
 24t> 
 
 by his industry, acquired an ample fortune, and was chosen 
 an Alderman of the city of London. In Bengworth Church 
 is a marble monument erected to his memory. He died in 
 1709, and left £2000 to the Corporation of Evesham for 
 the endowment of a school. The north side of Bengworth 
 church was granted by Bishop Lloyd to the executors of Mr. 
 Deacle, to be repaired and fitted up for a school-house, 
 wherein to teach thirty of the poorest boys born in that town 
 or parish, to write and cast accounts : and in case there 
 should not be thirty such in that town, the full number to be 
 made up of poor boys born within the Corporation of Eves r 
 ham, provided that no more than ten boys of the town of 
 Evesham should be admitted into the same school at one 
 time, and that the other twenty should be boys born within 
 the parish of Bengworth. They were to be chosen and ad- 
 mitted by the churchwardens and overseers ; and in case of 
 their neglect, by the Mayor and capital burgesses of Evesham 
 aforesaid. Mr. Deacle ordered that the boys should be 
 clothed, and freely taught, from their respective ages of 
 eight years till they should be fit to go to some trade ; and 
 that no boy should be taken in that was above the age of ten. 
 The chapel is not used for the school-house ; but a building 
 has been erected on purpose, near Evesham bridge. 
 
 George Hickes, D. D. Prebendary, 1680, Dean of 
 Worcester, 1683, 
 
 A divine of uncommon abilities, Mas born June 20, 1642, 
 in Kirby Wisk parish, Nevesham, Yorkshire, where his fa- 
 ther was a farmer. He was educated at Northallerton gram- 
 mar school, and from thence, in 1659, sent to St. John's 
 College, Oxford ; and, soon after the Restoration, re- 
 moved to Magdalen College, frem thence to Magdalen Hall, 
 and at length chosen fellow of Lincoln. Being advised to 
 travel for his health, he accompanied Sir George W heeler, 
 who had been his pupil, to the continent. At Paris he be- 
 came acquainted with Mr. Henry Justell, who, in con- 
 fidence, informed him of the intended revocation of the
 
 247 
 
 Edict of Nantz, &c. About 1673, he became Rector of 
 St. Ebb's Church, Oxford ; and, in 1676, was made Chap- 
 lain to the Duke of Lauderdale, by whom he was employed 
 in many important affairs. In 1679-80 he was presented to 
 the vicarage of All-hallows, Barking; and in May, 1686, 
 he left this living to settle on his Deanery, the Bishop of 
 Worcester having offered him, at the same time, the Rec- 
 tory of Alvechurch, (commonly called Allchurch.) Up- 
 on the Revolution, 1688, he refused to take the oaths of 
 allegiance to King William, and fell under suspension ; and 
 Talbot, afterwards Bishop of Durham, having taken pos- 
 session of his Deanery, he drew up his claim of right to it, 
 which he affixed over the great door of the choir of Worces- 
 ter Cathedral, after which he privately withdrew to London, 
 where he absconded for about ten years, when Lord So- 
 mers, then Chancellor, out of regard to his uncommon abi- 
 lities, procured an Act of Council to cause a noli prosequi 
 to be entered against all proceedings against him. He was 
 afterwards consecrated Suffragan Bishop of Thetford, and 
 died, at his house in Ormond-street, of the stone, on Thurs- 
 day, December 15, 1715, about ten in the forenoon, in his 
 74th year. A volume of his posthumous sermons was pub- 
 lished in 1726. 
 
 It is very remarkable that this divine's brother, the Rev. 
 Mr. John Hickes, was ejected, for nonconformity, from the 
 livings of Stoke Damarell, in Devonshire, 1662 ; and for 
 joining the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, in 1685, he 
 suffered death by hanging ; so that the two brothers were 
 both sufferers for conscience sake, though of opposite par- 
 ties. — See a long and entertaining life of Dean Hickes in 
 Europ. Mag. for March, 1793, p. 178.— His life, detailed 
 at some length, and his portrait, would be interesting to the- 
 literary world. 
 
 William Johns 
 Was the son of Nicholas Johns, of Mathern, in Mon 
 mouthshire, and born about 10*44 : he became a chorister
 
 248 
 
 of All Souls' College, Oxford, in Michaelmas Term, 1663, 
 at the age of 19, or thereabouts, but left the University 
 without a degree. He afterwards became a schoolmaster 
 of Evesham, Worcestershire, where he continued several 
 years with approbation. He at length took orders, and was 
 living, in 1691, minister of a church near the aforesaid 
 place. He wrote " The Traytor to Himself, or Man's 
 Heart his greatest Enemy, a Moral Interlude," 4to. 1678. 
 This piece is written in rhyme, and is intended to represent 
 the careless, hardening, returning, despairing, and renewed 
 heart, with intermasques of interpretations at the close of 
 each several act. It was performed by the boys of the pub- 
 lic school at Evesham, at a breaking-up, and published so 
 as to render it useful on any similar occasion. It contains 
 many moral and instructive sentences, well adapted to the 
 capacities of youths ; but has nothing in it remarkable, ex- 
 cepting its being written without any womens' parts, after 
 the manner of Plautus's Captivi ; and for this, the author 
 (who was master of the school) assigns as a reason, that he 
 did not think female characters fit to put on boys. The pro- 
 logue is in parts, to be spoken by four boys. 
 
 William Bowles, 
 A Native of this county, and the son of William and 
 Bridget, was born at Hagley, from whence he was sent to 
 Eton school for grammar learning, and elected from that 
 foundation to a scholarship in King's College, Cambridge, 
 December 22, 1677. On the 10th October, 1681, he 
 went out Bachelor of Arts, and M. A. at the usual time 
 following, viz. about 1684. In 1687, he, with others, 
 w ere delegated by the Senate to advise the Vice Chancellor 
 to offer a petition to his Majesty to revoke his mandate to 
 Father Alban Francis, a Benedictine monk, for his degree 
 of Master of Arts, without taking the usual oath, which had 
 its effect. In the same year he was presented to the rectory 
 of Endfield, in Staffordshire, and resigned his fellowship of 
 King's College June 5, 1688. His resignation is sealed
 
 249 
 
 with a griffin segreant, but it does not seem to be meant as 
 coatannOur, and is witnessed by William Bowles, sen. Sa- 
 muel and Thomas Palmer. On 19th August, 169-5, (Wood's 
 Ath. vol. 1, p. 448,) he was collated by William Lloyd, 
 Bishop of Lichfield, to the Prebend of Gaia Minor, in his 
 cathedral, which he vacated by his death in 1705. He was 
 esteemed a most complete scholar, and a great poet ; se- 
 veral of his poems and translations are printed in Mr. Ni- 
 choll's Select Collection, 1780, vol. 1, p. 2 and 92. 
 
 His elder brother, Henry Bowles, fellow of King's 
 College also, and bom at Hagley : was moderator in the 
 Sophisters' schools, anno 1(383, senior fellow of King's 
 College, 1690, schoolmaster of Stourbridge, in Worces- 
 tershire, 1691, bursar, 1695, proctor, 1697, vice provost, 
 1705, and succeeded his brother in the rectory of Enville. 
 He was esteemed a most complete scholar, and a neat poet, 
 " but what the titles of his productions are," says Mr. 
 Cole, " I have not met with." Carter, in his book of 
 Cambridge, says, from some information, that " he wrote 
 several poems and translations/' 
 
 William Hopkins, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1675, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Evesham August 
 28, 1647, and was the son of the Rev. George Hopkins, 
 whom Ilickes terms a learned and pious divine, and who 
 was ejected for nonconformity : his grandfather was a gen- 
 tleman of rank and fortune at Bewdlev, for which town he 
 was chosen M. P. but died before he took his seat. At 
 school, the subject of this memoir was so great a proficient, 
 that, at 12 years of age, he translated an English poem into 
 Latin verse, which was printed some time before the Re- 
 storation. At 13, he was admitted of Trinity College, Ox- 
 ford, under the learned Mr. Stratford, afterwards Bishop of 
 Chester. He proceeded M. A. in 166S, some time before 
 which he removed from Trinity College to St. Mary Hall. 
 He was much noticed by Dr. Fell, Dean of Christ's Church, 
 who, it is supposed, recommended him to the Hon. Henry 
 
 2 K
 
 250 
 
 Coventry, as his Chaplain and companion in his embassy to 
 Sweden, on which he set out in September, 1671 ; and 
 Mr. Coventry, though not very open in his temper, entirely 
 loved and esteemed him. While in Sweden, Mr. Hopkins 
 applied himself to the study of northern antiquities, having 
 previously studied the Saxon, and perfected himself in this 
 language by his conversation with the Delicarlians and other 
 northern nations. His first wife was Averill Martin, by 
 whom he left three children, but they all died within the 
 year : his second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Whitehorn, of 
 Tewkesbury, daughter of Henry Bromeley, Esq. ofUpton- 
 upon-Severn, a lady of bright parts, and of exemplary vir- 
 tue and piety : he also possessed great skill in the Latin, 
 Greek, Hebrew, and oriental languages. After his return, 
 in lG75j by Mr. Coventry's recommendation to the King, 
 he was preferred to a Prebend in Worcester Cathedral ; 
 and, from his installation, began to collect materials for a 
 history of this church, some of which fell into the hands of 
 Wharton, and other antiquaries. In June, 1678, he was 
 made Curate of Mortlake, in Surrey ; and about 16S0 was 
 chosen Sunday Lecturer of the church of St. Lawrence, 
 Jewry, in which year he is also mentioned as Incumbent of 
 Wolverley ; and in 1686 was preferred to the Vicarage of 
 Lindridge, in this county. In 1697 he was chosen Mas- 
 ter of St. Oswald's Hospital, in Worcester, of the pro- 
 fits of which he made a fund for the use of the hospital, and 
 the benefit of his poor brethren there. He proceeded D. D. 
 at Oxford, in 1692 ; aud died of a violent fever, May 
 18, 1700, and was interred in Worcester Cathedral, (of 
 which he had been a most exemplary and useful member for 
 twenty-lour years) in a grave close by that of his first wife, 
 near to the door of his house, which opened into the church; 
 over whom was placed a fiat stone, with the following in- 
 scription : but when the church was new pewed, the stone 
 was moved, and placed under the second window (west) of 
 the north aisle of the choir :
 
 251 
 
 M. S. 
 
 Gulielmi Hopkins, S. T. P. 
 
 Hujus Ecclesiae Wigorniensis 
 
 Per xxiv Annos Prebendarii. 
 
 Qui Obijt 
 
 28 die Maii, 
 
 <Salutis 1700, 
 < jEtatis sua2 53. 
 
 Hickes, who prefixes his life to a volume of his sermons, 
 published in 1708, 8vo. gives him a high character for piety, 
 learning, and benevolence. He was a great benefactor to 
 the library of Worcester Cathedral. Although a man of ex- 
 tensive reading and study, he published only — 1. " Bertram, 
 or Ratram, concerning the Body and Blood of the Lord, 
 &c. wherein M. Boileau's version and notes upon Bertram 
 are considered, and his unfair dealings in both detected ;" of 
 this a second edition appeared in 16S8 ; 2. "Animadversions 
 on Mr. Johnson's Answer to Jovian, in three Letters to a 
 Country Friend ;" and a Latin translation, with notes, of a 
 small tract, written in the Saxon tongue, on the burial place 
 of the Saxon saints, which Dr. Hickes published in his 
 " Septentrional Grammar," Oxford, 1705. Dr. Hopkins 
 also assisted Gibson in correcting his Latin version of the 
 Saxon Chronicle, and made a new translation, with notes 
 and additions, of the article " Worcestershire," in Camden's 
 Britannia?, published by Gibson. Dr. Nash says, " I find, 
 in the Bodleian Library, a letter of his, wherein he says " he 
 is much obliged to Mr. Nicholson for his good opinion of 
 him ; that he had offered to assist any one in the publishing 
 Abingdon's MSS. ; that he was sure, by what he had seen, 
 there were great defects and errors in them." In politics, 
 Dr. Hopkins thought with his friend, Dean Hickes, whose 
 treatises tend to inculcate the doctrines of passive obedience 
 and non-resistance. His sweetness of temper, his diligence 
 and zeal in the service of the church of which he was a mem- 
 ber, were as eminent as his learning ; for he, with the as- 
 sistance of his friend Hickes, and Bishop Thomas, made 
 many regulations for the better managing the revenues, and
 
 252 
 
 administering the government and discipline of the church ; 
 the copyholders for lives were brought to a regular way of 
 fining ; and the Dean and Prebendaries were brought to a 
 reguiar course of residence : he and the Dean meditated 
 many other regulations respecting the King's scholars, the 
 College School, the exhibitions founded in Magdalen Hall, 
 Oxford, and the patent places granted by the Dean and 
 Chapter. By his solicitation, the library was moved from 
 an inconvenient place over the south aisle of the church to 
 the beautiful building called the Chapter House, which he 
 used his utmost endeavours to stock with a valuable col- 
 lection of books — the bibliothecarian writers of several 
 countries, the works of the Greek Fathers, with other cu- 
 rious books. Many of the MSS. and ancient charters were 
 lost in the great rebellion. His modesty and humility, his 
 hospitality and affability, were conspicuous in all his life 
 and conversation : his iiisight into most business was so 
 great, and his probity so well known, that people of all 
 sorts, in the country, came to him to arbitrate differences. 
 He was beloved and respected by the principal men of his 
 age and country. Lord Somers, a good judge of men and 
 things, had an early and long acquaintance, and an intimate 
 friendship with him, and, to the time of his death, highly 
 esteemed him for his many excellent qualities. Amoii" his 
 Worcestershire acquaintance, besides his brethren of the 
 Cathedral, there was a mutual friendship and esteem be- 
 tween him and Mr. Jeffreys, of Ham Castle ; Mr. John 
 Benson, Kector of Crawley, in Herefordshire ; and Dr. 
 Jephcot. 
 
 T H O M AS S H E WR1 N G , 
 
 The consistent Mayor of Worcester in 1687, whose high 
 sense of propriety of conduct, and whose respectful objec- 
 tion to perform that which his conscience told him was 
 wrong, merits the consideration of those who are either in- 
 clined to insult those whom they ought to honour, or those 
 who would sacrifice their feelings at the shrine of interesjt.
 
 253 
 
 When King James II. honoured Worcester with a visit, 
 after attending in the cathedral on St. Bartholomew's day, to 
 gratify such as offered themselves for healing, he proceeded 
 in great solemnity to a Popish chapel, built at his accession 
 to the throne, preceded by the Mayor and Aldermen. On 
 their arrival at this oratory, his Majesty asked if they would 
 not go in with him, to which the Mayor, Thomas Shewrinw 
 replied, " I think we have attended your Majesty too far al- 
 ready !" Depositing the sword therefore before the Kin« in 
 the chapel, and making their reverence to him, they retired, 
 and returned to divine service in the cathedral.* Mr. Shew- 
 ring founded an hospital in Worcester, for an account of 
 which see Chambers's Worcester, p. 288. The name of 
 Thomas Shew ring, as Mayor of Worcester, occurs also in 
 the year 1682. 
 
 Sir Roger de Coverly, 
 The hero of Addison's Spectator, which work commenced 
 March 10, 1710, is presumed by some to have been drawn 
 for a Sir John Pakington, of this county; Mr. Tyers 
 affirms this to be really the case, and that Sir John was a 
 " Tory not without good sense, but abounding in absurdi- 
 ties ;" but this adoption of a real character may have only 
 arisen from a vague report, and a fondness for realizing a 
 pleasing fiction. Mr. Tickell seems to have been of opi- 
 nion that the account of the Spectator and the club are al- 
 together fictitious. 
 
 * Since writing the above, I met with the following circumst.Tnce in the 
 Life of James II. taken from memoirs written by his own hand : — " One day 
 King James gave the Duke of Norfolk the sword of state to carry before him 
 to his Catholic cliapel, and he stood at the door, upon which the King said to 
 him, ' My Lord, your father would have gone farther ;' to which the Dukean» 
 swered, ' Your Majesty's father was the better man, and he would not have 
 gone so far.' " The reader will draw his own inferences from these anecdotes. 
 Were the same anecdotes, with little variation, given to different pcrso. s, or 
 do they relate to fhe conduct of two spirited individuals ? — See also a similar 
 reply of the Duke of Somerset to James, at p. U8 of the work alluded to.
 
 254 
 
 Samuel Cooke, M.A. 
 Of Worcestershire, was the first contributor of books to 
 the library of Worcester College, Oxford. The date of 
 this gift is 1714. 
 
 Richard Claridge, 
 A writer of eminence among the Quakers, was bom 
 at Farmborough, in Warwickshire, 164C); he was entered 
 of Baliol College, Oxford, but removed to St. Mary's 
 Hall, and in 1673 was presented to the Rectory of Peo- 
 pleton, Worcestershire ; but entertaining scruples as to 
 the propriety of his conduct with regard to church forms 
 and ceremonies, he resigned his benefice in 1691, a step 
 which must have been conscientious, as his living was of 
 considerable emolument; and after quitting it, he does 
 not appear to have possessed any certain income. He 
 joined himself in communion with the Baptists : imme- 
 diately after their ceremony of baptism, while his wet 
 clothes were still upon him, a person accosted him thus 
 — " You are welcome, Sir, out of one form into ano- 
 ther." After some years he became one of the society of 
 Quakers, in which he continued until his death, and was 
 a well-approved minister among them. In 1700 he 
 removed from London, and kept a school at Barking, 
 and afterwards at Tottenham, Middlesex, when a suit 
 was commenced against him for teaching school without 
 licence, but which the adverse party thought fit to re- 
 linquish. He resigned his school from ill health, and 
 died in London, in 1723, in his 74th year. See his life 
 and posthumous works, 1 vol. 8vo. 1726, written by 
 his friend John Bisse. His works have been generally 
 quoted by the Quakers of the present day, when en- 
 gaged in vindicating their society from the charges of So- 
 cinianism.
 
 255 
 
 John Hough, Prebendary of Worcester, 1685, Bishop 
 
 of Worcester, 1717,* 
 Was the son of John Hough, a citizen of London, and 
 Margaret his wife, daughter of John Byrche, of Leacroft, 
 Staffordshire, Esq. and was born in Middlesex, April 12, 
 1651 . He was educated either at Birmingham, or Walsall, 
 Staffordshire ; Dr. Nash particularly says at the latter place, 
 and he was very likely to have heard from the Bishop : he 
 was entered at St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, No- 
 vember 12, 1669. This prelate is well remembered as the 
 President of Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he was 
 most unjustly ejected at the same time with twenty-six fel- 
 lows of the same college. The case was this ; one Anthony 
 Farmer, a man of little note, and lees honesty, but a new 
 convert to Popery, was, by James II. proposed as Pre- 
 sident of Magdalen College, Oxford, and the fellows of 
 that Society, in direct opposition to the royal mandate, 
 which was never before heard of in any election, chose Mr. 
 Hough, who asserted his own right, and that of the Uni- 
 versity, with a firmness and a spirit conformable to that dig- 
 nity of character which he sustained through the whole 
 course of his life. It appears by a scarce publication^ now 
 in my possession, that Farmer was not, nor ever was, a fel- 
 low of the college, and that his election would have been di- 
 rectly contrary to the statutes of the founder. By Farmer's 
 own confession, " he had behaved very unlike a member of 
 the college, and even a christian, at the dancing school," he 
 was a drunkard, and a frequenter of ill company, &c 
 Hough was removed, by the ecclesiastical commissioner:-. 
 
 * Mr. Green has evidently made two mistakes of dates in his Life of 
 Hough. 
 
 + The title of this work is " An Impartial Relation of the whole Proceed- 
 ings against St. Mary Magdalen College, in Oxon, in the year of our Lord, 
 1687, containing only matters of fact, as they occurred ;" printed in the 
 year 1688. As it does not appear clear to me that the biographer of Hough 
 ever saw this work, 1 would, had my limits permitted, have inserted the 
 whole of its interesting matter.
 
 250 
 
 June 22, 1 687, the clay on which he was admitted to hi?* 
 doctor's degree, to make room for Dr. Samuel Parker, Bi- 
 shop of Oxford. It was but a poor atonement that this rash 
 and ill-advised Monarch made, by sending his mandate, on 
 the eve of the Revolution, to reinstate both President and 
 fellows. Wellwood, in his memoirs, says, " His Majesty's 
 Ministers having found the objections to Mr. Farmer's mo- 
 ral character too strong to get over, issued a mandate for 
 them to admit Dr. Samuel Parker, who was also a Catholic ; 
 and their fear of pressing the election of Farmer is partly ac- 
 knowledged by James, in his Life, by himself. " The Im- 
 partial Relation," makes James say, at the arrival of the 
 King at Oxford, that they (the collegians) did not treat him 
 like gentlemen.* The calm and intrepid spirit with which 
 Dr. Hough maintained the rights of the college and his own, 
 gamed him the Bishopric of Oxford, which he held for a 
 time with the Presidentship. In 1699 he was translated to 
 Lichfield and Coventry ; and afterwards he was removed by 
 George I. to Worcester, where he died May 8, 1743, at 
 the age of 93, and was buried in the Cathedral, near his 
 wife, in which church there is a monument erected to his 
 memory by his executor, John Byrche, Esq. executed by 
 Roubilliac, the principal feature, as a work of art, in the 
 Cathedral. Mr. Dallaway says it i& one of the artist's best 
 productions ; and Mr. Flaxman has said, " that the drapery 
 of the figure of Religion is a happy imitation of nature, advan- 
 tageously projected by a broad shadow." His Lordship mar- 
 ried Lettice, daughter of Thomas Fisher, of Walsall, relict 
 of Sir Charles Lee, of Billesley, Warwickshire. This ami- 
 able and accomplished lady died November 12, 1722, aged 
 37. There were several candidates to write this Bishop's 
 epitaph ; the learned J)r. Friend, Master of Westminster 
 echool, wrote a Latin one, which is still preserved in the 
 
 * Or, according to James, in his own Life, " You have not used me like 
 a gentleman :" and where he says, " it was ridiculous to dispute the King'* 
 power in dispensing with the local statute* of a college, which had been su 
 frequently practised in former reigns,"
 
 257 
 
 Bodleian Library. The one adopted on his monument was 
 inscribed after the excellent Lord Lyttelton had been con- 
 sulted, and is generally ascribed to Dr. Tottie, an Arch- 
 deacon of Worcester ; but it was suggested in the Gent's. 
 Mag. 1807, that it was the composition of Dr. Smallrid^e 
 Chancellor of the diocese at the time of the Bishop's 
 death. Granger says, " My friend, the late J. Oliver, Esq. 
 of Worcester, whose second wife was niece to the Bishop, 
 had many volumes of his MS. sermons, [these, however, he 
 gave strict orders should never be published,] several of 
 which he sold to clergymen, who rightly judged they could 
 not do better for their flocks than to preach them, as he was 
 not only an orthodox and learned divine, but had one of the 
 finest pens the age in which he lived produced." Carte, on 
 that account, laments he did not write the life of the Duke 
 of Ormond, to whom he had been Chaplain. One of the 
 engraved portraits of the Bishop was so very unlike him, 
 that, purchasing the plate, he broke it, remarking " I did 
 not think I had been so ugly." Whilst in the see of Lich- 
 field and Coventry, he repaired and almost rebuilt the epis- 
 copal house at Eccleshall ; and on his removal to Worcester, 
 he rebuilt great part of the palace, particularly the whole 
 front, where his arms are impaled with those of the see in 
 the pediments, and he made considerable improvements at 
 his other seat, the castle of Iiartlebury, so as to have laid 
 out many thousand pounds upon both his residences ; he al- 
 so, in 1741, contributed £1000 towards building AH Saints' 
 Church, Worcester, where there is a bust of the Bishop at 
 the east end, as a grateful memorial of his liberality. Dr. 
 Nash, in his History of Worcester, says, " the mild and 
 amiable character of this Bishop cannot be too much ad- 
 mired, or too highly extolled ; he lived in this county 
 eighteen years, beloved by every one ; if he had any fault, 
 it arose from an easiness of temper, and too great a parti- 
 ality for his old and faithful servants ;" surely this is no fail- 
 ing. " I cannot help remembering," continues the Dr. 
 ;< some traits of him which, happening when I w as a boy, 
 
 2l
 
 258 
 
 and received from him frequent marks of affection and 
 regard, have made a strong impression on my mind, though 
 to others they may appear trifling ; his constant beverage 
 after dinner, when upwards of 90, was strong beer and su- 
 gar," the common drink, as I am informed, of that time of 
 clay at the audit, " and any of his guests were sure to ingratiate 
 themselves with him, that would partake of the cup, and 
 say they liked it ;" no very venial error for a man of 90, 
 surely. The readers will find many anecdotes of this pre- 
 late in Dr. Nash's work, in Wilmot's Life of the Bishop, (who 
 has, however, printed a letter incorrectly,) and several others 
 scattered in various publications ;* besides which, Lord Lyt- 
 tleton speaks of him in his Persian Letters; and several poets 
 have embellished their poems by panegyrics on his Lordship.^ 
 To follow his biographers in their eulogies, would be at 
 once to give him credit for possessing all the cardinal virtues, 
 which he does appear really to have practised, with the al- 
 lowance of as few frailties as are incident to human nature. 
 It does not appear that Bishop Hough ever prepared any 
 thing for the press, although it is said that he once designed, 
 to write the life of the Duke of Ormond. 
 
 John Lord Somers, or SommersJ, 
 A Native of this county, was the son of an attorney 
 at Worcester, whose father was born at Kidderminster, and 
 
 * But the anecdote often told of him, ending with " come, let us enjoy 
 ourselves, now we have sent the old gentleman to bed," refers to Earl Ba- 
 tliurst, and not to the Bishop. See Europ. Mag. May, 1796, p. 295. 
 
 + There are some letters by Bishop Hough in the Europ. Mag. for 1797. 
 
 X " I should have told you, had I thought it worth while, that you should 
 have spelt Sommers with a double m ; all the letters this circumstantial 
 Doctor (Birch) has seen of that great man spelling the name thus."— War- 
 burton's Letters, p. 299. I believe Lord Sommers also signed his name thus, 
 Sowers. "Probably, says Dr. Nash, "the original name was Summer, as 
 we may conjecture from the old monument and conundrum in Severn Stoke 
 church. Tradition tells us. Sir John Summer, who colonised the Summer 
 Islands, was of this family, and that the crest which the family originally 
 bore was a plant in flower, but so ill described by heralds, that we cannot 
 give tl ebotaiiical name."
 
 259 
 
 who resided for some time chiefly at the White Ladies,* 
 and afterwards resided within the precincts of the Cathedral, 
 the former place becoming the property of his sister, it being 
 left her as a man iage portion. Nash says that he amused 
 himself with country business, having an income of about 
 3001. a year. He was instrumental to, and assisted Bishop 
 Bell in recovering the rents of St. Oswald's Hospital for 
 tire poor men and women residents. He died January, 
 1680, and was buried in the Church of Severn Stoke, where 
 is an inscription to his memory, written by Lord Sommers. 
 He formerly commanded a troop of horse, which made a 
 part of Cromwell's army ; but on the restoration of mo- 
 narchy, he sued for pardon, which was granted him. Lord 
 Sommers in some of the abusive pamphlets of the time, was 
 called the brickmaker's son : this, says Mr. Cooksey, arose 
 from his father and the other residents of the White Ladies 
 occupying their time in the cultivation of a large farm, the 
 cloathing trade, manufacturing dying materials, and the 
 making bricks and tiles in immense quantities, to supply the 
 demand for rebuilding the ruined city and suburbs. After his 
 death, Mrs. Sommers lived many years at the Commandery, 
 and then removed to St. Helen's : he had an estate at Severn 
 Stoke. John, the subject of this memoir, was born either 
 in the year 16.30, or ]6o l 2. Mr. Cooksey, in his life of 
 Lord S. asserts that he was born at the White Ladies; but 
 Dr. Nash, who no doubt must have known as well as Mr.C. 
 says, by tradition the famous Lord S. is said to have been 
 born in the College Church Yard, in a house part of which 
 was lately pulled down, adjoining to the south side of St. 
 Michael's Church ; but as during the civil wars of Charles I. 
 the registers were discontinued, or very irregularly kept, 
 though the Doctor diligently searched, his birth could not be 
 found, either in the parishes of Severn Stoke, St. Michael, 
 St. Helen, St. Peter, or the Tything of Whiston, (in which 
 
 * The Somers family had long inherited the estate of the White Ladies. 
 The mother of Lord Somers was Mrs. Catherine Ceaverne, or Severn ; she 
 was a gentlewoman of gopd family in Shropshire.
 
 2C0 
 
 the White Ladies is situate). His mother's name was en- 
 tered in the register of Severn Stoke, as buried there March 
 ]6, 1709, and there said to be of the parish of St. Helen. 
 He considered the house of his aunt to whom he owed the 
 early part of his education, as his home ; and here, continues 
 Mr. Cooksey, he generally resided until he went to the 
 University. In what place he was previously educated, my 
 information is somewhat doubtful. Mr. Cooksey, without 
 quoting his authority, says, he was sent at a proper age to the 
 King's or College School of Worcester, under the celebrated 
 Dr. Bright. In this case Mr. Carlisle, in his " Endowed 
 Schools," is wrong in placing him, as he has also Butler, in 
 Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. Tradition alone has 
 placed him under Bright, and it may reasonably be doubted 
 if he were educated at all in Worcester, and I am not acquainted 
 that any register is in existence to give to any school in this city 
 the honour of educating Butler or Somers. The writer of the 
 Life of Lord Somers, in the General Dictionary, tells us he 
 was educated at a private school in Staffordshire, but gives 
 no authority for it. Dr. IS ash says he received his early 
 education in Staffordshire, or Shropshire, and says not a 
 word of Blight's school. From an account in Green's Wor- 
 cester, p. 89, vol. G, from Birch's Papers in the Museum, 
 I select the following : — " I think Warsal in Staffordshire,* 
 was the place where he received his grammar learning. I re- 
 member very well his schoolfellow, Mr. York's, account of 
 Jonny Somers being a weakly boy, wearing a black cap, and 
 never so much as looking on when the boys were at play. 
 He discouraged Mr. Winnington's father, who was a school- 
 fellow with him, and all the young men who knew him ; 
 they were afraid to be in his company, for at school his ap- 
 plication and capacity were equally great and uncommon : 
 at his first going to school, he never gave himself any of the 
 diversions of children of his age ; for at noon, the book was 
 
 M*. Winnington's account states, " he was educated under Mr. Wood- 
 house, who kept a private academy at Sheriff Hales. /Shropshire."
 
 261 
 
 never out of his hand." — Mr. Cooksey is however circum- 
 stantial : he says under Bught he was soon taken notice of 
 for the quickness and solidity of his parts, and had the cha- 
 racter of being the brightest boy in the sehool ; he boarded 
 with Dr. Bright, but spent his vacations at his father's 
 country house at Clifton, in the parish of Severn Stoke, and 
 the apartment appropriated to him there remains, and bears 
 the name of his study to this day, 1791. According to all 
 accounts, he was sent to Oxford, where as in the whole part 
 of his early life he seemed more inclined to Belles JLettres 
 than the law, he was admitted a Commoner, or according 
 to Anthony Wood, a Gentleman Commoner, of Trinity 
 College, by the advice of Dr. William Hopkins. As a 
 member of this college, he lived (says Mr. Cookse\) " as 
 other students lived ; his exercises, of which I have seen 
 some, are nowise remarkable, and I find there nothing re- 
 corded of him, or nothing worthy to be recorded, except an 
 entry in the bursar's book, l6?5, the year after he entered, of 
 giving them 51. for the repair of the chapel, which was a 
 large sum for those days, and as a testimony of his regard for 
 the college, of 1001. for the same purpose, some years after 
 he had left it." 
 
 Dr. Nash, correcting himself, says, it is certain that he 
 was entered a Commoner at Trinity College, Oxford, in the 
 year 1667, as appears by an entry (which he has copied) in 
 his own hand. See p. 49, vol. 2, Corrections and Additions, 
 p. 49, where Dr. Nash mentions other Johu Someis's, and 
 cautions future biographers. Mr. Thomas Wartun, says the 
 Doctor, in continuation, " in a letter he favoured me tt ith, 
 says, ' I have heard from the late Mr. Wise, Kadchvian h- 
 braiian, that he had seen in Trinity College many Latin ex- 
 ercises of Somers in the possession of Dr. Dobson, trans- 
 mitted from President Bathurst;'" and Aylofte, in his His- 
 tory of Oxford, tells us that Dr. Bathurst always boasted 
 with singular satisfaction of the education ol so great a 
 man. — Ibid.
 
 262 
 
 At college, he would have become equally the delight 
 and boast of that seat of the Muses, had he staid longer in 
 it; but he left college without taking a degree. His father 
 having always intended him for his own profession of the 
 law, he therefore entered him as a clerk to Sir Francis Win- 
 nington ; and some time after, at the expiration of his articles, 
 he was removed to the Middle Temple. Mr. Cooksey, how- 
 ever, contradicts the assertion that he was ever clerk to Sir 
 F. Wilmington, and says, the latter owed to the influence of 
 the party at the White Ladies his election for Worcester, and 
 that on his being returned for that city, he patronized young 
 Somers ; and this seems more probable than his being placed 
 as a clerk on his return from college. At this period young 
 Somers combined two rare qualities ; — to an exquisite taste 
 for polite literature, was joined a turn for business in the 
 practice of the law. This implied solidity of judgment, 
 and prompted an industrious application : while the other 
 furnished delicacy of sentiment, and an elegant diction. 
 Accordingly we find an unwearied diligence following- 
 Mr. Sommers through all the stages of his life, and gaining 
 such a thorough insight into the laws of the land, that he 
 passed for one of the greatest masters of his profession at 
 his first appearance in it. At the same time he found leisure 
 to read and digest the finest authors both of the learned and 
 modern languages, and was engaged with several of the most 
 elegant writers of the age, in the English translation of 
 Plutarch's Lives, in prose, and Ovid's Epistles, in verse ; 
 in the first he wrote the Life of Alcibiades, and in the 
 other, Dido's Epistle to iEneas, and that of Ariadne to 
 Theseus. These were both printed by Tonson, who knew 
 him when he was a young barrister. Neither in his 
 profession were his studies confined wholly to the lucra- 
 tive part of it. He was not satisfied with occasionally 
 looking into the history and origin of such particular laws 
 and customs as his practice led him to ; he made the know- 
 ledge of the Constitution in general a distinct branch of hi$
 
 263 
 
 studies ; so that he became a master of it — (Freeholder) ; 
 and sided against the Court, Mr. Cooksey says he was intro- 
 duced to the Opposition party, Lord Russell, Sydney, &c. 
 by his early friend the Earl of Shrewsbury ; and Dr. Nash 
 makes a query, if the Duke of Shrewsbury (to whom his 
 father and himself were stewards in Worcestershire) did in- 
 troduce him to politics. He early published several political 
 pieces, which were universally esteemed. Bishop Burnet, 
 mentioning the return of the bill, against the Earl of Shaftes- 
 bury, ignoramus, by the grand jury, and observing that, in 
 defence of these ignoramus juries, it was said that, by the 
 express words of their oath, they were bound to make true 
 presentments of what should appear true to them, and there- 
 fore, if they did not believe the evidence, they could not find 
 a bill, though sworn to, proceeds thus : " a book," says he. 
 " was written to support it, in which law and reason were 
 brought to confirm it ; it passed as writ by Lord Essex ; but 
 I understood afterwards it was writ by Somers, who was 
 much esteemed and often visited by Lord Essex, and who 
 trusted himself to him, and wrote the best papers that came 
 out at that time." Mr. YValpole tells us, that he had met 
 with a small piece, said to be written by Lord Somers, 
 which perhaps, says he, was one of the tracts hinted at here : 
 it is intituled, "The Security of Englishmen's Lives; or 
 the Trust, Power, and Duties of the Grand Juries of Eng- 
 land, explained, according to the Fundamentals of the 
 English Government, &c." We may conclude this to be 
 the very book mentioned by Burnet ; as this, as well as the 
 other pieces here intimated, were published without his 
 name, for which he has drawn forth the highest praise from 
 his panegyrist, Mr. Addison, who notices this modesty in 
 his funeral oration in the Freeholder. But, to speak im- 
 partially, may it not, without breach of candour, be said, 
 that in Mr. Somers's conduct, in forbearing to set his name 
 to the political pieces he wrote in the reign of Charles II. 
 there was at least a mixture of self security with that of self 
 denial : A prudent regard to his own interest cannot fairly
 
 264 
 
 be denied to have its weight in this restraint, for appearing 
 publicly agamsl the government, which was the side he took, 
 in these tracts ; at the same time, every one must agree 
 with Mr. Walpole, that " such deathless monuments of his 
 parts and virtue, as Lord Somers erected during the course 
 of his life, diminish the regret we should otherwise feel ;" 
 that though his Lordship wrote several pieces, we are igno- 
 rant even of the titles of many of them ; and how little any 
 fame of this kind was his object, may be inferred from 
 hence, that it is not known he ever, upon any occasion, laid 
 claim to them, even after the Revolution, which was a com- 
 plete sponge of the motives of self preservation. However, 
 he did not always keep the same absolute reserve with re- 
 gard to his other pieces, at least, if any credit may be given 
 to the writer of his life (m 1716), who gives us the follow- 
 ing as he calls it, pleasant story concerning a small piece 
 of poetry which his Lordship wrote, and which was owned 
 with great pertinacity by a man then living ; this person 
 being introduced to my Lord, when he was Chancellor, his 
 Lordship took occasion to ask him, whether he writ such a 
 paper of verses ? Yes, my Lord, replied he, 'tis a trifle, I 
 did it off hand : upon which, his Lordship laughing pretty 
 heartily, the pretended poet withdrew in the utmost confu- 
 sion, cursing the gentleman who had contrived to bring him 
 to my Lord, to shew an instance of uncommon effrontery. 
 As in pleading at the bar, the eloquence of Mr. Sommers was 
 masculine and persuasive, free from every thing trivial and 
 affected, so his style m writing was chaste and pure, but at 
 the same time full of spirit and urbanity, and capable of con- 
 veying the most intricate business to the understanding of 
 the reader with the utmost clearness and perspicuity. One 
 of the first of the tracts which he published was his " His- 
 tory of the Succession of the Crown of England, collected 
 out of records written for the satisfaction of the Earl of H." 
 In the original copy there were several additions, in Lord 
 Sommers' s hand writing, from whence the editor of his tracts 
 ascribes it to his Lordship. In this curious piece, he en-
 
 2lM 
 
 deavours to prove the Parliament's power to settle the de- 
 scent of the Crown bv the constitution of our kiusdom : to 
 which purpose be produces all the remarkable instances, 
 from the earliest ages to the reign of King James I. wherein the 
 succession by proximity of blood was broken, and overruled by 
 the states of the realm : and it must be owned that this task was 
 become less difficult by the conference about the succession, 
 written by Parsons, the Jesuit. He proceeds to declare, 
 that it was as easy to shew that in all other kingdoms the 
 next in blood hath been frequently excluded from the suc- 
 cession. As an illustrious instance, instar omnium, (the 
 reasoning ou it being such as in his sentiments extends to 
 all) he recites the speech which the ambassador sent from 
 the state of Trance made to Charles of Lorrain, when they 
 had solemnly rejected him, and placed Hugh Capet upon 
 the throne, notwithstanding Charles was next in blood to the 
 crown * He then proceeds to answer, which he does by 
 instancing the conduct of N\ illiam the Conqueror, who gave 
 the crown to his second son, &c. 6s.c. This tract was writ- 
 ten in favour of the attempt to exclude the Duke of York, 
 the great political subject from the year l6?S till the disso- 
 lution of the Parliament in 1681, in which year he had a 
 considerable share in another piece, intituled, " A Just and 
 Modest Vindication of the Proceedings of the two last Parlia- 
 ments,f in answer to King Charles the Second's Declara- 
 tion to all his loving Subjects, touching the Causes and 
 Reasons that moved him to dissolve the two last Parlia- 
 ments." This piece was reprinted in 1714, by way of an- 
 swer, as it should stem, to a piece intituled " The Old 
 English Constitution in relation to the Hereditary Succes- 
 
 * They told him, that every body knew the right of succession to the throne 
 of France belonged to him, and not to Caput; but yet, say they, the verj 
 >ame laws which give you the right of succession, do judge you also unwor- 
 thy of the same, because you have oqt framed your conduct according to 
 the laws. iscc. &c. 
 
 t Lord Hard wick e says, the. Treatise on Grand Jurors, the Ju-t and Mo- 
 dest Vindication of the last Parliament of Charles II. ami the famous last 
 Speech <>r'hiiig V\ illiam, were all in Lord Somen's hand writing. 
 
 2 m
 
 266 
 
 sion of the Crown antecedent to the Revolution in l6S8, 
 printed the same year, 1714, and published under the title 
 of " A B?-ief History of the Succession of the Crown of 
 England ; wherein facts, collected from the best authorities, 
 are opposed to the novel assertion of indefeasible hereditary 
 right :" this tract it is said was first written by Algernon 
 Sidney, but new drawn by Somers, and corrected by Jones, 
 Attorney General to King Charles ; in it, among other 
 things, it is suggested, that dissolving the Parliament was 
 an arbitrary act, wherein the King had exceeded the power 
 of his prerogative, &c. &c. : the reasons given for the dis- 
 solution were, their entire neglect of the public, and falling 
 into factions, their issuing arbitrary orders for taking his 
 Majesty's loyal subjects into custody, and other opposition 
 to the King's wishes, particularly in voting against the pro- 
 secution of the dissenters, which declaration was ordered to 
 be read in all churches aud chapels throughout the kingdom 
 In the same year, Mr. Somers was the reputed author of 
 another tract, written in defence of the grand jury, for not 
 finding the bill of indictment for high treason against the 
 Earl of Shaftesbury; it was published in 4to. 1681. In 
 the same spirit, he appeared counsel for Pilkington and 
 Shute, Sheriffs of London, Cornish and Bethell, Aldermen, 
 together with Ford, Lord Grey, of Werk, Sir Thos. Play- 
 er, Mr. John Jekyll, father of Sir Jos. Jekyll, who after- 
 wards became his brother in law, with whom he had been 
 intimately acquainted while both were students in the Tem- 
 ple. All these persons, with several others, were tried on 
 the 8th of May, 1683, for a riot in the city, at the election 
 of the Sheriffs the preceding year : the two Sheriffs had 
 continued the poll for new Sheriffs after the common hall 
 was adjourned by the Lord Mayor, for which they were 
 committed to the Tower, June 26, 1682, but were ad- 
 mitted to bail on the 30th of that month ; and being brought 
 with the rest to their trial abovementioned, they were all 
 convicted and fined ; Pilkington, 5001.; Shute, 100 marks; 
 the Lord Grey, Bethel, and Cornish, 1000 marks each;
 
 267 
 
 and the rest in lesser sums. Their counsel were Holt, 
 Thompson, Williams, Wallop, Freke, Somers, and Sir 
 Francis Winnington. As he foresaw a change in the go- 
 vernment established by law would unavoidably follow a 
 change in the religion of the governor, and upon that ac- 
 count had promoted every orderly and legal way of com- 
 passing the exclusion of the Duke of York, so he continued 
 to oppose all the illegal and arbitrary proceedings of King 
 James II. ; and being employed, at the age of 36, as coun- 
 sel in the trial of the seven Bishops in 16S8, he argued with 
 great firmness of speech, and perspicuity of reason, against 
 the dispensing power usurped by the unfortunate Prince. 
 Being the youngest counsel employed for the Bishops, his 
 turn was to speak last of all : but this, which is ordinarily a 
 great disadvantage, (especially where some of the most emi- 
 nent lawyers are retained, as was in the present case,) our 
 young barrister, by the force of his excellent parts, con- 
 verted it into an occasion of displaying his superior merit ; 
 among other things, he produced the case of Thomas and 
 Sorrel, in the Exchequer Chamber, upon the validity of 
 the dispensation of the statute of Edward VI. touching sell- 
 ing of wine, arguing that there it was the opinion of every 
 one of the Judges that there never could be an abrogation, 
 or a suspension, (which is a temporary abrogation) of an 
 act of Parliament but by that legislative power : that, in- 
 deed, it was disputed, how far the King might dispense 
 with the penalties in such a particular law, as to particular 
 persons ; but it was agreed by all, that the King had no 
 power to suspend any law, of which there could be no dis- 
 pensation but by an act of Parliament : that by the laws of 
 all civilized nations, if the Prince does require something to 
 be done, which the person who is to do it takes to be un- 
 lawful, it is not only lawful, but his duty, rescribere Prin- 
 cipi, which is all the Bishops had done here, and that in the 
 most humble manner. That the matter of fact, alledged in 
 the Bishops' petition, had been proved perfectly true, by 
 the journals of both Houses ; that there could be no design
 
 268 
 
 to diminish the prerogative by it, because the King had no 
 such prerogative : that the petition could not be seditious, 
 because it was presented to the King in private, and alone ; 
 nor false, because the matter of it was true ; nor malicious, 
 for the occasion was not sought, the thing was pressed upon 
 them ; nor in short a libel, because the intent was innocent, 
 and they kept within the bounds set by act of Parliament, 
 that gives the subject leave to apply to the King when he is 
 aggrieved. The writer of the life of Somers observes, ffeefo 
 what Mr. Somers urged in this short but very just argument, 
 made more than ordinary impression upon the jury, and was 
 more taken notice of than the argument of the eldest lawyers, 
 who pleaded the Bishops' cause before him. It has been 
 often said, particularly in Swift's Life of Queen .Anne, that 
 this cause was the first event that assisted his rapid rise in 
 the world. But the same writer (of his life) assures us, 
 with great appearance of truth, that from the time of his 
 being engaged for the Sheriffs Pilkington and Shute, &c. 
 his practice increased daily ; and, continues he, it is said he 
 gained £700 per annum by it in King James the Second's 
 reign ; if this was an extraordinary gain at that time, it must 
 be allowed that the times are much altered since in favour of 
 the lawyers. The same writer having observed afterwards, 
 that Mr. Somers inherited a good estate after the death of 
 his father, declares that he was looked upon as one of the 
 most rising counsel in England before he appeared at the 
 trial of the Bishops. With these principles, and such abi- 
 lities, it is no wonder that he was admitted into the most 
 secret counsels of the Prince of Orange, and was one of 
 those who concerted the measures for bringing him over. 
 After his arrival in England, he was chosen representative 
 of his native city. In the convention which met, upon the 
 summons of that Prince, January 2*2, 1688-9, and in the 
 conferences between the two Houses about the word abdi- 
 cated, he was appointed one of the managers for the House 
 of Commons, whereby the Lords were induced to agree to 
 make use of that term against their own amendment ; the
 
 269 
 
 purport of this speech waa as follows — The Lords had 
 changed the word abdicated for deserted, for these two rea- 
 sons, first, because abdicated was a word not known to the 
 common law ; and, secondly, because the common accept- 
 ation of the word amounts to a voluntary express act of re- 
 nunciation, which was not in this case, nor what would fol- 
 low from the premises. To the first objection, Mr. Somen 
 replied, that their first reason had the same force against 
 their own word, deserted, which had no determined sense 
 given to it in the common law : that they were both Latin 
 words, and that the word abdicate doth naturally and pro- 
 perly signify, entirely to renounce, throw off, disown, re- 
 linquish any thing or person, so as to have no further to do 
 with it, and that, whether it be done by express words or in 
 writing, (which was the sense put upon it by their Lord- 
 ships, and is properly called resignation, or cession,) or by 
 doing such acts as are inconsistent with holding or retaining 
 of the thing, which the Commons take to be the present 
 case, and therefore made choice of the word, as that which 
 did above all others most properly express their meaning. 
 This he proceeds to shew was the bare signification of the 
 word, from the authorities recited in the margin, Grot, de 
 jure Belli & Pacis, 1. ii. c.4, and other authorities. He 
 further observes, that Grotius seems to expound the word to 
 mean, that he who hath abdicated any thing, hath so far 
 relinquished it, that he hath no right of return to it, which 
 is the sense the Commons put upon it. On the other hand, 
 the word deserted, in the common acceptance both of civil 
 and canon law, signifies only a bare withdrawing, a tempo- 
 rary quitting and neglect only, which leaves the party at li- 
 berty of returning to it again, (Spigelius's Lexicon, Sec.) 
 which, as the Commons do not take to be the present case, 
 so neither can they think that their Lordships do, because k 
 is expressly said, in one of their reasons given in defence of 
 their last amendment, that they had and were willing to se- 
 cure the nation against the return of King James. IK was 
 answered, among others, by the Earl of Nottingham, who
 
 270 
 
 acknowledged that he had fully made out the signification of 
 the word abdicate in the civil law, but insisting upon it that 
 it was a word not known to the common law : our manager, 
 in his reply, evaded the argument, by observing that the 
 same objection did not lie against the word vacate, which 
 had been applied in a parallel case, in 1 Henry IV. upon re- 
 cord, the words which he produced.* In the beginning of 
 May, 1685, he was made Solicitor General (in the room of 
 Treby), and knighted. While he held this dignity, it is 
 said he had some thoughts of marrying, and made his ad- 
 dresses to a young lady, Mrs. Anne Bawdon, daughter of 
 Sir John Bawdon, an Alderman of London. That he went 
 so far into it as to deliver in a rental of his estate, towards 
 making a settlement, and had several meetings with the 
 young lady's friends to treat of it; but the treaty broke off, 
 on account of a difference about the marriage portion and 
 settlement, to the great regret of the lady, when she found 
 him made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in two years af- 
 terwards. While he held the post of Solicitor General, 
 came on the trials of Lord Preston, Mr. Ashton, and Mr. 
 Elliot, for high treason ; and in that of the Lord Preston, 
 the Solicitor made a very distinguished figure. The trial 
 was held January 17, before Lord Chief Justice Holt, at 
 the Old Bailey. All our Solicitor's speeches .on this occa- 
 sion are well worth the perusal of the reader ; they are to be 
 met with in the " State Trials ;" but as they are too long to 
 be inserted here, I shall only give the following specimen 
 from that spoken at the opening of the charges, in which, 
 having informed the jury, that the general design of the 
 conspiracy was to depose the King and Queen, which was 
 to be effected by a French army and a French fleet, he pro- 
 ceeds in these terms : — " It will be easily granted, that no- 
 thing more dreadful, can enter into the imagination of an 
 Englishman, than the destruction of our fleet, and the con- 
 quest of the kingdom by the arms of France ; but yet it will 
 
 * See also Life of James II. from his own MSS. vol. 2, p. 297-300.
 
 271 
 
 be part of the evidence that we shall offer to you, that the 
 prisoners, and others of the conspirators, seem to be of 
 another mind ; for among the papers which were taken with 
 the prisoners, you will see one which is styled the result of 
 a conference, wherein they pretend to shew the possibility 
 of restoring King James by the power of the French King, 
 and yet to preserve the Protestant religion, and the laws and 
 liberties of the kingdom. They themselves went no farther 
 than to think it possible, and I believe it will be hard to 
 persuade any other Englishman that it is possible, unless 
 some one instance could be given that the French King ever 
 employed his arms for setting up any body but himself, his 
 own religion, and his own government. I never heard that 
 he did pretend to form any part of his glories upon the virtue 
 of moderation or self denial : and there can hardly be ima- 
 gined a greater instance of self denial than for the French 
 King, after he had destroyed the Dutch and English fleets, 
 and subdued our forces at land, not to make use of his suc- 
 cess so as to add these three kingdoms to his conquests, and 
 possess himself of the uncontested dominion of the sea for 
 ever, but only to entitle him, at so great a hazard and ex- 
 pence, to become a mediator between King James and the 
 people of England, and by his mediation to establish the 
 Protestant religion, and the liberties of the people : and yet, 
 as absurd as this seems, you will find this to be the result of 
 one of their conferences, &c." When the legality of the act, 
 in the convention for recognising William and Mary, was 
 called in question by one of the members of the House of 
 Commons, as not being summoned by writ, he spoke with 
 remarkable spirit in defence of it. Bishop Burnet, who 
 furnishes this particular, gives us the substance of his 
 speech, and tells us he said, " if that was not a legal Par- 
 liament, they who were then met, and had taken the oaths 
 enacted by that Parliament, were guilty of high treason; the 
 laws repealed by it were still in force, so they must pre- 
 sently return to King James ; all the money seized, col- 
 lected, and paid, by virtue of that act of Parliament, made
 
 272 
 
 every one that was concerned in it, highly criminal." This, 
 continues the Bishop, he spoke with much zeal, and such 
 an ascendant of authority, that none were prepared to an- 
 swer it : so the bill passed without any more opposition. 
 The Right Rev. historian concludes with a remark, that 
 this was a great service done in a very critical time, and con- 
 tributed not a little to raise Somers's character. On the 2d 
 of May, 1692, he was made Attorney General, (again suc- 
 ceeding Treby, made Lord Chief Justice,) and was ad- 
 vanced thence to the post of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 
 on the 23d of March ensuing. He had now an opportunity 
 of displaying all those extraordinary improvements in learn- 
 ing and knowledge, which he was eminently possessed of, 
 in the business of his profession ; yet the temper which he 
 invariably preserved upon all occasions, whilst he sat on the 
 Bench, rendered him more particularly conspicuous. He 
 was fair and gentle almost to a fault, considering the dignify 
 of his post, and had all the patience and softness, as well as 
 the justice and equity, becoming a great magistrate. How- 
 ever, it was not the ability and unblemished integrity of the 
 Judsje that recommended him to that confidence which Kins 
 William expressed for him on all occasions ; it was the un- 
 common reach of his capacity for all affairs of public con- 
 cern,* that made that Prince consider him above all his mi- 
 
 * How well Lord Somers used the confidence with which William ho- 
 noured him, may be seen in the following extract : — " At the moment when 
 the spontaneous overture of the Princess Anne to Ring William, on the death 
 of Mary, had produced its effect, Lord Somers, who had long regretted the 
 feuds in the Royal Family, repaired to the palace at Kensington : he found 
 the King sitting at the end of his closet, in an agony of grief more acute than 
 seemed consonant to his phlegmatic temper. Absorbed in reflection, William 
 took no notice of the intrusion till Somers himself broke silence, by proposing 
 to terminate the unhappy difference with the Princess: the King replied, 
 ' jSIy Lord, do what you will, 1 can think of no business :' to a repetition of 
 the proposal, the same answer was returned. By the agency of Somers, an 
 interview was accordingly arranged, in which the King received the Princess 
 with cordiality, and informed her, that the palace of St. James should be ap- 
 propriated for her future residence." — Vide Mrs. Burnet's Letter to the Du- 
 chess of Marlborough, and Cox' Life of that Nobleman. This reconciliation 
 however, was rather assumed ihan real.
 
 273 
 
 nisters, and several persons of real worth felt the happy ef- 
 fects of the share he had in the royal favour. When he did 
 not think it proper to countenance some persons, whose 
 learning he admired, though he did not like their characters 
 he was very bountiful to them, at the same time that he gave 
 them to understand he could excuse their visits. For in- 
 stance, he gave a certain person £100, and directed one, 
 whom he entrusted with that commission, to let him know, 
 it was on condition he should give no more attendance upon 
 him ; the person, though a clergyman, having no good re- 
 putation for his morals. This particular comes from the 
 writer of his memoirs, who, also observes that his Lord- 
 ship did not confine his protection of men of letters to his 
 countrymen only, but that foreigners also shared his fa- 
 vour and bounty"; and Mr. Le Clerc in particular relates as 
 follows ; — "About the time that Mr. Bayle's Historical and 
 Critical Dictionary was much talked of, as a work ready to 
 be published, my Lord Somers had such a character of it, 
 that he was desirous of doing something for the author ; ac- 
 cordingly, he wrote to a friend in Holland, intimating, that 
 if Mr. Bayle accepted of his patronage for his dictionary, he 
 had 150 guineas at his service. Mr. Bayle (continues the 
 writer) had been suspected of caballing with persons in the 
 French interest, and it was so far proved upon him, that 
 King William ordered him to be removed from his pro- 
 fessor's place by the magistracy of Rotterdam. This highly 
 disgusted that gentleman; and on many occasions he ex- 
 pressed his resentment against King William, but in none 
 more than in this : for, when a friend of his communicated 
 to him my Lord's generous disposition towards him, and 
 represented how much it would be for his honour and ad- 
 vantage, Mr. Bayle answered, it was true; bat he could not 
 bring himself to pay that compliment to a Lord who was mi- 
 nister to a Prince of ivhom he had reason to complain ; that 
 King William, concludes this writer, had reason to com- 
 plain oj him, we may very well imagine, when he was so well 
 with the. French Court that Count Guiscard offered him a 
 
 <J N
 
 274 
 
 thousand crowns a year, and the liberty of his religion, if 
 he would return to France, and be tutor to his son, the 
 King having given him permission to do it. — Vide Biog. 
 Britan. Mr. Walpole calls this Life of Lord Somers, 
 from which these extracts are taken, a poor performance ; 
 yet this honourable author has not scrupled ^to cite this 
 writer's authority, for several facts, for his own work. 
 
 Among others in whose affairs he took a lively interest, 
 was the celebrated Penn ; his Lordship, with the Duke of 
 Buckingham, Lords Ranelagh, Rochester, and Sydney, 
 went in a body to King William, to represent the hardness 
 of Penn's case to his Majesty, in consequence of which he 
 was, in 1694, restored to his estates in Pennsylvania. After 
 the death of Archbishop Tillotson, in the same year, Mr. 
 now Sir John Sommers, who had felt the sincerest friend- 
 ship for him, for many years, made use of his interest to 
 procure an additional annuity for his widow from the King. 
 In 1695, Addison published his poem on King William, 
 with an introduction, in rhyme, to Lord Sommers, who was 
 so much pleased with this poem, and the personal attach- 
 ment expressed by Addison, that, in 1699, knowing his 
 inclination to visit the continent, and his inability to carry 
 his wishes into execution, from the insufficiency of his 
 finances, he generously procured him an annual pension 
 from the Crown, of £300, for the express purpose of 
 enabling him to travel." — Vide Dr. Drake's Addison, p. 314. 
 He afterwards dedicated his travels to Lord Sommers, who 
 recommended him, on his arrival in town, to Lord Halifax, 
 through whose interference with Godolphin, to whom he 
 introduced Addison, the latter was chosen to celebrate the 
 victory of Blenheim, the poem on which obtained him mi- 
 nisterial patronage. From 1695, the first year after the death 
 of Queen Mary, he was constituted one of the Lords Justices 
 of the kingdom during his Majesty's absence abroad, every 
 year as long as he held the great seal.* This honour, 
 
 * The Duke of Shrewsbury, waiting ou Lord Sorners, May 8, 1695, with
 
 275 
 
 indeed, was nothing more than an appendage to his place : 
 the same may be said of his being appointed one of the go- 
 vernors of the Charter-House, upon the first vacancy, and 
 one of the trustees or commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, 
 to which noble charity he had, July 16, 1692, subscribed 
 £500 : but this year proved to him unlucky in another re- 
 spect. It was this year that the Earl of Bellamont informed 
 him of the great spoil committed by some pirates in the 
 West Indies, and represented the absolute necessity of re- 
 dressing them : Lord Sommers communicated it to the King, 
 who commanded the Lords of the Admiralty to examine the 
 affair, and provide a ship for that service ; but that board 
 declaring there was not one to be spared from the occasions 
 of the war, rather than that such a necessary service should 
 be lost, his Lordship consented to be a part of the charge of 
 fitting out a ship, called the Adventure Galley, on purpose, 
 of which Capt. Kidd was made commander, who turned pi- 
 rate himself. This public-spirited act was afterwards made 
 an article (the 13th) in his Lordship's impeachment by the 
 House of Commons. But to return, his title, in the mean 
 time, of one of the Lord's Justices of the kingdom was now 
 raised to that of Lord High Chancellor of England, on the 
 22d of April, 1697, when he was called to the peerage by 
 the title of Lord Sommers, Baron of Evesham, in the county 
 of Worcester. For the support of these honours and dig- 
 nities, his estate not being sufficient, his Majesty made him 
 a grant of the manors of Reygate* and Hawleigh, in Sur- 
 rey, and another grant of £'2100 per annum out of the fee 
 
 the warrant to be a Baron, tells him that he had orders to say every thing h e 
 could imagine to persuade him to accept of a title ; " by your objections you 
 may give me leave to tell you, that you are as partial and unreasonable, 
 with too much modesty, as some are with too much ambition/' Lord Sun- 
 derland, in his letter to King William, says, " Lord Somers is the life, the 
 soul, the spirit of his party, and can answer for it." — Dr. Nash, p- 55. 
 
 * Dr. Nash says, " the manor of Reigate was given him, because he had 
 long refused the Peerage pressed upon him, saying, he had not fortune suf- 
 ficient to support the dignity. "
 
 276 
 
 farm rents (see his answer to the 8th article of his impeach- 
 ment). The manors given to him formerly belonged to the 
 Lord Monson, who forfeited them by siding with Cromwell, 
 and being concerned in the death of Charles I. After the 
 Restoration, they were given to the Duke of York, and he 
 having forfeited them by his abdication, they merged in the 
 Crown. The yearly value of both was not above £G00. 
 The grant was made to Joseph Jekyll, Esq. in trust, for his 
 Lordship, who by this means came to have great influence in 
 the election of Members of Parliament for that borough, 
 which before this was entirely under the direction of Sir John 
 Parsons, a wealthy brewer in London. Thus the writer of 
 his life ; and so far may pass without censure ; " but when 
 he proceeds to tell us," says the author of his life, in the 
 Biog. Britt. 1st ed. " that in carrying these elections his 
 Lordship met with great opposition from the neighbouring 
 gentry ; insomuch that several of his friends in London be- 
 came freeholders in this manor — as Mr. Congreve, Mr. 
 Tonson, and others, to strengthen that interest ; it must 
 occur to every reader, that this busy management, which is 
 related in the view of doing honour to his Lordship, is 
 really one of those few blemishes that appear in his charac- 
 ter. But who can help smiling at this writer's weakness, 
 (continues the author of his life, as above) when we find 
 him afterwards, by way of defence of his Lordship against 
 that part of his impeachment, by the House of Commons, 
 which relates to the grant of Rygate, observing, ' that 
 this manor was cried up to be of great value, whereas, 
 indeed, it is not £500 a year ;' what the party disliked 
 most in it, was the influence it gave the proprietor in 
 elections for members of Parliament, in which, however, 
 my Lord Somers did never carry above one member, except 
 in one election, when Mr. Thurland and Mr. Harvey* 
 turned out Sir John Parsons and his son ; but Thurland, 
 
 • Translator of Passion of Byblis, and a Satire of Juvenal, in Tonson's 
 Collections.
 
 277 
 
 forgetting by whose favour he was chosen, fell in with the 
 opposite party ; and ever after that, my Lord Somers com- 
 pounded the matter with Sir John Parsons, who was con- 
 stantly chosen with a friend of his Lordship. It is said (con- 
 tinues he) that this agreement was made when Sir John Par- 
 sons gave his vote for Sir Thomas Abney to be Lord 
 Mayor, in opposition to Sir Charles Duncombe, and that it 
 was my Lord Somers who engaged Sir John to vote for Sir 
 Thomas, which vote carried the election." At the time he 
 received the Peerage, he was become the head of the 
 Whigs ; and it was reckoned that the chief strength of that 
 party lay in his credit with the King, and the prudent me- 
 thods he took to govern the party, and to moderate that heat 
 and those jealousies with which his Majesty had been so long 
 disgusted in the first years of his reign. We have a re- 
 markable instance of this credit and confidence of the King 
 in Somers, related by Burnet, in his History of his own 
 Times, vol.3, p. 235, 236, 8vo. ed. relative to Charnock; 
 and we have another instance of his credit with the King, re- 
 lated by the same historian, as follows: " His Lordship, in 
 1695, proposed that which would have put an effectual stop 
 to clipping for the future : it was, that a proclamation should 
 be prepared with such secrecy, as to be published all over 
 England on the same day, ordering money to pass only by 
 weight; but, at the same time, during three or four days 
 after the proclamation, all persons in every county, that had 
 money, should bring it in to be told and weighed, and the 
 difference was to be registered, and the money to be sealed 
 up to the end of the time given, and then to be restored to 
 the owners; and assurance was to be given, that this defi- 
 ciency in weight should be laid before the Parliament, to be 
 supplied another way, and to be allowed them in the follow- 
 ing taxes. But though the King liked this proposition, yet 
 the rest of the Council were against it ; they said this would 
 stop the circulation of money, and might occasion tumults 
 in the markets ; that those whose money was thus to be 
 weighed, would not believe the difference between the *
 
 278 
 
 and the weight would be allowed them, and so grow mutinous , 
 therefore they were for leaving the matter to the next Par- 
 liament : so this proposition was laid aside, which would 
 have saved the nation above a million of money ; for now, as 
 all people believed that the Parliament would receive the 
 clipped money in its tale, clipping went on, and became 
 more visibly scandalous than it had ever been." I have given 
 the King's approbation of this proposal as an instance of 
 Lord Sommers's credit with his Majesty, who otherwise could 
 not, it is apprehended, have gone into a project that lay 
 open to such unanswerable objections. In short, what su 
 perior abilities soever, in other parts, may be allowed to 
 Lord Sommers, it is certain, in this most arduous one, arising 
 from the bad state of the coin, he must yield the palm to 
 Lord Halifax, who was the only person that appeared equal 
 to the task. However, his conduct did not escape the cen- 
 sure of some of his own party, for being too compliant with 
 his royal master's humours and notions, or at least of being 
 too feeble in representing his errors to him. Upon the dis- 
 covery of the assassination plot, in 1695, such an alteration 
 was made by him in the commission of the peace, as gave 
 great disgust to many people. — The fact was thus : when 
 the design of the assassination and invasion plot, in 169.3, 
 and the following year, were discovered, a voluntary asso- 
 ciation being entered into by both Houses of Parliament, it 
 was sent round the nation. In such a time of danger, it was 
 thought that those who did not enter voluntarily into it, were 
 so ill affected, or at least so little zealous for the public 
 good, that it was not fit they should continue justices of the 
 peace : whereupon an order passed in Council, that all those 
 who had so refused should be turned out of the commission. 
 Lord Sommers had obeyed this order, according to the re- 
 presentations made to him by the Lords Lieutenant and 
 Custodes Rotulorum of the several counties, who were not 
 equally discreet. Hewever, he laid these representations 
 before the Council, and had a special order for every person 
 that was so turned out. But it was now charged upon him,
 
 279 
 
 that he had advised and procured those orders. Not lon<* 
 after the peace of Ryswick, the influence of Lord Sommers 
 in Parliament began to decline ; his Majesty being not only 
 obliged by the new Parliament, which met in December, 
 1698, to reduce his army to a very low state in England and 
 Ireland, but also to send home his Dutch guards, notwith- 
 standing the great reluctance he expressed on that occasion — 
 for he even sent a message to the Commons, written with 
 his own hand, in which he assured the House that he in- 
 tended to send them away, unless, out of consideration to 
 him, the House be disposed to find a way for continuing 
 them longer in his service, which his Majesty would take 
 very kindly.* The King, before his departure for Holland, 
 the preceding summer, communicated to the Lord Chan- 
 cellor a proposition made by Count Tallard, to prevent a 
 war about the succession of Spain, upon the death of the 
 then feeble mortarch of that kingdom ; and the Chancellor 
 received, in August following, a letter from his Majesty, 
 then in Holland, informing him, that fresh offers had been 
 made to the same purpose, and requiring him privately to 
 dispatch full powers, under the great seal, with the names in 
 blank, to empower his Majesty to treat with the afore- 
 mentioned Count. The order was punctually complied 
 with, and the negociations being immediately entered 
 upon, a treaty was concluded. This was the first par- 
 tition treaty ; and in the next session of Parliament, which 
 began November lG, 1699, great complaints were made in 
 the House of Commons against the Chancellor ; and the 
 House having resolved, on the tith of December, to push 
 
 * In this measure, however, the Commons stood firm to their purpose, 
 and the foreign troops were shipped off". Upon this occasion, once, and but 
 once, in his life, William lost his temper in government ; a well-vouched 
 tradition relates, that when the account of the refusal of the Commons to 
 pay respect to his last message was brought to him, he walked some time 
 silent through the room, with his eyes fixed on the ground, then stopped, 
 threw them round with wildness, and said, " If J had a son, by G — these 
 guards should nut quit me."— Dnlrvmplc, vol. 9, p. 129. Editor of James's 
 Life, from his own paper..
 
 280 
 
 the resumption of the grants of the Irish forfeited estates, 
 by tacking it to the land-tax bill, this donation of the Irish 
 forfeitures, which were intended to be set apart for dis- 
 charging the national debt, was one of the charges brought 
 against Lord Sommers ;and an address was concerted, April 
 10, 1700, praying that John Lord Sommers, Lord Chancellor 
 of England, should be removed for ever from his Majesty s 
 presence and Council : several complaints being made against 
 this motion in the debates, Sir Edward Seymour expressly 
 declared, that the original mischief proceeded from the mi- 
 nisters, and from the chief of them, the Lord Chancellor ; 
 this address was however passed in the negative. The Par- 
 liament being prorogued the next day, his Majesty on the 
 19th retired to Hampton Court, where, in a few days, 
 sending for the Lord Chancellor, he wished him to surren- 
 der the seals voluntarily ; which being declined by his Lord- 
 ship, the King sent to demand them, and they were ac- 
 cordingly delivered up at the close of the month. The 
 writer of his life tells us, that " it was said by some, who 
 were no strangers to the Lord Somers, that his Lordship 
 represented to- his Majesty, at Hampton Court, that though 
 he was very willing to resign the seals, and retire from bu- 
 siness, yet, being convinced that those who had advised his 
 Majesty to take them from him, did it with a view rather to 
 serve themselves than the government ; if his Majesty would 
 consent that he should continue in his post, he doubted not 
 to be able to vindicate himself against all the calumnies of 
 his enemies, and maintain himself in it with the reputation 
 due to his zeal and integrity." The simple fact of this is 
 confirmed by Oldmixon, who told the same story many years 
 afterwards, with somewhat better judgment, as follows: — 
 " The King," says he, " some time before the prorogation, 
 which was April 1 1, had given his Lordship a hint of the 
 necessity he should be under to part from him, in order to 
 accommodate matters with those in the opposition to the 
 measures of the Administration. His Lordship, upon this, 
 told his Majesty, that he knew very well what his enemies
 
 281 
 
 aimed at, by their abusing him, and persecuting him as they 
 had of late done. That the seal was his greatest crme, and 
 if he quitted it he should be forgiven ; but knowing what ill 
 use would be made of it, if it were put into their hands, he 
 was resolved, with his Majesty's permission, to keep it, in 
 defiance of their malice, and to stand all the trials they 
 should put upon him with the support of his innocence, and 
 the hopes of being serviceable to his Majesty. That he 
 feared them not, but if he would be as firm to his friends as 
 they would be to him, they should be able to carry whatever 
 points he had in view, for the public welfare, in a new Par- 
 liament. The King shook his head, as a sign of his diffi- 
 dence, and only said, it must be so." Mr. Oidmixon tells 
 us also, that the gentleman who was his informer had it 
 from Lord Somers himself. Mr. Archdeacon Cox, in his 
 Life of Marlborough, says, " that Lord Somers was indig- 
 nant at the timidity of the Whigs, who had withdrawn from 
 business about 1699 ; but he persisted in retaining the seals 
 till he received his formal dismission in May, ] 700." This 
 step, however, of King William's, of depriving Lord So- 
 mers of the seals, was the occasion of his Majesty losing 
 many of his friends, especially of the Whig party ; but 
 though his removal displeased numbers, yet it seemed not to 
 affect his Lordship, who retired with content and temper ; 
 and upon all occasions, in Parliament, served the King as 
 if he had not lost his place. On the 14th April, 1701, the 
 House of Commons having first, at Ins own request, ad- 
 mitted him to speak before them in his own defence,* 
 
 * Lord Somers then told them, that when he received the King's letter 
 concerning the partition treaty, with an order to send over the necessary 
 powers, in the most secret manner, he thought it would have been taking too 
 much upon him to put a stop to a treaty of t uch consequence, when the life 
 of the King of Spain was so precarious ; for, had the King died before the 
 treaty was finished, and he been blamed for delating the necessary powers, 
 he could not have justified his own conduct, since the King's letter was really 
 a warrant. That, nevertheless, he had written a letter to his Majesty, ob- 
 jecting to several particulars in the treaty, and proposing other articles, 
 which he thought were for the interest of his country. That he thought him- 
 
 2 O
 
 282 
 
 when the statement, says Mr. Coxe, he made was so clear, 
 that Walpole was induced to believe that the prosecution 
 would have been withdrawn ; and had the impetuous 
 zeal of his friends been restrained, and his enemies 
 been permitted to proceed without interruption, Walpole 
 apprehended they would not have been able to divide 
 the House ; the Commons however sent up an im- 
 peachment of high crimes and misdemeanors against him 
 to the Lords ; and in consequence thereof an address 
 was presented, on the 23d, to his Majesty, to the same pur- 
 port with that which miscarried in the preceding session ; 
 and on the 19th of May, the articles of his impeachment 
 were exhibited to the Lords, by the Tory leaders, for his 
 conduct in moving the partition treaty ; but, upon a quar- 
 rel between the two Houses, he was acquitted by the Lords 
 on the 7th of June, without any further prosecution of the 
 Commons. The whole account of this prosecution is so 
 largely set forth in the general histories of England, that to 
 repeat them here would be deviating from the design of this 
 work ; referring the reader, therefore, to those histories, I 
 shall only mention some particulars scarcely taken notice of 
 in them. — The first relates to Kidd's affair,* and is, if true, 
 an undeniable testimony of the innocence of Lord Somers, 
 as well as of the other lords and gentlemen concerned in it : 
 " When the Parliament, that debated this matter, was risen, 
 his Majesty was pleased to honour a noble Lord with his 
 company at dinner. While they were at table, a discourse 
 arose concerning Kidd, and the trouble occasioned by that 
 business to the persons concerned in the grant ; upon which 
 his Majesty said, that, if, by the law of England he could 
 
 self bound to put the great seal to the treaty when it was concluded : that, as 
 a Privy Counsellor, he had offered his best advice, and, as Chancellor, exe- 
 cuted his office, according to his duty. His impeachment was carried by a 
 majority of 7. — Hume. 
 
 * Mr. Hume declares, that some of the members condescended, in the 
 determination of the ruin of Somers, to tamper with Kidd while he was a pri- 
 soner in Newgate, to accuse Lord Somers as having encouraged him in his 
 piracy.
 
 283 
 
 beicitness, he could of his oicn knowledge justify the Lfirds 
 concerned, in all they had done in that affair."* Another 
 particular, which more properly falls under the plan of this 
 work, relates to Lord Havershani's speech on the partition 
 treaty, in the conference between the two Houses on the 
 '24th of June, when his Lordship declared his opinion of the 
 prosecution in the following terms : — " One thing there is, 
 though I cannot speak it, being bound by the orders of the 
 House, yet I must give some answer ; that is, as to 
 the Lords voting in their own case ; it requires an an- 
 swer, though 1 cannot go into the debate of it. The Com- 
 mons themselves have made the precedeut; for, in these 
 impeachments, they have allowed men, guilty of the same 
 crimes, to vote in their House ; and, therefore, we have 
 not made any distinction in our House, that some should 
 vote and some not. The Lords have so high an opinion of 
 the justice of the House of Commons, that they hope jus- 
 tice will never be made use of as a mask for any design ; and, 
 therefore, give me leave to say, though I am not to argue it, 
 'tis a plain demonstration that the Commons think these 
 Lords innocent; and I think the proposition is undeniable, 
 for there are several Lords in the same crimes : in the same 
 facts there is no distinction : and the Commons leave some 
 of these men at the head of affairs, near the King's person, 
 to do any mischief, if they were inclined to it, and impeach 
 others, when they are both alike guilty, and concerned in 
 the same fact. This is a thing I was in hopes I should ne- 
 ver have heard asserted, when the beginning of it was from 
 the House of Commons." This was spoken with an eye to 
 the Earl of Jersey, who was Plenipotentiary with the Earl 
 of Portland, and signed the partition treaty ; he was then 
 Lord Chamberlain, and though he was much more con- 
 cerned in the affair of the treaty than Lord Sonnners, yet he 
 was left near the King's person, a Privy Counsellor, and no 
 
 * Hume tells us, that the King offered to contribute half the expense of 
 fitting out Kidd, and reserve to himself one-tenth of the profits ; but he never 
 advanced the money.
 
 284 
 
 vote to remove him. In return for that complacency, his 
 Lordship gave his vote against Lord Sommers. Sir Joseph 
 Williamson signed the partition treaty as a Plenipotentiary, 
 and then as a Privy Counsellor, and unimpeached. Third- 
 ly, Lord Sommers was accused respecting the Irish, grants. 
 Sir Edward Seymour and Sir Stephen Fox did the same 
 when they were Lords of the Treasury, but not a word was 
 said of them. Fourthly, Lord Sommers was charged for 
 being concerned in the setting out the Adventure galley, 
 winch Kidd ran away with ; the Duke of Shrewsbury and 
 the Earl of Romney lay open to the same charges, yet no 
 notice was taken of them. " The seals," says Mr. Evelyn, 
 " were taken from the Lord Chancellor, though he had been 
 acquitted by a great majority of votes, of what was charged 
 against him in the House of Commons. This being in term 
 time, put some stop to business ; many eminent lawyers re- 
 fusing to accept the office, considering the uncertainty of 
 things m this fluctuating conjuncture. It is certain that the 
 Chancellor was a most excellent lawyer, very learned in all 
 pohte literature, a superior pen, master of a handsome style 
 and easy conversation, but he is said to make too much 
 haste to be as rich as his predecessor, and most in place, in 
 this age, did, to a more prodigious excess than was ever 
 known. — Tory Wright at length accepted the seals." Diary. 
 The conduct of Lord Sommers's persecutors is a glaring in- 
 stance of the rage of that party which pushed on this pro- 
 secution ; and it is set up here as a sea-mark for the 
 direction of others to avoid ship-wrecking honour and 
 conscience against the same rock. Such things, indeed, 
 are generally laughed off at a game between the ins and outs, 
 necessary to be played, upon some occasions, by every gen- 
 tleman of fortune who is actuated by a becoming ambition 
 not to lead the life of a drone in contemptible obscurity. 
 But may it not be justly stiled the worst sort of gaming ? 
 It is remarkable, in the game (if I must give it that name) 
 now under consideration, many of the gamesters lived to see 
 and condemn their own folly in playing it : to which re-
 
 285 
 
 flection die Lord Bolingbroke In particular, one of the 
 ablest and most active of the party concerned, was brought 
 by sad experience. — (See his Reilections on the Use and 
 Abuse of History.) Mr. Archdeacon Coxe says, that Lord 
 Somers, by whose advice King William had been guided to 
 make a further change in the Ministry, then composed of 
 Tories, was sensible of the critical state of affairs in 
 1701-2, and not only declined accepting an office, but in- 
 duced the chief members of his party to withdraw their pre- 
 tensions, and give a disinterested support to Government. 
 The speech from the Throne, which was the composition of 
 Somers, contained an animated appeal to the spirit and ho- 
 nour of the nation. — The manly eloquence of this speech ex- 
 cited a transport of enthusiasm. 
 
 King William dying not long after the acquittal of Lord 
 Sommers, namely, February 26, 1702, his Lordship being 
 in no favour at the new Court,* withdrew to a private way of 
 life, passing his time, with universal esteem, in the most 
 elegant and useful studies ; and no pains has been wanting to 
 do justice to this part of his character. According to one 
 writer, " his Lordship now gave himself up entirely to 
 the studies of history, antiquity, and other curious parts of 
 learning. That he took a particular pleasure in prints and 
 medals, and was a masterly judge of their genuineness and 
 excellence.i* He also delighted himself in his retirement, at 
 his seat near Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire ; and the sweets of so- 
 litude, and the Muses, soon made more than amends for the loss 
 of the fatigues and honours of the office of Chancellor." By 
 another writer it is said, " all the leisure his Lordship had, by 
 being out of the Ministry, he employed in entertaining 
 himself with medals, prints, and books, of which he had a 
 
 * Even the Privy Council was purged of the obnoxious party at the ac- 
 cession of Anne, in 1702, for the names of the Whig leaders, Somers, &c. 
 &c. found no place in the list. — Coxes Life of Marlborough. 
 
 + It was probably at this time that Lord Somers gave more than £ 300 
 for the collection of pamphlets which belonged to Tom Britten, the mimical 
 small-coal man, who died in 1714,
 
 286 
 
 collection equally large and well chosen." This is evidently 
 nothing else but a bad copy of Mr. Addison's original, ex- 
 pressed in the following terms : — " This great man," says 
 that excellent author, " was not more conspicuous as a pa- 
 triot and a statesman, than as a person of universal know- 
 lege and learning. As, by dividing his time between the 
 public scenes of business, and the private retirements of life, 
 he took care to keep up both the good and great man ; so, 
 by the same means, he accomplished himself, not only in 
 the knowledge of men and things, but in the skill of the 
 most refined arts and sciences. He enjoyed, in the highest 
 perfection, two talents, which do not often meet in the 
 same person — the greatest strength of good sense, and the 
 most exquisite taste of politeness : without the first, learn- 
 ing is but an incumbrance ; and, without the last, is un- 
 graceful. My Lord Somers was master of these qualilica- 
 tions in so eminent a degree, that all the parts of knowledge 
 appeared to him with such additional strength and beauty, 
 as they want in the possession of others. K he delivered 
 his opinion of a piece of poetry, a statue, or a picture, 
 there was something so just and delicate in his observations, 
 as naturally produced pleasure and assent in those who heard 
 him." — Freeholder, No. 39. 
 
 During the retirement of Lord Sommers, he was chosen 
 President of the Royal Society, of which he had been long 
 a member. He was also chosen Recorder of Gloucester ; yet 
 he attended in the House of Lords, and, persevering in his 
 principles, he opposed the bill to prevent occasional con- 
 formity, in 1703. Swift says, that Lord Somers told him, 
 that if he had the least suspicion the rejecting this bill* 
 would hurt the Church, or do a kindness to the dissenters, 
 he would lose his right hand rather than speak against it. 
 
 * The bill was a favourite measure with the Tories, as tending to enforce 
 the Test Act against even those dissenters who were willing occasionally to take 
 the sacrament according to the ritual of the Church, was revived with great 
 keenness in 1703, and carried in the House of Commons, but thrown out by 
 the Lords.
 
 287 
 
 This was also the opinion of Lord Peterborow arid the ce- 
 lebrated Burnet. He was also one of the managers for the 
 Lords in the conference between the two Houses upon it in 
 1702, and when it was brought into the House the next year, 
 he gave his vote in the negative. There is good reason, 
 however, to believe, that he promoted the bill for settling 
 the first fruits and tenths, towards augmenting the poorer 
 benefices of the clergy. The writer of Bishop Burnet's 
 Life, having mentioned that prelate's designs in this parti- 
 cular, in the years 1696 and 1697, proceeds to inform us, 
 that he had concerted his measures, in 1701, with Lord Go- 
 dolphin and Lord Somers ; and, in confirmation of it, has 
 inserted a letter of this last, written in answer to one from 
 the Bishop, as follows : 
 
 " My Lord, « November 22, 1701. 
 
 " I acknowledge the honour of your Lordship's letter of the 17th with 
 great thankfullness, I wish it may be in my power to contribute to the ex- 
 cellent design. I promise you no man shall enter into it more willingly, and 
 shall labour in it more heartily. The point of the first fruits and tenths is 
 uhat I have proposed several times, with much earnestness, but without 
 success. When I have the honour of seeing your Lordship, we shall, I hope, 
 discourse at large upon the whole subject ; in the mean time, allow me to as- 
 sure you, that I am, with great and sincere respect, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 " SOMERS." 
 
 In 1705, when a motion was made in the House of 
 Peers to appoint a day for enquiring into the dangers of the 
 Church, about which so many terrible ideas had been 
 formed by the Tories, Lord Somers, the great orator of 
 the Whigs, after censuring the authors of such reports as 
 actuated by the basest motives to embroil the nation at 
 home, and defeat the glorious designs of the Queen abroad, 
 concluded a manly and impressive speech with an animated 
 eulogium on the conduct of the existing Administration, 
 composed of the moderate Tories and Whigs* In 1706, 
 though unpossessed of any public employ, he projected a plan 
 for uniting the two kingdoms, which was generally approv- 
 
 xe's L'fe of Marlborough.
 
 288 
 
 cd ; anil this being a point which Queen Anne had greatly 
 at heart, her Majesty took notice of his merit, and appoint- 
 ed him one of the managers of the Union. Mr. Walpole 
 declares it was projected by Him. Bishop Burnet says he 
 was the chief manager of the treaty. Mr. Addison goes 
 further, and insinuates a probability of his projecting, not 
 only the plan, but the Bill of Regency : these are his 
 words — " As he (Lord Somers) was admitted into the se- 
 cret and most retired thoughts and councils of his royal 
 master King William, a great share in the plan of the Pro- 
 testant Succession is universally ascribed to him ; and if he 
 did not entirely project the union of the two kingdoms, and 
 the Bill of Regency, which seem to be the only methods in 
 human policy for securing to us so inestimable a blessing, 
 there is none who will deny him to have been the chief con- 
 ductor in both these glorious works ; for posterity are 
 obliged to allow him that praise after his death, which he 
 industriously declined while he was living." — (Freeholder.) 
 And to the same purpose Burnet observes, speaking of Fer- 
 guson's plot for a rebellion in Scotland, to be assisted from 
 France, that the Lords concluded the whole matter with 
 voting, that the encouraging of this plot came from the not 
 settling the succession of the Crown of Scotland in the 
 House of Hanover : that they laid this vote before the 
 Queen, and proposed, that when this was done, they would 
 promote the union of the two kingdoms upon just and rea- 
 sonable terms. This being ended, they made a long and vi- 
 gorous address, in answer to that which the Commons had 
 made against them : this address was penned with great care 
 and much force. Both the addresses were drawn up by the 
 Lord Somers. In the year 1706 he also proposed a bill for 
 preventing delays and expences in the proceedings at law, as 
 also some regulations with regard to passing private acts of 
 Parliament. " His Lordship," says Bishop Burnet, "made 
 a motion in the House of Lords to correct some proceed- 
 ings in the common law and in Chancery, that were both 
 diiatory and chargeable. He began the motion with some
 
 289 
 
 instances that Mere more conspicuous and gross, and he 
 managed the matter so that both the Lord Keeper and the 
 Judges concurred with him : that it passed generally for a 
 maxim, that judges ought rather to enlarge than contract 
 their jurisdiction; a bill passed the House that began a re- 
 formation of the proceedings at law, which, as things now 
 stand, are certainly amongst the greatest grievances of the 
 nation. When this went through the House of Commons, 
 it was visible that the interest of under officers, clerks, and 
 attornies, whose gains were to be lessened by this bill, was 
 more considered than the interest of the nation itself. Se- 
 veral clauses, how beneficial soever to the subject, which 
 touched on their profit, were left out by the Commons. 
 But what fault soever the Lords might have found with these 
 alterations, yet, to avoid all disputes with the Commons, 
 the amendments were agreed to. There Mas another ge- 
 neral complaint made of the private acts of Parliament, that 
 passed through both Houses too easily, and in so great a 
 number, that it took up a great part of the session to exa- 
 mine them, even in that cursory way that was subject to 
 many inconveniences. The fees that were paid for these, 
 to the Speakers, and clerks of both Houses, inclined them to 
 favour and promote them ; so the Lord Somers proposed 
 such a regulation in that matter, as will probably have a 
 good effect for the future." In 1?07 we find (says Coxe) 
 Lord Somers moving a resolution, that no peace could be 
 reasonable or safe, either for her Majesty or her allies, if 
 Spain and the W est Indies were suffered to continue in the 
 possession of the House of Bourbon: according to the same 
 authority, he was this year offered the appointment of joint 
 Plenipotentiary for the peace (of 1708), but refused it. Mr. 
 Coxe says, he was only offered this appointment by Marl- 
 borough to elude giving it to Halifax, who was much of- 
 fended at being rejected this office. Upon a change of the 
 ministerial measures, in 1708,* he was placed at the head 
 
 " Somers at length became peevish and impatient in hia retirement. The
 
 290 
 
 of the Ministry, in the post of President of the Council, 
 from Avhicli he was afterwards removed by the intrigues of 
 Harley and Mrs. Masham. " The great capacity and in- 
 flexible integrity of Lord Somers," continues the Bishop, 
 " would have made his promotion to this post very accept- 
 able to the Whigs at any juncture, but it was most particu- 
 larly so at this time, for it was expected that propositions 
 for a general peace would be quickly made ; and so they 
 reckoned that the management of that upon which not only 
 the safety of the nation but of all Europe depended, was in 
 sure hands when he was set at the head of the councils, 
 upon whom neither ill practices, nor false colours, were 
 likely to make any impression. Thus the minds of all those 
 who were truly zealous for the present constitution, were 
 much quieted by this promotion, though their jealousies had 
 a deep root, and were not easily removed. In the former 
 remark, the reader is taught to ascribe to Lord Somers the 
 projection of those plans which were necessary for the safe- 
 ty and welfare of the kingdom, and here he is directed to 
 look upon him as the Palladium, the virtue of whose pre- 
 sence was sufficient to secure the possession of those bless- 
 ings. Lord Somers concurred in rejecting the proposals for 
 a general peace, offered by the French, in 1709, at Ger- 
 truydenburgh, and in the resolution for carrying on the war. # 
 'Tis well known what use the Tories made of the Ministry's 
 rejecting these proposals at Gertruydenburgh, to effectuate 
 a change of hands; and in the General Dictionary (article 
 Somers) there are extracts from two letters of his Lord- 
 ship's, written at the breaking-up of the negociations, to the 
 
 Prince George, of Denmark, expressed a particular antipathy to him. — ^ 
 The Duke of Somerset affirmed, that the Queen's dislike to admitting So- 
 mers into the Cabinet, arose from an idea of his having personally offended 
 the Prince of Denmark. But, after the death of the Prince, Somers was, 
 in 1709, (not 1708) at length made President of the Council, hut not," 
 continues Mr. Coxe, " with the Queen's approbation." 
 
 * The same year he was appointed one of the trustees for the poor Pa- 
 latines ; and the Duke of Montague dying this year, Lord Somers was ap- 
 pointed a trustee for his son, the last Duke, then a minor.
 
 291 
 
 Earl of Wharton, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which 
 discover the President's temper upon this occasion. The 
 first of these extracts is as follows : — 
 
 " As for news, I never was so little able to answer your demands. It is 
 avowed, that no resolution is yet taken as to the continuing or determining 
 the present Parliament. But the falling of stocks here, and the uneasiness 
 occasioned in Holland, while the uncertainty continues, seems to make it 
 absolutely necessary to have this matter remain no longer in suspense. In 
 the mean time, our late disturbances, and the unsettledness of our affairs, 
 give courage to our enemies ; for the French ambassadors at Gertruyden- 
 burgh have sent a very insolent letter, or rather manifesto, to the Pensioner, 
 in order to justify their breaking off the negociation. I hope so unnecessary 
 and so insolent a provocation will give the Dutch courage enough to resent it 
 as they ought, but I have not the resolution taken upon it. It breaks my 
 heart to think what a noble game we are unnecessarily throwing away " 
 
 This letter was dated July 15, 1710, and the negociations 
 were accordingly broke off on the 20th, after ail the preli- 
 minaries for a treaty of peace were agreed on, only the 
 Dutch insisted that the French King should take upon him- 
 self to compel his grandson Philip to quit the throne of 
 Spain, and not leave the Allies engaged in a war with Spain, 
 when France should be in peace : this the French King ab 
 solutely refused to engage for, and the French ministers re- 
 turned to Paris the 25th instant. On the 28th, his Lord- 
 ship writes thus to the same friend : 
 
 " I am not enabled to send you any certainty as to the dissolution. 'Tis a 
 strange uncertain slate we are in, and perhaps we may have this good effect 
 of the present irresolution as not to be without hopes of a good Parliament, 
 in case they will put us to a new election ; that is, by your Lordship's help, 
 and not otherwise. Your Lordship has heard that Mr. Cresset was going for 
 Hanover: after his dispatches were finished, and he had his last instructions 
 from the Queen, he was taken ill on Tuesday, and died on Thursday morn- 
 ing. His death has given much disturbance to our great men, and has dis- 
 concerted their affairs. I cannot find that all the endeavours possible have 
 succeeded to shew a way to preserve credit, or to furnish the necessary sums 
 for the army, unless the present Parliament be continued. This article, and 
 the Freuch presumptions in breaking off the conferences, are the grounds of 
 our hope, and we are apt to add to these too, that there is no certainty 
 what the complexion of the new Parliament will be, nor what will be the 
 turn they will take, since they are not Whigs only who will be affected by 
 the dissolution."
 
 2C2 
 
 Whoever reads these extracts, together with Bishop Bur- 
 nett's observations in the preceding remark, will be apt to 
 infer, that his Lordship, with his party, came to Court in 
 1708, in the same disposition, as all parties have done, and 
 as Lord Bolingbroke confesses the Tories, who succeeded in 
 1710, actually did; that the principal spring of their 
 actions was to have the government of the state in their 
 hands ; that their principal views were the conservation of 
 this power, great employment to themselves, and great op- 
 portunities of rewarding those who had helped to raise them, 
 and of hurting those who stood in opposition to them. 
 Though it was true at the same time, that with these consi- 
 derations of private and party interest, there were others in- 
 termingled, which had for their object, the public good of 
 the nation, at least what they took to be such : see Boling- 
 broke's letter to Sir William Wyndham. Thus, that active 
 and leading man in the Tory Ministry, frankly and ingenu- 
 ously informs us, and so much is certain, that in it may be 
 seen the true reason of Lord Sommers' dismissal from the 
 Presidency of the Council, in 170<J. Lord Sommers, with 
 the rest of the Whigs, had become particularly obnoxious to 
 Sarah, Duchess of Maijboro' ? who describes Lord S. as re- 
 pulsive and disrespectful — her husband, however, while he 
 inveighed against Halifax, Sunderland, and Oxford, did full 
 justice to the temper and good sense of Sommers. In one 
 of his letters, he says, " J do with all my heart wish that 
 Lord S. would always follow his own good sense, by which 
 he would serve both the Queen and his country :" he after- 
 wards appeals to Sommers in particular, relative to a peace 
 with France. Marlborough, on the commencement of the 
 decay of his popularity, was strongly persuaded by Sommers 
 to accept the Government of the Low Countries, which had 
 been offered him by the Emperor, as a retreat from the ma- 
 lice of his enemies, He also advised Marlboro' to associ- 
 ate Lord Townshend with him as plenipotentiary for the 
 projected peace, which the General afterwards bitterly re- 
 gretted he did. Townshend was a man likclv to mislead
 
 293 
 
 Sommers ; the former signed the barrier treaty alone. It 
 was this year also, that Sommers voted for the condemna- 
 tion of Sacheverell, whose prosecution he at first wished 
 should be referred to the ordinary tribunals. When Marl- 
 boro' entertained the idea of resigning, in consequence of an 
 indignity offered him by the appointment of an officer with- 
 out his consent, Sunderland answered for the co-operation 
 of Sommers, who offered to accompany the Duke to the 
 Queen, or to attend on her Majesty alone, for the purpose 
 of remonstrating against the appointment ; the illness, how- 
 ever, of Sommers, prevented his attending. Soon after, 
 when a meeting of the Whigs was resolved on, to deliberate 
 on measures to oppose the intrigues of Mrs. Masham, his 
 Lordship, at the instigation of Sunderland, who was fearful 
 of the consequence of this measure, excused himself from 
 attending, on the plea of being detained by company at 
 home, lie afterwards obtained an audience of the Queen 
 to whom he ventured to represent the consequences of the 
 measures to thwart the Duke, but was treated by the Queen 
 with great reserve, altho' she paid him the compliment of 
 consenting the disagreeable appointment should not take 
 place : vide Cox, v. 3, p. 146. — Notwithstanding which, his 
 Lordship was anxious that Marlboro' should resign, altho' 
 he suffered himself afterwards to be alarmed by Lord Sunder- 
 land, for fear of the consequence, and worked on by the 
 Queen to believe it disrespectful to acquiesce in the demand 
 of the Duke, to call in the aid of Parliamentary interference 
 for the dismissal of Mrs. Masham, and this measure in- 
 creased the coolness between the General and the Whigs, 
 and even the disagreement of the Whigs themselves ; and 
 was, says the author just alluded to, the forerunner of Marl- 
 borough's disgrace by giving up the opposition to Harley 
 and Mrs. Masham. In 1710, upon the new change of hands, 
 Sommers Mas dismissed from being President, and the 
 Earl of Shrewsbury, who appears from Mr. Cox's " Marl- 
 boro'," to have possessed no small share of duplicity, joined 
 his prejudices against his ancient friend to those of Sunder-
 
 294 
 
 land and Wharton. Before his resignation of the Presidency, 
 Sommers gave it as his opinion, that the Allies might gain 
 a peace by the cession of Sicily, of which he, with his col- 
 leagues, seemed confident. He was succeeded in his office 
 by the Earl of Rochester, the Queen's uncle, but, notwith- 
 standing he was no longer in office, he recovered the Queen's 
 confidence, and alarmed Harley and St. John, by the long 
 and confidential audiences he held with the Queen, from 
 which, and other causes, he had some reason to expect being 
 once more in the Ministry. Such was the conduct of the 
 Whig leaders, says Mr. Cox, about this period, ..that Som- 
 mers was the only one for whom Marlboro' entertained a 
 sincere regard and respect, but the operations of intrigue at 
 length had the power to make Sommers imagine that the 
 influence of the Duke began to be immoderate, and his emo- 
 lument too great : p. 271, vol. 3. He was, however, above 
 entering into any mean machinations against him : see a letter 
 from Sommers, complaining of this undue power in p. 258, 
 vol.3. Nor was the General long in returning this dislike, for, 
 at this time, he speaks of his old friend, in his letters to the 
 Duchess, with great severity. After his removal, he made 
 a distinguished figure in the debates of the House of Lords, 
 for some time, but it was not long before he grew very infirm 
 in his health from a paralytic attack, which impaired his un- 
 derstanding so much as rendered him incapable of executing 
 any office under King Geo. I. It was during this state of his 
 frealth that the question of Septennial Parliaments came 
 i>efore the House. Although a question like this cannot be 
 decided by the opinion of any individual ; yet, surely the 
 judgment of Lord Somers, the constant friend of liberty, 
 and the oracle of the revolution, is entitled to some respect, 
 and the time and manner of giving it peculiarly interesting. 
 While the bill was in agitation, Dr. Friend, the celebrated 
 physician, called on Lord Townshend and informed him that 
 Lord Somers was at this moment restored to the full pos- 
 session of his faculties by a fit of the gout, which suspended 
 She effect of his paralytic complaint. Townsbend immedi-
 
 29-3 
 
 ately waited upon Somers, who, as soon as he came into 
 the room, embraced him, and said, " I have just heard of 
 the work in which you are engaged, and congratulate you 
 upon it. I never approved the Triennial Bill, and always 
 considered it in effect, the reverse of what it was intended ; 
 you have my hearty approbation in this business, and I think 
 it will be the greatest support possible to the liberty of the 
 country." Cox's Life of Walpole, 1 . 76*. — Yet, upon the 
 change of the Ministry, a few days before the Queen's death, 
 his Lordship went to the Council; in consequence of his in- 
 creasing infirmities, he now held no other post than a seat at 
 the council table, and he attended there upon some occa- 
 sions, till the year 1716,* when he was seized with an apo- 
 plectic fit, which carried him off the stage of this world, on 
 the 26th of April, that year; he was buried at Mims, Herts, 
 where a monument was erected by Lady Jekyl, with a very 
 short inscription. His Lordship Was never married, so that 
 his estate fell to the sisters, the youngest of whom was mar- 
 ried, as before mentioned, to his friend, Sir Joseph Jekyl, 
 Master of the Rolls, and the eldest, Mary, was wife to Charles 
 Cocks, Esq. of Worcester, whose daughter by her was the 
 Lady of the Earl of Hardwicke, late Lord Chancellor of 
 England, who was her second husband. His Lordship's 
 character was represented by two very eminent pencils, 
 but under very different principles, Dean Swift and Mr. 
 Addison ; the former occurs in the Dean's history of the 
 last four years of Queen Anne ;i" and the latter, as 
 
 * When George I. set out from Hanover, he went with a resolution of op- 
 pressing no set of men that wouid be quiet subjects ; but as soon as he came 
 into Holland, a contrary resolution was taken, at the earnest importunity 
 of the Allies, and particularly of Heinsius, and of some of the Whigs. Lord 
 Townshend came triumphing to acquaint Lord Somers with all the measures 
 of proscription and of persecutions which they intended, and to which the 
 King had at last consented ; the old Peer asked him what he meant, and shed 
 tears on the foresight of measures like those of the Roman Triumvirate. Whar- 
 ton or Pope. — This anecdote appears in a letter from Lord Bolingbroke to 
 another Lord, inserted in the Earop. Mag. for June, 1791, p. 427. 
 
 t Wharton says, that Swift's hatred to Somers and Lord Wharton, ori-
 
 296 
 
 I have before mentioned, in the Freeholder. Mr. Wal- 
 po!e has made this attempt of Swift not less than that 
 of Addison, the subject of his ridicule. Dr. Kippis, in his 
 biography of Addison, has very properly remarked that "a 
 few passages of Addison's, which may be thought excepti- 
 onable, can by no means justify so severe a criticism;" see 
 note in Mr. Parke's Noble and Royal Authors, p. 73. vol. 4. 
 The character of Lord Sommers is to be found at large in 
 all the biographical dictionaries. Cunningham, in his His- 
 torv of Great Britain, calls him the preserver of the king- 
 dom, the father of his country, and glory of the peerage. 
 Swift has accused him with imbibing the sentiments of To- 
 land, but Mr. Cooksey says, that with this man, Lord Som- 
 mers never conversed on subjects of religion, and his religi- 
 ous notions were long digested before he knew Toland, who 
 obtained access and intercourse with him, merely as a joint 
 admirer of Milton, and a coadjutor in raising and spreading 
 the reputation of this his favourite poet, by the superb edi- 
 tion of his Paradise Lost, with cuts, published by sub- 
 scription, in 1688, by Tonson, at the recommendation of 
 Mr. Somers. Mr. Addison says, " his religion was sincere 
 and unostentatious, and such as inspired him with universal 
 benevolence, and that he was constant to its offices of devo- 
 tion, both in public and in his family; and Miss More has 
 observed that this consummate statesman was not only re- 
 markable for a strict attendance on the public duties of re- 
 ligion, but for maintaining them with equal exactness in his 
 family : — Religion of the Fashionable World. — See also a no- 
 
 ginated in the refusal of the latter to employ Swift at the instigation of the 
 former, and making use of the following expressions, which were never for- 
 gotton or forgiven by the Dean, — " My Lord, we must never prefer or coun- 
 tenance these fellows, we have not character enough ourselves." — Swift 
 however, even in rancour, allowed Lord Somers " (o have been the best 
 Chancellor that ever sat in the Chair, &c." and this is corroborated by 
 Mackay, who says, Lord S. was believed to be the best Chancellor that ever 
 sat in the Chair, and as knowing in the afl'airs of foreign courts as in the laws 
 of liis own country. Characters, p. 49. Garth, in the earlier editions of hi- 
 " Dispensary," has a couplet which heightens this praise.
 
 297 
 
 ble eulogium on Lord Sommers, in one of Burke's letters on 
 u Regicide Peace. The second charge against him by Swift, 
 in his Examiner, namely, of " ruining and imprisoning 
 the husband, in order to keep the wife without disturbance, 
 was founded upon a supposed amour and attachment between 
 him and Mrs. Blount, whose husband had been three times 
 set up in business, by his Worcester friends, who at length 
 finding him a man whom it was impossible to serve or save 
 from a gaol, left him to his deserts, and contented them- 
 selves with recommending his wife, a very sensible and de- 
 serving woman, who had been the mother of a large family, 
 to Lord Sommers, as housekeeper, in which capacity she 
 lived at his house at Belbac, and proved an excellent servant 
 and nurse to him as long as he lived. His morals, how- 
 ever, with regard to women, I am afraid, were far from cor- 
 rect ; for this conduct, his biographers have set up the ex- 
 cuse of disappointment in a first attachment. Lord Wal- 
 pole, says Swift, might have known that Lord S. was not en- 
 tirely justifiable in obtaining some grants of crown lands ; 
 which, though in no proportion to other grants in that 
 reign, it would have become him to resign, and not to coun- 
 tenance by his example ; this, however, has been palliated 
 as a measure ©f expediency, to sustain the expenses of his 
 office. Though Lord Sommers wrote several tracts, we are 
 ignorant even of the titles of many of them. Lord Sommers 
 was one of the Kit Kat Club, which being composed of 
 Whigs, Bolingbroke thinks proper to speak of in the follow- 
 ing manner : — After speaking of a club, which he is form- 
 ing, which is to consist of persons of wit and learning, the 
 first regulation proposed, and that which must be inviolably 
 kept, is decency. None of the extravagance of the kit 
 Kat, none of the drunkenness of the Beef-steak is to be en- 
 dured : Bolingbroke's Correspondence, v. 1. p. 246. — Besides 
 the pieces already mentioned in the course of this memoir, 
 Mr. Walpole mentions some others, as 1. Dryden's Satire 
 to his Muse* (printed in the Minor Poets.) Which, howe- 
 
 * This poem, says Mr. Cooksey, which, though it does no great houour to 
 
 2Q
 
 298 
 
 ver, he observes, has been disputed, and thinks that the 
 o-ross ribaldry of it cannot be believed to have flowed from 
 so humane and polished a nature as that of Lord Somers. 
 2. The argument of Lord Keeper Somers, on his giving 
 judgment in the Banker's case, delivered in the Exchequer 
 Chamber, June 26, 1696. 3. He was supposed, but 
 on what foundation he does not know, to write the preface 
 to Dr. Tindal's Rights of the Christian Church. (Harley's 
 Catalogue) vol. 2, p. 378. Some years ago, came out a 
 collection of scarce pieces, in four parts, each consisting of 
 4 vols, in 4to. from pamphlets chiefly collected by Lord So- 
 mers. But, a much more valuable treasure, his Lordship's 
 collection of original papers and letters, filling above 60 
 vols, in quarto, was lost by afire in the Chambers of the 
 Hon. Charles Yorke, Esq. his Majesty's Solicitor-General, 
 which happened in Lincoln's Inn-Square, on Saturday morn- 
 ing, Jan. 27, 1752. Some remains " Immitis ignis reliqua?," 
 were published by Lord Hardwicke, in 1778, in 2 vols. 4to. 
 entitled, " State Papers from 1501 to 1726." Lord Somers, 
 with H arley, set on foot an inquiry into the state of the pub- 
 lic records, and this plan was prosecuted till the reign of 
 George II. In addition to these productions, Mr. Cook- 
 sey is inclined to believe that the Tale of the Tub was also 
 the production of his Lordship. " It was here, (says he) 
 at the White Ladies, that Mr. Somers, and the Earl of 
 Shrewsbury, the latter of whom had become an inmate of this 
 house, from the circumstance of throwing his affairs in the 
 hands of the father of Lord Somers, amused themselves with 
 sketching from the life, the Characters of Peter, Jack, and 
 Martin, and their ludicrous disputes about the fashion of 
 
 either Dryden or Somers, yet bears strong marks of Shrewsbury and Somers 
 in the composition, and of its being their joint performance. The invectives, 
 and o-ross language with which it abounds, are to be placed to the score of 
 the young debauched Lord ; and the didactic and serious part of it, ex- 
 pressive of the principles of the English government and constitution, flowed 
 from the pen of the lawyer, who abhorred indecency of every kind, and is 
 always stiled, by the vile and abandoned writers of the Atalantis, even in the 
 i <:cital of his amours, the grave Somerius.
 
 299- 
 
 their coats. It was from his own sensible observation, and this 
 humorous representation of absurdities in religious systems, 
 that the conversion of the Earl from Popery was effected, 
 who was too dissipated to attend to the sober disquistions of 
 Tillotson, which however were not wanting, and which con- 
 tributed so much to the Revolution. That these sketches of 
 characters, which, after many years lying by, and passing- 
 through the hands of Lord Shaftesbury and Sir Wm. Tem- 
 ple, and were given to the world by Dean Swift, under the 
 title of " The Tale of the Tub," were the early sportive 
 productions of Mr. Somers's pen, I have no doubt, from 
 the private tradition of the family ; and drawn by him, from 
 real life and originals, within his own observation. His 
 uncle, Blurton, as good and pious a man as ever lived, fur- 
 nished the portraiture of the Church of England man. The 
 character of Jack, the Calvanist, exhibited that of his grand- 
 father, Somers , such a devoted admirer of honest Richard 
 Baxter, as induced him to spend most of his latter days with 
 him at Kidderminster, and to direct his remains to be depo- 
 sited under a cross in the church-yard there, as supposing 
 the ground hallowed by the sanctity of that good man. Pe- 
 ter had his lineaments from Father Peter and the Jesuits, 
 with whom the young Earl of Shrewsbury was constantly 
 beleagured. Addison was in the secret, but as it was the 
 wish of Lord Somers that it might not be disclosed, he only 
 hints at it in the "Freeholder, written upon his death, May 
 4, 1716." Indeed, continues Mr. Cooksey, to demonstrate 
 it not to have been the work of Swift, needs no more than 
 the internal evidence of the composition itself. It is mani- 
 festly above him, as it is very obviously remarked by Mr. 
 Walpole, and Dr. Samuel Johnson. From a very dull aca- 
 demic, and his servile employ as amanuensis to Sir William 
 Temple, and the publisher of his writings, it cannot be con- 
 ceived that he should at once burst forth the author of a 
 tract so superior in wit and composition to every thing he 
 afterwards produced. How- poor and flimsy, in comparison 
 with this, is the humble imitation of the same species of hu-
 
 30t> 
 
 mour, in "The History of John Bull," compiled by him 
 and Dr. Arbuthnot, many years after. The truth is, that 
 Swift found, among Sir William Temple's papers, the only 
 copy Mr. Somers ever made of this boyish amusement; 
 winch in hours of unreserved and social conviviality, he had 
 communicated to his frie ds Lord Shaftesbury and Sir Wil- 
 liam, but to whom he had forgotten he ever entrusted it. 
 This Swift copied; and by servile adulations and profes- 
 sions of zeal and attachment, prevailed on them, after strik- 
 ing out some reflections on kingly government, to which the 
 young authors were not at the time of writing it, much at- 
 tached, to suffer him to publish as his own, which he did, 
 with a dedication to Lord Somers, and is the chef d'ouvie 
 of his prose writings, preferring the reputation of a witty 
 writer, to that of a serious and conscientious member of 
 the church; see further in Cooksey's Life of Lord Somers. — 
 Jacob, in his Poetical Register, remarks, that Lord Som- 
 mers was not only an encourager of Poetry, but a Poet 
 himself in his younger years ; vide his Dido to JEneas, which 
 is ascribed to Lord Somers, though the book whence it is 
 extracted, places it after Dryden's version of the same epis- 
 tle, and only designates it as the work of another hand. In 
 the Europ. Mag. for Dec. 1791, P- 410, there is a correc- 
 tion which disproves " The Judgment of Kingdoms," &c. to 
 have been by Lord Somers. His Security of Englishman's 
 "Rights was re-published by Almon. In Dr. Lort's Cat. is 
 entered " Lord Somers's Guide to the Knowledge of the 
 Rights and Privileges of Englishmen," 1757, Svo. which 
 probably was the same tract. 
 
 The inscription on a monument to the memory of his father 
 .and mother, fixed to the east wall of the church of Severn 
 Stoke, is said to be written by Lord Somers, and is to be seen 
 in Nash, vol. 2, p. 345 ; as is also the inscription on a mural 
 monument, to the Blurtons, removed from the church of St, 
 Nicholas to the White Ladies. Dr. Nash remarks that Lord 
 Sommers made no addition to his paternal estate in this county, 
 of about 3001. a year, further than the purchase of Wadberrow,
 
 301 
 
 and a mortgage on Stoulton, though his favour, joined to the 
 prudence and parsimony of his successors, laid the foundation 
 of large possessions in this and the adjoining counties, and 
 Gloucester. Mr. Archdeacon Cox, in his valuable life of 
 Marlborough, after dilating on his great acquirements, thus 
 finishes a character of Lord Somers. But what is sense the most 
 luminous ! Somers, the constellation of Britain, died an idiot! 
 — a friendly stroke of apoplexy destroyed that form which had 
 lost the mind long before. Let private individuals check their 
 ambition, when they see that a Somers could not singly sup- 
 port himself amid wounded pride, ambition, and envy. He 
 had, in an high degree, the passions of human nature, which 
 he sometimes indulged, but possessed in a much higher de- 
 gree, its excellencies and ornaments. 
 
 In person, Lord S. was of the middle size, and of a 
 brown complexion. 
 
 There is a letter from Lord Somers to the Marquis of 
 Wharton, which is said to be copied imperfectly in the Ge- 
 neral Dictionary, article Somers; correctly printed in the 
 Europ. Mag. for Jan. 1 793, p. 5. 
 
 Arthur Lowe, 
 Of a very ancient family, seated at Lindridge, in this coun- 
 ty, bequeathed certain charities to the poor of lindridge : see 
 extract from his will, in 1718, note in Dr. Nash's Worces- 
 tershire, p. 93, vol. 2. He was remarkable for retaining 
 many peculiarities of the ancient English manners and cha- 
 racter, had such a reverence for the old mansion and place 
 whence he derived his name, that he left this particular clause 
 in his will. " Item, I will that my house at the Lovje, where- 
 in I now live, being the ancient seat of my ancestors, be, 
 from time to time, kept up and repaired, by whoever shall 
 be seized of my estate at the Lowe, as need shall require, 
 but by no means to be pulled down or demolished." Arthur 
 Lowe, of whom the reader will find some curious inform- 
 ation, under the article Lindridge, in the work quoted above, 
 died in 1724.
 
 302 
 
 Joh. Baron, D.D. 
 A Native of this county, was bora at Hanley Castle; he 
 was Master of Baliol College, Oxford, 1705, and Vice- 
 Chancellor of the University, 1715. He possessed a small 
 estate in Hanley Castle. 
 
 Richard Laughton, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 
 
 1717, 
 The celebrated Tutor of Clare Hall, so eminent for the 
 great encouragement he gave to the study of mathematics, 
 was, about the year 1710, senior proctor, and warmly at- 
 tached to Dr. Bentley ; see Middleton's Remarks on the 
 case of Dr. Bentley, further stated, &c. in his Works, 4to. 
 vol. 3, p. 341. He was a Prebendary of the eighth stall of 
 Worcester, and M. A. and died July 28, 1723. He was 
 eminent for his learning, integrity, and zeal for the public 
 good, as well as for the great number of the nobility and 
 gentry educated under his care: he printed a sermon, 
 preached before King George I. in King's College Chapel, 
 Oct. 6, 1717, 4to. Dr. Colbach, in a commemorative ser- 
 mon, 1717, speaks thus of Dr. Laughton, "We see 
 what a confluence of nobility and gentry, the virtue of one 
 man daily draws to one of our least colleges." Dr. Conyers 
 Middleton, among the MSS. he left behind him of his own 
 writing, had " Dr. Langton's Account of finding Dr. Mid- 
 dleton at a Tavern ;" which it is just possible, however, 
 might be a Bentleian tract. 
 
 *&■ 
 
 John Bernardi, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Evesham, in 1657; 
 he was usually called Major Bernardi, and was an adven- 
 turer of whom there is a very prolix, but not very inter- 
 esting account in the Biographia Britannica : he was de- 
 scended from an honourable family which had flourished at 
 Lucca, in Italy, from the year 1097- His grandfather Phi- 
 lip, a Count of the Roman Empire, lived in England, as
 
 303 
 
 resident from Genoa 28 years, and married a native of this 
 country; his father Francis, succeeded to this office, but 
 taking disgust at some measure adopted by the Senate of Ge- 
 noa, resigned, and retiring to Evesham, amused himself with 
 gardening, on which he spent a considerable sum of mo- 
 ney, and set a good example in that science to the town. 
 The subject of this article was of a spirited and restless tem- 
 per ; having received some harsh usage from his father, he, 
 at the age of 13, ran away to avoid his severity, probably 
 without any determinate purpose. He retained, notwith- 
 standing, several friends, and was for some time supported 
 by them, but their friendship appears to have gone little fur- 
 ther ; for soon after, he enlisted as a common soldier, in the 
 service of the Prince of Orange. In this station he shewed 
 uncommon talents and bravery, and in a short time obtained 
 a captain's commission in the service of the States. Before 
 this period, when a cadet at Portsmouth, in 16/2, he was 
 seized by a press gang belonging to the Royal James, at 
 Fareham, but claimed by his captain, he was discharged, 
 unfortunately as it happened for him, for if he had gone in 
 that ship, he had died gallantly when she was blown up in the 
 following year. Bernardi lost his patron in 1673, and was 
 thus reduced both in situation and constitution. He was 
 wounded at the siege of Gibraltar, in 1674, and again in 
 1675, in parting two gentlemen who were fighting a duel ; he 
 lost an eye, was shot through the arm, and left for dead in 
 the field, at the siege of Maestricht, in 1678. In April, 
 1677, he married a Dutch lady of good family, with whom 
 he enjoyed much conjugal happiness for eleven years. The 
 English regiments in the Dutch service, being recalled by 
 James the Second, very few of them, but among those 
 few was Bernardi, would obey the summons, and of 
 course, he could not sign the association, into which the 
 Prince of Orange wished the regiments to enter. He thus lost 
 his favour, and having no alternative, and probably wishing 
 for no other, he followed the abdicated James the Second into 
 Ireland; who, soon after, sent him on some commission
 
 304 
 
 into Scotland, from whence, as the ruin of his master now 
 became inevitable, he once more retired to Holland. Ven- 
 turing, however, to appear in London in 1695, he was com- 
 mitted to Newgate, March 25, 1696, on suspicion of being 
 an abettor in the plot to assassinate King William, and al- 
 though sufficient evidence could not be brought to prove 
 the fact, he was sentenced, and continued in prison by the 
 express decree of six successive Parliaments, with five other 
 persons, where he remained for more than forty years. As this 
 was a circumstance wholly without a precedent, it has been 
 supposed that there must have been something in his charac- 
 ter particularly dangerous, to induce four Sovereigns and six 
 Parliaments to protract his confinement, without either le- 
 gally condemning or pardoning him. In his confinement, he 
 had the courage to venture on a second marriage, which 
 proved a very fortunate event to him. As he thus not 
 only enjoyed the soothing converse of a true friend, but 
 was even supported during his whole imprisonment by 
 the care and industry of his wife. Ten children were 
 the produce of this marriage, the inheritors of misery and 
 confinement. In the mean time, he is said to have borne 
 his imprisonment with such resignation and evenness of 
 temper, as to have excited much respect and love in the 
 few who enjoyed his acquaintance. In the early part of 
 his life he had received several dangerous wounds, which 
 now breaking out afresh, and giving him great torment, 
 afforded a fresh trial of his equanimity and firmness. 
 At length he died, Sept. 20, 1736, leaving his wife and 
 numerous family probably in a destitute state, but what 
 became of them afterwards is not known. Bernardi was 
 a little, brisk, and active man, of a very cheerful dispo- 
 sition, and, as may appear even from this short narrative, 
 of great courage and constancy of mind ; he published his 
 own life, or case, in his 74th year ; to this life is attached his 
 portrait in armour, painted by Cooper, G. Vandergutcht, 
 sculp.
 
 305 
 
 William Derham, D.D. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Stoughton,* in 
 1657, and educated in grammar learning, at Blocklev, in 
 this county. In May, 167-5, [1683, Nichols,] he was admitted 
 of Trinity College, Oxford ; and when he took his degree of 
 B. A. was already distinguished for his learning and exemplary 
 character. He was ordained Deacon by Compton, Bishop 
 of London, in May, 1681; Priest, by Ward, Bishop of Sa- 
 lisbury, in July, 1682; and was the same month presented 
 to the Vicarage of Wargrave, in Berkshire. — Aug. 1689? 
 he was presented to the valuable Rectory of Upminster, in 
 Essex ; which living, lying at a moderate distance from Lon- 
 don, afforded him an opportunity of conversing and corres- 
 ponding with the most eminent philosophers of the nation. 
 Here, in a retirement suitable to his contemplative and philo- 
 sophical temper, he applied himself with great eagerness to 
 the study of nature, and to mathematics and experimental 
 philosophy ; in which he became so eminent, that in 1 702, 
 he was chosen F. R. S. He proved one of the most useful 
 and industrious members of this society, frequently publish- 
 ing, in the Philosophical Transactions, curious observations 
 and valuable pieces, as may be seen by their index. In his 
 younger days, he published separately, " The Artificial 
 Clock-Maker; or a Treatise of Watch and Clock- Work ;" 
 shewing to the meanest capacities the art of calculating num- 
 bers to all sorts of movements, the way to alter clock-work, 
 to make chimes, and set them to musical notes, and to cal- 
 culate and correct the motions of pendulums ; also numbers 
 for divers movements, with the ancient and modern history 
 of clock-work ; and many instruments, tables, and other 
 matters, never before published in any other book; the fourth 
 edition of this work, with large emendations, was published 
 
 * There is no such place as Stoughton in Worcestershire; perhaps his bi- 
 ographer meant Stoulton. Nash is altogether silent respecting Derham, botb 
 under the head of Stoulton and Blockley. 
 
 2 R
 
 306 
 
 in 1734, l2mo. In 1711 and 12, he preached sixteen 
 sermons at Boyle's Lectures, which, with suitable altera- 
 tions in the form, and notes, he published in 1713, un- 
 der the title of " Physico Theology ; or, a Demonstra- 
 tion of the Being and Attributes of God from his Works of 
 Creation," 8vo. In pursuance of the same design, he pub- 
 lished, in 1714, " Astro Theology ; or, a Demonstration 
 of the Being and Attributes of God, from a Survey of the 
 Heavens," illustrated with copper plates, 8vo. These 
 works, the former especially, have been highly and justly 
 valued, a 5th edition being printed in 1720, translated into 
 French and several other languages, and have undergone se- 
 veral editions. In 17 16 he was made a Canon of Windsor, 
 being at that time Chaplain to the Prince of Wales ; and, in 
 1730, received the degree of D.D. from the University of 
 Oxford by diploma, on account of his learning, and the 
 service he had done to religion by his culture of natural 
 knowledge : — " Ob libros," as the terms of the diploma run, 
 " ab ipso editos, quibus physicam & mathesin auctiorem 
 reddidit, & ad religionem veramque fidem exornandam re- 
 vocavit." When Eleazer Albin published his Natural His- 
 tory of Birds and English Insects, in 4 vols. 4to. with ma- 
 ny beautiful cuts, it was accompanied with very curious 
 notes and observations by our learned author. He also re- 
 vised the " Miscellanea Curiosa," in 3 vols. 8vo. 1726. 
 He next published* " Christo Theology ; or, a Demon- 
 stration of the Divine Authority of the Christian Religion, 
 being the Substance of a Sermon preached at Bath, Nov. 2, 
 
 1729, and published at the earnest request of the auditory, 
 
 1730, 8vo. The last work of his own composition was 
 " A Defence of the Church's Right in Leasehold Es- 
 tates, in answer to a book called * An Inquiry into the cus- 
 tomary Estates and Tenant-rights of those who hold Lands 
 of the Church, and other Foundations, published under the 
 name of Everard Fleetwood, Esq."' 1731, 8vo. But, be- 
 
 * Mr. Nicholls says, this was the last thing he wrote.
 
 307 
 
 besides his own, he published some pieces of Mr. Ray, and 
 gave new editions of others, with great additions from the 
 authors' own MSS. To him the world is likewise indebted 
 for the " Philosophical Experiments and Observations of 
 the late eminent Dr. Robert Hooke, and other eminent Ver- 
 tuosos in his time, 1726," 8vo.; and he communicated to 
 the Royal Society several pieces which he received from his 
 learned correspondents. This great and good man having 
 thus spent his life, making all his researches subservient to 
 the cause of religion and virtue, died, in his 78th year, April 5, 
 1 735, at Upminster, where he was buried : his library was sold 
 by auction 1757. He left behind him a valuable collection 
 of curiosities ; among the rest, a specimen of insects, and of 
 most kinds of birds in this island, of which he had preserved 
 the male and female. It may be necessary just to observe, 
 that Dr. Derham was very well skilled in medical as well as 
 physical knowledge ; and was constantly a physician to the 
 bodies as well as souls of his parishioners. The late Dr. 
 Kippis, in his additions to the life of this excellent man, 
 says, "it sometimes happens that clergymen of the greatest 
 wisdom, learning, and merit, are far from being good 
 preachers. Dr. Derham is understood to have made but a 
 very poor figure in this respect ; and, to his other defects in 
 the pulpit, was added some disadvantage with regard to his 
 person, for he was very wry-necked." Lord Kaimes ac- 
 cuses Dr. Derham of not having paid sufficient attention to 
 one subject which properly came before him in his " Phy- 
 sico Theology," namely, the natural history of animals with 
 relation to pairing, and the care of the progeny. " M. Buf- 
 fon," says he, " in many large volumes, bestows scarcely a 
 thought on that favourite subject, and the neglect of our 
 countrymen, Roy and Derham, is still less excusable, con- 
 sidering that to display the conduct of Providence was the 
 sole purpose of their writing natural history." This defect 
 Lord Kaimes has endeavoured to supply by some ingenious 
 observations of his own, which, however, he considers as 
 hints merely tending to excite further curiosity. Dr. Der-
 
 308 
 
 ham, by Anne, his wife, had several children, the eldest of 
 whom, William Derham, D. D. died President of St. John's 
 college, Oxford, in 1757. The reader will find a letter 
 
 from Wheeler to Dr. Derham in the Europ. Mag. 
 
 Dec. 1795. 
 
 Sir William Dawes, Bart. D.D. Prebendary of Wor- 
 cester, 1698, 
 Was educated at Merchant Taylor's school, under Mr. 
 Ambrose Bonwicke, and was Master of Catherine Hall, 
 Cambridge, 1696, to the chapel of which he was a great 
 benefactor. He procured the grant of a Prebend of the 
 church of Norwich from Queen Anne, with the consent of 
 Lord Chancellor Harcourt, to be annexed to the Mastership. 
 He was some time fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, 
 and Dean of Bocking, in Essex ; and in 1707 made Bishop of 
 Chester.* He resigned the Mastership of Catherine Hall 
 in 1713, and in 1714 was elevated to the x\rchbishoprick of 
 York. At this time he was much caressed by the Hano- 
 verian party, who were very anxious to fix him in their in- 
 terest. In Macpherson's Original Papers, vol. 2, p. 604 
 and 605, I find one of his letters to the Princess Sophia, 
 who had written to him a little time before, as it had been in- 
 timated to her, that he had some lurking fondness for the 
 exiled family ; but the letter which the Electress addressed 
 to him, appears to have produced the impression which it 
 was designed to make, for we find, by his answer of May 
 14, 1714, that he professed himself to be entirely devoted to 
 her and her family. — Ackermanri's Camb. Sir Wm. Dawes 
 is highly complimented in a poem, written by Lady Piers 
 in 1714, called " George for Britain." He was the editor 
 
 * Query, Is this correct ? — Cox, in his Life of Marlborough, says that 
 " Queen Anne promoted Sir William Dawes to the see of Exeter in 1704, 
 without waiting for the recommendation of the Whig Ministers, or rather to 
 prevent their interference. He was promoted on account of his Tory zeal, 
 against the wish of the Duke of Marlborough ; and his appointment gave 
 great offence to the Whigs,"
 
 300 
 
 of the works of Blackball, Bishop of Exeter, and of " The 
 Duties of the Closet." He died in 1725, and his library 
 was sold in 1727-8. 
 
 Dr. William Talbot, Dean of Worcester, 1691, 
 And successively Bishop of Oxford, Salisbury, and Dur- 
 ham, was the only son of William Talbot, Esq. of Lichfield. 
 His mother was the daughter of Thomas Doughty, Esq. of 
 Whittington, in this county, but he was born at Stourfon 
 Castle, one of his father's seats, in Staffordshire, 1659. He 
 was admitted to Oriel College at the age of 15, and, after 
 taking the degrees of B. A. and M. A. entered into holy or- 
 ders, and obtained the Rectory of Berfield, Berks. He 
 succeeded Dr. Hickes, who was ejected for refusing to take 
 the oath of supremacy to King William and Queen Mary, 
 in the Deanery of Worcester, In June following, he was 
 diplomated D. D. by Archbishop Tillotson, and conse- 
 crated Bishop of Oxford, 1699, and was made Dean of the 
 Chapel Royal on the accession of George I. Bishop of Sa- 
 lisbury, 1715, Durham in 1730, and died in Hanover- 
 square, London, October 10, 1730, leaving eight sons 
 and several daughters, the eldest of whom was Lord High 
 Chancellor of England ; and his second son, born in Wor- 
 cestershire, was Archdeacon of Berks. He was buried pri- 
 vately in St. James's church, Westminster.* Bishop Tal- 
 bot brought a bill into Parliament in 1722, to enable Bi- 
 shops to grant leases of mines without consent of the Chap- 
 ters, a measure which, although the bill did not pass, 
 " alarmed," says Spclman, " the whole nation." The oilier 
 matter which hurt the Bishop's popularity, was his insinu- 
 ating to the Dean and Chapter the room there was foi -ad- 
 vancing the fines on their leases, setting the example in his 
 own. Twelve of the Bishop's sermons were published in 
 1731. He was strongly attached to Dr. Samuel Clarke, 
 and was often heard to lament that, from his refusing to sub- 
 
 * The Bishop's wife was buried in Worcester Cathedral.
 
 310 
 
 scribe to the 39 articles, he could not promote his interest. 
 It is remarkable of this prelate, that in nine years time he 
 disposed of all the best livings in his patronage, both his 
 archdeaconries, and half the stalls in his cathedral : and it 
 has been hinted, by Hutchinson, that he did not come to 
 this opulent see without a douceur of 6 or 70001. ; yet one 
 of his biographers asserts, " that he was too careless of his 
 wordly concerns." When Palmer and Symonds (see Bishop 
 Lloyd's school, in Chambers's Worcester, p. 293,) lay un- 
 der condemnation for the murder of the former's mother, 
 Bishop Talbot endeavoured with much pains to bring them 
 to a confession and a just sense of their guilt. When he had 
 performed this, he wished to defer their punishment, and 
 riding to the Judges, from Worcester to Gloucester, in a 
 rainy day and high flood, to the peril of his life, in less than 
 four hours, he got them reprieved for three weeks. Many 
 people judged hardly of the Bishop's conduct in this affair, 
 though he acted the part only of a truly compassionate di- 
 vine. — Vide article Lloyd. — See also Nichol's Illustrations 
 of Literature, Granger, and the Biog. Dictionaries. 
 
 Sir Henry Herbert, Knt. 
 
 Brother to the celebrated Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, 
 resided for some time at Ribbesford, in Worcestershire. 
 He was born in 1660, but in what county I know not. — 
 See an account of him in Epistolary Curiosities, series 1, 
 p. % 33, 41, 57. 
 
 Thomas Morris, orMisERiMus. 
 The unhappy man who is now only known by the trite 
 memorial of " Miserimus," was the Rev. Thos. Morris. 
 At the Revolution, he refused to acknowledge the King's 
 supremacy, and, on that account was, with many others, 
 deprived of all ecclesiastical preferment ; his necessities now 
 entitled him to charitable support, and he found that aid in 
 the evening of a long life, in the liberality and generosity of 
 affluent Jacobites. He died in 1748, silvered over with the
 
 311 
 
 weight and infirmities of 88 years. As many of the days of 
 our nonjuring priests have been tinctured with much unhap- 
 piness, by reason of the opinions they so tenaciously ad- 
 hered to, so it was his last and earnest request to the friend 
 who witnessed his final exit from this stage of life, that no 
 monumental marble should relate who he had been, but 
 that he died as he had lived, " Miserimus." He lies buried 
 in the north cloisters west, and opposite the lower south 
 entrance into the nave, of Worcester cathedral, M'ithno in- 
 scription on his grave-stone save that of Miserimus. 
 
 Josiah Sandby, Prebendary of Worcester, 1708, 
 
 The Incumbent of Lindridge, April 12, 1716. He was 
 Chaplain to a regiment during Queen Anne's wars in Flan- 
 ders, Secretary to Charles Churchill (brother to John, Duke 
 of Marlborough,) and for some time Governor of Brussells, 
 where he might have acquired a large fortune, if his gene- 
 rous temper had not prevented it. Through the interest of 
 the Duke of Marlborough he was made Prebendary of Wor- 
 cester, on which occasion his Grace wrote a recommend- 
 atory letter to Lord Godolphin, for which, and others di- 
 rected to Mr. Sandby, see Nash's Corrections on vol. 2 of 
 his History. 
 
 Elizabeth Burnet 
 Was born November 8, 1661 ; she was the eldest daugh- 
 ter of Sir Richard Blake, Knt. fifth son of Thomas Blake, 
 of Earontoun, county of Southampton, Esq. and of Eli- 
 zabeth, daughter of Dr. Bathurst, Physician, in London. 
 At 1 1 years of age she shewed a strong inclination for 
 learning and piety, but her parents and friends took great 
 pains to make her think meanly of herself, lest her over- 
 forward genius should bring on pride and self-conceit. At 
 17 years of age she was married to Robert Berkeley, Esq. 
 ofSpetchley, grandson of Sir Robert Berkeley, a judge in 
 the reign of Charles II * The father of Miss Blake's hus- 
 
 *" 13th Sept. 1683, came to visit me, my old and worthy friend Mr.
 
 312 
 
 band had been perverted to the Catholic religion while on 
 his travels in France and Italy, which gave infinite concern 
 to his father, the Judge; but as he died young, his son was 
 put under the guardianship and care of Bishop Fell : his 
 Lordship was very instrumental in bringing about this 
 match, and thought that the assisting his friend in it was the 
 greatest service he ever performed for him. When the 
 young lady came into the family, she found her husband's 
 mother a zealous papist, which induced her to consider the 
 grounds of the controversy between the Catholics and Pro- 
 testants, but she always behaved herself with the greatest 
 modesty and moderation : in this manner she lived six years. 
 In King James's reign, when the fears of Popery increased, 
 and Bishop Fell was dead, who had great iufluence over 
 Mr. Berkeley, she persuaded her husband to make the tour 
 of Holland and the Low Countries ; they staid some time at 
 the Hague ; and about the time of the Revolution returned 
 to Spetchley, where her husband died, 1693. Her chief 
 friends were Bishop Stillingfieet and Robert Wylde, Esq. 
 of the Commandery. Her husband left £6000 for an hos- 
 pital at Worcester, and was engaged during his life-time in 
 the establishment of schools for the poor, all which she took 
 great pains to carry into execution ; she spent great part of 
 her time with her only sister, the wife of Judge Dormer, 
 continued a widow seven years, and then married Dr. Gil- 
 bert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury. She retained her for- 
 tune to her own use, or rather for charity, as she is said to 
 have given away 4-5 ths of it. In the beginning of 1 708 she 
 was seized with a pleuritic fever, and died February 3, 
 aged 47 : she was buried at Spetchley, in a vault she had 
 made for her former husband. The only book she is known to 
 have published was entitled, " A Method of Devotion, or 
 Rules for Holy and Devout Living, with Prayers on several 
 occasions, and Advices and Devotions for the Holy Sacra- 
 Packer, bringing with him his nephew Berkeley, grandson to the honest 
 Judge, a most ingenious, virtuous, and religious gentleman, seated near 
 Worcester, and very curious in gardening." — Evelyn's Diary.
 
 313 
 
 ment;" it contains near 400 pages, 8vo. Thomas Burnet, 
 the editor of his Father's Life, speaking of the Bishop's mar- 
 riage with this lady, says she was a person of uncommon de- 
 grees of knowledge, piety, and virtue, as may appear from 
 her " Method of Devotion," which bore several impressions 
 in her life-time, and was re-printed after her death, with 
 an account of her life, by Dr. Goodwyn, Archbishop of 
 Cashel. 
 
 In the article of Judge Berkeley, at page 112 of this 
 work, 1 have doubted the authenticity of the figure at 
 Berkeley's Hospital as being that of the Judge ; and on 
 writing the life of Mrs. Burnet, I find it recorded that her 
 husband left money for the erection of an hospital in the 
 city of Worcester, at a period which accords with the cos- 
 tume of the founder erected over the chapel. Upon a re- 
 ference to the accounts of the books relative to Berkeley's 
 Hospital, (in the possession of the Town Clerk, and to 
 which, through the politeness of a gentleman, 1 have had 
 access,) I find it proved beyond a doubt that Mr. Robert 
 Berkeley (grandson of the Judge) was founder of the hos- 
 pital, and not Sir Robert Berkeley : I consider this disco- 
 very of no small importance. Mr. Green has fal'en into the 
 error of ascribing those charities to the Judge, in which 
 mistake he has been followed by several minor recorders. 
 In his will, which corrects some other particulars in Green, 
 he orders his trustees, in default of issue of his body, out of 
 the rents, &c. of his manor, to raise and pay yearly the sum 
 of £400, until the sum of £6000 shall be raised, and vested 
 in the hands of trustees, to build an hospital in or near the 
 city of Worcester, and purchase lands for the maintenance 
 thereof, for twelve poor men and one poor woman, to be all 
 of the city of Worcester, and to be of the age of 60 when 
 admitted, and to each of them £ 10 per annum, to be paid 
 quarterly ; £20 per annum to a chaplain, to officiate and 
 say prayers morning and evening, and also to administer to 
 the sick ; and £20 per annum to a steward, to take care of the 
 hospital and lands thereto belonging ; the said chaplain and 
 
 2 s
 
 314 
 
 steward to have lodgings built and assigned them to reside 
 hi, and likewise a chapel to be built near the alms-house, 
 £vc — The sum of £2000 to be expended on the chapel and 
 alms-houses, &c. and the remaining £4000 to be laid out in 
 lands of inheritance, &c. &c. The hospital to be annually 
 visited by the diocesan, and after the said hospital and pre- 
 mises are repaired, the overplus of the revenue of the said 
 hospital lands to be given to the poor of the parish where the 
 said hospital stands. — An Act of Parliament to be first gained 
 for endowing the hospital before it is built. 
 
 Richard Bentley, Prebendary of Worcester, 1692. 
 
 This celebrated scholar was born at Oulton, in York- 
 shire, 166'1, and died in 1741 ; but as his life is detailed in 
 the Biographical Dictionaries, and in Cumberland's Me- 
 moirs, I shall only mention such circumstances in it as have 
 escaped notice, or are not generally known : — it is said that 
 he was at one time Master of the grammar school at Spald- 
 ing, in Lincolnshire ; and the following letter to William 
 Graves,* Esq. at Fulborn, near Cambridge, inserted in 
 Mr. Nichol's Literary Anecdotes, corroborates this circum- 
 stance : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " You seemed desirous, when at Spalding, to know when Dr- 
 iven tley was chosen Master of the Grammar School here: I applied to Mr. 
 Johnson, who tells me his accounts of admission do not go so far back, but 
 referred me to the Society, where I find we have a most minute detail of 
 things memorable, both here and the neighbourhood : what relates to the 
 Dr. runs thus : — " About two years after, (viz. in the year 1681) that great 
 light of learning, Richard Bentley, (now D. D. Regius Professor of Di- 
 vinity, Master of Trinity College, Royal Librarian, &c.) supplied his place, 
 who being soon taken from us by the learned Bishop of Worcester, Dr. Stil- 
 
 * Mr. Graves, who had been much obliged to Dr. Bentley, who pushed him 
 forward when a young man, made him steward of the college estates, and 
 sent a picture of the Doctor to the Spalding Society, now hanging up in the 
 meeting-room. Mr. Graves was elected, by the University of Cambridge, 
 ther Commissary, 1726, which office he resigned in a handsome manner 
 about 1781, when he presented apiece of plate, value .£50. to his College.
 
 3lo 
 
 lingfleet, to be his amanuensis,* Walter Johnson, of Peter-House, in (Jam- 
 bridge, was elected in his place, 1682, &c. &c." 
 
 (Signed) " J. ROWNING." 
 
 In addition to the preferment of a stall given him by Bi- 
 shop Stillingrleet, he also presented Bentley to the rectory 
 of Hartlebury, in 1695, a circumstance not mentioned, I 
 believe, by any of his biographers. In Hughes's Letter.*, 
 vol. 2, p. 9, it is said, " Bentley is preparing ' An Answ er 
 to the Articles,' against next year." — It does not appear that 
 this work, if ever written, was ever published, as I cannot 
 find any other notice of it. He was liberally patronised, says 
 Mr. Parke, in his Noble and Royal Authors, by Lord Car- 
 teret. And, according to the same author, John, Lord 
 Jefferies, translated an Elegy, in Latin verse, by Dr. Leni- 
 ley, on the Death of the Duke of Gloucester. His trans- 
 lation of Lucan was printed at Strawberry-hill. — See an ac- 
 count of Boyle's Critique on Berkley's Phalaris, with the 
 MS. notes of Bentley, on his own copy, in the Europ. Mag. 
 for Nov. 1789 ; a Letter by him on the State of Parties, in 
 the same Mag. for Dec. 1801; an epitaph on Sir Isaac 
 Newton, by Dr. Bentley, in that for Jan. 1803: — see also 
 those for May, 1791, and Feb. 1793 ; and a notice in the 
 Gent's. Mag. for Jan. 1819, p. 35. 
 
 Dr. Bentley's eldest son was the friend of Horace Wal- 
 pole ; he made the designs for an edition of Gray, but at 
 length, I believe, quarrelled with his friend Horace, or his 
 friend with him. Dr. Bentley, regretting his son's want of 
 
 * Notwithstanding this entry, the Dr. denied bis ever having served the 
 Bishop in the capacity of amanuensis ; so it is probably a mistake For tutor 
 to the Bishop's son. — See Preface to his Dissertations on the Epistles of Pha- 
 laris, p. 78, ed. 1699, where are these words : " I should never account it 
 any disgrace to have served the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Worcester in 
 any capacity of a scholar, but I never was amanuensis to his Lordship, nor 
 to any body else, neither did his Lordship ever make use of any amanuensis : 
 *o little regard has this Examiner to decency or truth : — I was first tutor to 
 his Lordship's son, and afterwards chaplain to himself; and I shall always 
 esteem it both my honour and my happiness to have spent 14 years of my 
 life in his family and acquaintance, whom envy itself will allow to be the 
 glory of our church and nation, &c."
 
 316 
 
 taste for all such learning as his, used to sigh and say, " Tul- 
 ly had his Marcus." It appears from the letters of Walpole, 
 that the younger Bentley was very unfortunate : he, or one of 
 his correspondents, mentions him as at one time confined to 
 his bed, with five or six infants, with a sore throat and a fever ; 
 he made choice of a wife from whom he was obliged to part, 
 from expensive habits, &.c. — See also Granger, and No- 
 ble's Continuation ; and Nichol's Literary Illustrations. 
 
 The following particulars are contained in a letter from 
 Bolingbroke to Prior, dated July 4, 1713 : 
 
 " At the last election at Westminster, I endeavoured to 
 send a very pretty lad, who wears your name, and therefore 
 was entitled to my best services, to Christ Church; but 
 Bentley, pro solitd humanitate sua, leaped over eight boys 
 to make this youth his first option; and remained, with all 
 the good breeding of a pedant, inflexible." 
 
 " I am obliged to you very particularly for your care of 
 my friend Prior. — I cannot imagine how you came to know 
 that snudging boy, for his mother is very homely. Bentley 
 will always be an ill-bred pedant : can the leopard change 
 his skin ?" 
 
 Robert Harley, 
 
 Afterwards Earl of Oxford, being a decided enemy to 
 Popery, took so prominent a part in the Revolution, that he 
 was selected by the gentry of Worcestershire to convey a 
 tender of their services to the Prince of Orange, and was 
 brought into Parliament on the accession of William. He 
 was afterwards re-elected Speaker, in opposition to Sir 
 Thos. Lyttelton, who was supported by the Whigs. Har- 
 ley was born in l66l, and died in 1724. 
 
 There is an original portrait of the Earl of Oxford at Lord 
 Foley's, at Whitley Court. 
 
 Edward Chandler, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 
 
 1706, 
 Was afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, 1717, and of Dur-
 
 317 
 
 ham, 1730. He was the son of Samuel Chandler, Esq. of 
 Dublin, where he was probably born, but was educated at 
 Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he was ordained 
 Priest, and became Chaplain to Lloyd, Bishop of Winches- 
 ter. It was publicly said that Bishop Chandler gave 90001. 
 for the opulent see of Durham, which is scarcely credible. 
 He was universally acknowledged to be a prelate of great 
 erudition, having rendered himself justly valued as a worthy 
 father of the Church, and patron of the truth, by his learn- 
 ing and convincing writings, particularly, " A Defence of 
 Christianity, from the Prophecies of the Old Testament, 
 &c, &lc. &c." a learned and very elaborate work. He died 
 at his house in Grosvenor-square, July 20, 1750, of the 
 stone, several large ones being found in his body, when 
 opened, and was buried at Farnham Royal, Bucks. While 
 he was Bishop of Durham, he gave 501. towards augmenting 
 Monkwearmouth living, also 2001. to purchase a house for 
 the minister of Stockton, and 20001. to be laid out in a pur- 
 chase for the benefit of clergymen's widows in the diocese of 
 Durham. It is recorded, to his honour, that he never sold 
 any of his patent offices. The Bishop's sister, the celebrat- 
 ed Mrs. Mary Chandler, who was deformed, and had been 
 a milliner, was of a literary turn ; she published a volume of 
 poems, which procured her the compliments of Mr. Pope, 
 and the friendship of Mrs. Rowe, the Countess of Hertford, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 William Walsh, 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Joseph Walsh, 
 of Abberley, in Worcestershire, Esq. (who had suffered 
 much from his loyalty to Charles II.) and born about 1663, 
 for the precise time docs not appear. W ood places it in 
 1663. He became a Gentleman Commoner of Wadham 
 College, in Oxford, 1678, but left the University without a 
 degree, and pursued his studies at London and at home. 
 That he studied, in whatever place, is apparent from the ef- 
 fect, for he became, in Dryden's opinion, " the best critic
 
 318 
 
 in the nation." To improve his mind, and qualify him for 
 moving in a respectable sphere of life, he entered upon his 
 travels at an early period, and formed, by his talents and 
 address, an acquaintance with men of wit and learning 
 abroad , and when he returned home, his accomplishments 
 introduced him to the first company in high as well as lite- 
 rary life. He was not, however, merely a critic, or a scho- 
 lar, he was likewise a man of fashion ; and, as Dennis re- 
 marks, ostentatiously splendid in his dress : he was likewise 
 a Member of Parliament and a Courtier, Knight of the 
 Shire for his native county, being chosen three times to re- 
 present the county of Worcester, and once succeeded in a 
 contest upon the Whig interest, in another, the Represent- 
 ative of Richmond, in Yorkshire, at the time of his death, 
 and Gentleman of the Horse to Queen Anne, under the 
 Duke of Somerset. Some of his verses shew him to be a 
 zealous friend to the Revolution ; but his political ardour did 
 not abate his reverence or kindness for Dryden, even after 
 he had been dispossessed of the Laurels by King William, 
 to whom, Dr. Johnson says, he gave a Dissertation on Vir- 
 gil's Pastorals ; but this was certainly written by Dr. Chet- 
 wood, as appears by one of Dryden's letters : Dr. Johnson, 
 presuming it to be Walsh's, remarks, " that however studied 
 this dissertation was, he discovers some ignorance of the 
 laws of French versification." In 1705 he began to corres- 
 pond with Pope, in whom he discovered, very early, the 
 power of poetry, and advised him to study correctness, 
 which the poets of his time, he said, all neglected. Their 
 letters are written upon the pastoral comedy of the Italians, 
 and those pastorals which Pope was then preparing to pub- 
 lish. The kindnesses which are first experienced are seldom 
 forgotten ; Pope always retained a grateful memory of 
 Walsh's notice, and mentioned him, in one of his latter 
 pieces, among those who had encouraged his juvenile stu- 
 dies : — 
 
 Granville, the polite, 
 
 " And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write."
 
 319 
 
 In his " Essay on Criticism," he had given him more splen- 
 did praise, 
 
 " Such late was Walsh, the Muses' judge and friend, 
 " Who justly knew to blame, or to commend ; 
 " To failings mild, but zealous for desert, 
 " The clearest head, and the sincerest heart." 
 
 And, in the opinion of his learned commentator, Wharton, 
 sacrificed a little of his judgment to his gratitude. Walsh, 
 from a complacent disposition, and a well cultivated mind, 
 was much respected by his contemporaries, and lived on 
 terms of friendship and familiarity with men of the first rank 
 and abilities. Dryden and Pope have given their sanction 
 in his favour, to which, no doubt, they were greatly in- 
 duced by motives of personal friendship ; and the more rigid 
 critics are of opinion that if an intimacy had not subsisted 
 between these great literary characters and our author, their 
 encomiums would have been less lavish ; candour, however, 
 must admit, that much praise is due to several of his pro- 
 ductions. He died, on March 15, 1707, without issue, at 
 Marlborough, Wilts. He is known more by his familiarity 
 with greater men than by any thing done or written by him- 
 self. His works are not numerous, nor of very great merit. 
 In 1691 he published, with a preface written by his advocate 
 and friend, Dryden, " A Dialogue concerning Women, 
 being a Defence of the Sex," in 8vo. •* and, the year after, 
 " Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant," published in 
 what is called " Dryden's Miscellanies." These were re- 
 published among the " Works of the Minor Poets," print- 
 ed in 1749, with other performances, consisting chiefly of 
 
 * " I was not ignorant," says the great Critic, " that he was naturally in- 
 genious, and that he had improved himself by travelling ; and from that I 
 might reasonably have expected that air of gallantry which is so visibly dif- 
 fused through the body of the work, and is, indeed, the soul that animates all 
 things of this nature. But so much variety of reading, both in ancient and 
 modern authors, such digestion of that reading, so much justness of thought, 
 that it leaves no reason for affectation or pedantry, I may venture to say, 
 are not over common among practised \vi iters, and very rarely to be founrt 
 3mong beginners."
 
 320 
 
 elegies, epitaphs, odes, and songs, in which, says Mr. 
 Chalmers, he discovers more elegance than vigour, and sel- 
 dom rises higher than to be pretty. Dr. Johnson, however, 
 stamps a value on the preface prefixed by Walsh to his col- 
 lection, in saying it is a very judicious preface upon episto- 
 latory composition and amorous poetry. He certainly, in 
 this, presents a very candid and judicious statement of the 
 comparative merits of the ancient and modern writers on these 
 subjects, and, with great judgment, awards the palm to the 
 former, as more attentive to the genuine dictates of nature, 
 and less impressed by maxims of fashion than the laws of 
 truth. His Essay on Pastoral Poetry, with a short De- 
 fence of Virgil against some of the reflections of Fontenelle, 
 which is prefixed to Dryden's Translation of Virgil, men- 
 tioned above, was written in 1697- A small posthumous 
 piece of his composition, entitled Msculapius ; or, the Hos- 
 pital of Fools, in imitation of Lucian, was printed in 1714. 
 Of his merit in elegiac composition, we think the follow- 
 ing lines, from his Elegy to his Mistress, on " The Power 
 of Verse," a very sufficient proof: — 
 
 " While those bright eyes subdue where'er you will, 
 And, as you please, can either save or kill ; 
 What youth so bold, the conquest to design — 
 What wealth so great, to purchase hearts like thine ? 
 None but the Muse the privilege can claim ; 
 And what you give in love, return in fame. 
 Riches and titles, with your life must end ; 
 Nay, cannot, e'en in life, your fame defend ! 
 Verse can give fame, can fading beauties save, 
 And after death redeem them from the grave ; 
 Embalnvd in verse, through distant times they come, 
 Preserv'd like bees within an amber throne." 
 
 There is much point and truth in his Epigram on Love 
 and Jealousy ; and his Golden Age Restored, in imitation 
 of the 4th Eclogue of Virgil, is replete with humour, and 
 exhibits some of the leading political characters of his day 
 in a very ludicrous point of view ; and, in his Ode in imi- 
 tation of Horace, he pays some well-turned compliments
 
 321 
 
 to King William, on the salutary effects of the glorious 
 Revolution. Of all the different species of poetry, none is 
 more adapted to engage the mind, and captivate the fancy, 
 than the pastoral, the beauty of which consists in an elegant 
 simplicity. Hence we are induced to think the critics have 
 not done that justice to Walsh to which we conceive him en- 
 titled, from his pastoral Eclogues, as they abound with the 
 most simple yet elegant descriptions : there is a degree of 
 plaintiveness in his 5th Eclogue, in which he laments the 
 loss of a female friend, Mrs. Tempest, highly poetical, and 
 at the same time it forcibly moves our sensibility.* 
 
 The author of the Rambler styles Mr. Walsh's works 
 pages of inanity ; and Dr. Wharton, in his Essay on the 
 Genius of Pope, calls him a flimsy and frigid writer ; he, 
 however, remarks that the " Three Letters to Pope," are 
 well written, and that " the remarks on the nature of pas- 
 toral poetry in borrowing from the ancients, and against 
 flaccid conceits, are worthy perusal." Pope adds, Dr. W. 
 owed much to Walsh. 
 
 The works of Walsh were originally published by him- 
 self, and afterwards were re-printed, with additions, by 
 Curll, in a thin volume, 1736. Mr. Ralp mentions a tra- 
 ditional report, that he translated one act of a play, which 
 is generally, and with more reason, ascribed wholly to Van- 
 brugh. There is a head of the poet, with a view of his house 
 at Abberlev, in Nash's Worcestershire. The date on his 
 tomb makes him 46. — Mr. Pope, who was likely to know, 
 says he was 49. 
 
 Dennis, the critic, says, Walsh was a very indifferent 
 poet; and what was full as true of him, according, to Dr. 
 Nash's opinion, he loved to be well dressed ; his wig would 
 cost, continues he, though the account may be exaggerated, 
 801. employ a barber a fortnight to comb it, and require 
 above 3lbs. of powder. 
 
 * Walsh was not only a Socinian, but, what you wili own is harder to bo 
 saved, a Whig.— See Pope's l.etlerto Swift. 
 
 o T
 
 322 
 
 I have seen a note, written by Dr. Nash, requesting ma- 
 U rials of Mr. Malone for a life of Walsh, which the Dr. 
 meant to affix to a MS. of Walsh's, intended for publica- 
 tion. On this note Mr. Malone had written, that Dr. Nash 
 did not fulfil his intentions. — Query — What were the con- 
 tents of the MS. and in whose possession is it at present? 
 In Nash's Corrections on his History, p. 11, Addenda, is 
 an account of Walsh's translating an act of a French farce. 
 
 Anne, Countess Coventry. 
 Of this lady I can find no account whatever as an au- 
 thoress ; she has even escaped the indefatigable Mr. Parke, 
 who makes no mention of her in his Noble and Royal Au- 
 thors. It was but lately that I was shewn a production of 
 her's, by a gentleman of this county, with the following 
 title, " Meditations and Reflections, Moral and Divine, by 
 Anne, Countess of Coventry," 1707, 14mo. printed forB. 
 Aylmer, at the Three Pigeons, at Cornhill, and W. Rogers, 
 at the Sun, in Fleet-street. To this little volume is a frontis- 
 piece of a female at her devotions, drawn by — rchet,* the 
 beginning letters being torn off, and engraved by Nutting. 
 Dr. Nash mentions an Anne, Countess Coventry, daughter 
 of Sir Strensham Masters, who died at Holt Castle, May 
 20, 1788, aged 98. If this be the same lady, she was of 
 course but 17 when she wrote these Meditations. Her 
 first husband died in 1719, when she married, in 1752, Ed- 
 mund Pytts, Esq. of Kyre, M. P. for Worcestershire. — 
 See Nash's Corrections and Additions, p. 43, col. 1. 
 
 Thomas Vernon. 
 This learned gentleman was the son and heir of the Rev. 
 Richard Vernon, of Hanbury-Hall, Worcestershire, of a 
 family which came originally from Vernon, in Normandy, 
 and made a considerable figure in the reigns of Queen Anne 
 and George I. knight of the shire for this county, and re- 
 
 * A painter of the name of Berchet died in 1720. Nutting, the engraver, 
 flourished in 1709.
 
 323 
 
 presenting the borough of Whitechurcb, Hampshire, in the 
 Parliaments called in 1710, 1713, 1714, and 1722, but 
 this, as well as the date of his death, has been incorrectly 
 stated by his biographers, as his monument in H anbury 
 church informs us he died February 0, 1720-1, aged 67, 
 without issue. He had been secretary to the unfortunate 
 Duke of Monmouth. His Law Reports were printed by 
 order of the Court of Chancery, in 2 vols, folio, 1 726, 1728, 
 under the title of the " Reports of Thos. Vernon, Esq. of 
 Cases argued and adjudged in the High Court of Chancery, 
 from 33 Car. II. to 5 Geo. I." Among other eminent au- 
 thorities, the late Lord Kenyon took occasion to observe, 
 that it had been a hundred and a hundred times lamented that 
 Vernon's Reports were published in a very inaccurate man- 
 ner ; there were some private reasons, said his Lordship, 
 assigned for that, which he would not mention. Mr. Ver- 
 non's notes were taken for his own use, and never intended 
 for publication. He was, added Lord Kenyon, the ablest 
 man in his profession. There being a dispute after Mr. 
 Vernon's death, whether his MSS. should go to his heir at 
 law, or pass under the residuary clause in his will to his legal 
 personal representatives, the Court of Chancery made an 
 order for the publication of them, under the direction of 
 Mr. Melmoth and Mr. Peere Williams ; but as many of 
 the cases have been found inaccurate, and to consist of loose 
 notes only, John Raithby, Esq. has lately edited and re- 
 published them with great labour, and as he has taken pains 
 to examine all the cases with the register's book, they cannot 
 fail to be an acceptable offering to the profession. Mr. Rajfh- 
 by's elaborate edition appeared in 1806 and 1807, 2 vols. 
 8vo. Thomas Vernon lived in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and by 
 his profession added much to the estates of the family. By 
 his will, dated 17th Jan. 1711, proved in March, 1720-1, 
 he orders his body to be buried at Haubury, and leaves 
 5001. to erect a monument for himself, his father and mo- 
 ther ; to his niece, Lajtitia Acherley, who was his heir at 
 law, a considerable legacy, on condition that she does not
 
 324 
 
 contest his will; to his cousin, Wm. Vernon, his estate at 
 Horsiugton, in Lincolnshire ; and all the rest of his large 
 estate to his cousin, Bowater Vernon, Esq. with various 
 remainders over to the other male branches of his family ; 
 he also, says Dr. Nash, left considerable legacies to the 
 poor of these three parishes, namely, Audley, Shrawley, 
 and Hanbury. In the " Abstract of Returns of Charitable 
 Donations, &c. 1 787 — 1788, so far as relates to the county 
 of Worcester, and ordered by the House of Commons to be 
 printed, June 26, 1816," just handed me through the po- 
 liteness of a gentleman, I learn that Thomas Vernon, in 
 1720, left by will to the parish of Shrawley, 181. vested 
 in the hands of Sir Edward Wilmington, Bart. Edward 
 Whitcomb, John Prosser, and Charles Cooke, for gowns, 
 coal, and fuel. I regret the above document came not 
 sooner to my hands ; and recommend it as an interesting 
 paper, containing all the sums of money left by benevolent 
 persons to the poor of this county. 
 
 Dr. Francis Hare, Dean of Worcester, 1708, 
 
 And afterwards successively Bishop of St. Asaph and 
 Chichester, was born in London, and educated at Eton, 
 whence he was admitted of King's College, Cambridge, 
 1688, and took his degree of A. B. 1692, and A. M. 1696. 
 He afterwards became tutor in the College, and in that ca- 
 pacity superintended the education of the celebrated Anthony 
 Collins. He became D. D. 1708, and in 1726 Dean ot 
 St. Patd's. December 27 he was consecrated Bishop of 
 St. Asaph, where he sat about four years, and was trans- 
 lated to the see of Chichester, which he held, with the 
 Deanery of St. Paul's, till his death. He was dismissed 
 from being Chaplain to George I. 1718, by the strength of 
 party prejudice, and died at Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks, 
 April 26, 1740. Dr Hare was the author of many literary 
 productions, among which is a remarkable publication, en- 
 titled, " The Difficulties and Discouragements which attend 
 the Study of the Scriptures."
 
 325 
 
 Moses Hodges, D.D. 
 
 Author of a sermon while he was Vicar of St. Mary's, 
 Warwick, to which he was presented by Queen Anne in 
 1706. Worn out with indefatigable pains in the discharge 
 of his parochial duty, as Vicar of St. Mary's, he retired to 
 Harvington, in this county, where he was appointed, in 
 August, 1660, Rector. He died November 21, 1724, in 
 the 62d year of his age. He married Martha, the daughter of 
 John Jephcott, D.D. (probably the Prebendary of Worces- 
 ter, 1683, and whom he succeeded at Harvington,) by 
 whom he left four daughters. 
 
 Nicholas Faccio or Fatio de Duillier, 
 A man of considerable learning, who, becoming con- 
 nected with the French prophets, stood in the pillory at 
 Charing Cross in 1707, for favouring these enthusiasts in 
 their wicked and counterfeit prophecies. Oppressed with 
 derision and contempt, he, about the year 1720, retired to 
 this county, and died at Worcester in 1753, aged 90; and, 
 according to the register of St. Nicholas, in that city, was 
 buried April 28, 1753. Dr. Johnstone, of Kidderminster, 
 had in his possession a MS. written by Faccio, containing 
 commentaries and illustrations of different parts of Sir Isaac 
 Newton's Principia, and many other MSS. by him. Dr. 
 Wall, of Worcester, who was well acquainted with Faccio, 
 communicated many particulars of him now to be found in 
 his biography. — See also Seward's Anecdotes, and the Ap- 
 pendix to Green's Worcester. 
 
 Richard Willis, D.D. 
 A Native of this county, was the son of a capper, at 
 Bewdley, where he Mas born in 1664. He received the first 
 rudiments of his education at the free grammar school, from 
 whence he was removed to Oxford, where he became Fellow 
 of All Souls. On his leaving the University he was chosen 
 Lecturer of St. Clement's, in the Strand, London, and
 
 326 
 
 Prebendary of Westminster: becoming remarkable, from 
 preaching extempore, he was recommended to King Wil- 
 liam as a proper person to attend him as Chaplain to Holland, 
 and was soon after promoted to the Deanery of Lincoln by 
 his Majesty, while he held a stall in that church, Dec. 26, 
 1701, and in 1714 was made Bishop of Gloucester by 
 George I.; in 1721 promoted to Salisbury, and hi 1723 to 
 Winchester. He deserves to be remembered with gratitude 
 by every Worcestershire man, as during the whole course of 
 his life he shewed a great affection for his native county ; 
 and at Winchester provided for the younger sons of several 
 gentlemen's families of the county. Bishop Willis presided 
 at Winchester till his death at Winchester-house, Chelsea, 
 which happened suddenly in the morning of August 10, 
 1734, when in his 71st year. His Lordship was a Prelate 
 of the most noble Order of the Garter, Cierk of his Ma- 
 jesty's Closet, a Commissioner for building fifty new 
 churches, and one of the founders of the Society for pro- 
 moting Christian Knowledge. His body was interred in 
 his own cathedral, a little above Bishop Wyekham. He is 
 represented on his monument in his episcopal robes, upon a 
 sarcophagus. The descendants of this Bishop still hold the 
 manor of Maiden, under a lease from Merton College, 
 granted to him in 1707- 
 
 Dr. William Byrche, LL. D. Prebendary, 1727.. 
 Chancellor of Worcester, 1 7 19> 
 
 Was nearly related to the great Bishop Hough, both by 
 his mother, and by various intermarriages. He was Rector 
 of Fladbury, in this county, and possessed " a good thou- 
 sand a year in preferment." He married Miss Elizabeth 
 Savage, of Elmley Court, Worcestershire, by whom he had 
 two children ; which match it appears was, according to 
 one of Bishop Hough's letters, for some time delayed, from 
 an awkward accident : " Shrove Tuesday," the Bishop 
 writes, " was fixed upon to be the happy day, but on Mon- 
 day, by an unfortunate step, he fell, and bruised himself so
 
 327 
 
 severely, as to be obliged to keep his bed ; and before that 
 illness was over, the gout seized both his feet." He died 
 February, 1741, and lies in the east end of the south clois- 
 ter of this cathedral, where is an inscription on a flat stone. 
 He was brother to Mr. Edward Byrche, who died Novem- 
 ber, 1 730, and who is so affectionately spoken of in Bishop 
 Hough's letters. There is a portrait of Dr. Byrche in the 
 audit room of the cathedral of Worcester. The author of Bib- 
 liotheca Britannica says, that Wm. Byrche, D. T). Chap- 
 lain to the Archbishop of Canterbury } and Chancellor of 
 Worcester, was the author of the " Consecration of Bishop 
 Chandler, a Sermon on 1 Tim. iii. 7," 1717, 8vo. 
 
 John Meeke* 
 Clerk; he gave by his will, dated November, 1665, 1001. 
 per annum, issuing out of divers messuages and lands at 
 East Smithfield, St. Catherine's, and Aldgate, in the coun- 
 ty of Middlesex, to ten poor scholars, to be chosen out of 
 the free grammar school at Worcester, and placed and edu- 
 cated in Magdalen College, Oxford ; each of them to have 
 101. per annum ; and if the rents should increase, then more 
 scholars should be elected, with a similar allowance. — See 
 " Carlisle's endowed Schools." 
 
 Edmund Neale, otherwise Smith, 
 A Native of this county, was mostly known by the latter 
 name. By his epitaph he appears to have been 42 years 
 old when he died, he was consequently born in the year 
 1G68, and at Hanley,+ the seat of the Lechmeres. He 
 was the only son of an eminent merchant, one Mr. Neale, 
 by a daughter of the famous Baron Lechmere, of the Ex- 
 chequer, who died in 1701. Some misfortunes of his fa- 
 ther, which were soon followed by his death, were the oc- 
 casion of the son's being left very voung in the hands of a 
 near relation (one who had married Mr. Neale's sister), 
 
 * This article should have been inserted at page 131. 
 + Severn End, in the parish of Hanley Castle, is the seat of the Lerhnjeres.
 
 328 
 
 whose name was Smith : this gentleman and his lady treated 
 him as their own child, and put him to Westminster school 
 under the care of Dr. Busby. It is known to have been the 
 custom of this master to detain those youths long at school 
 of whom he had formed the highest expectations. Smith 
 took his Master's degree on the 8th July, 16Q6, he therefore 
 was probably admitted into the University in 1689, when 
 we may suppose him 20 years old : he was removed from 
 Westminster to Christ Church, Oxford, after the loss of his 
 maternal uncle, his faithful and generous guardian, whose 
 name he assumed and retained in gratitude for his care of him 
 after his father's decease, and was there by his aunt handsomely 
 maintained till her death, after which he continued a mem- 
 ber of that learned body till within five years of his own ; 
 though, some time before his leaving Christ Church, he 
 was sent for by his mother to Worcester, and owned and 
 acknowledged as her legitimate son, which had not been 
 mentioned, but to wipe off the aspersions that were igno- 
 rantly cast by some on his birth. It is to be remembered, 
 for our author's honour, that when at Westminster election 
 he stood a candidate for one of the Universities, he so sig- 
 nally distinguished himself by his conspicuous performances, 
 that there arose no small contention between the represent- 
 ative electors of Trinity College, in Cambridge, and Christ 
 Church, in Oxford, which of the two royal societies should 
 adopt him as their own : but the electors of Trinity College 
 having the preference of choice that year, they resolutely 
 elected him, who, yet being invited at the same time to 
 Christ Church, chose to accept of a studentship there. Mr. 
 Smith's perfections, as well natural as acquired, seemed to 
 have been formed upon Horace's plan, who says, in his 
 " Art of Poetry," 
 
 " Ego nee studium sine divite vena, 
 
 " Nee rude quid profit video ingenium ; alterius sic 
 " Altera poscit opem res, & conjurat amice." 
 
 His reputation for literature in this college was very great j 
 but the indecency and licentiousness of his behaviour, drew
 
 329 
 
 upon him, Dec. 24, 1694, while he was yet only Bachelor, 
 a public admonition, entered upon record, in order to his 
 expulsion : of this reproof the effect is not known. 
 
 The following account is from Dr. Johnson's Lives of 
 the Poets : — " He had exhibited much literary merit by 
 his excellent ode on the death of the great Orientalist, 
 Dr. Pococke, who died in 1691, and whose praise must 
 have been written by Smith when he had been but two years 
 in the University. This ode, which closed the second vo- 
 lume of the Muses Anglicans, though perhaps some ob- 
 jections may be made to its Latinity, is by far the best 
 lyric composition in that collection ; nor do I know where 
 to find it equalled among the modern writers. It expresses, 
 with great felicity, images not classical in classical diction : 
 its digressions and returns have been deservedly recommended 
 by Trapp as models for imitation. He had several imita- 
 tions from Cowley : 
 
 Testitur hinc tot sermo coloribus 
 Quot tu, Pococki,* dissimilis tui 
 
 Orator effers, quot vicissim 
 
 Te memores celebrare gaudeut. 
 
 " I will not commend the figure which makes the orator 
 pronounce the colours, or give to colours memory and delight. 
 I quote it, however, as an imitation of these lines : 
 
 So many languages he had in store, 
 
 That only Fame shall speak of him in more. 
 
 " The simile, by which an old man, retaining the fire of 
 his youth, is compared to iEtna, flaming through the snow, 
 which Smith has used with great pomp, is stolen from Cow- 
 ley, however little worth the labour of conveyance. 
 
 " He proceeded to take his degree of Master of Arts, July 
 8, 1696. Of the exercises which he performed on that oc- 
 casion, I have not heard any thing memorable. As his years 
 advanced, he advanced in reputation ; for he continued to 
 cultivate his mind, though he did not amend his irregularities: 
 by which he gave so much offence, that, April 24, 1700, 
 
 * Seethe ludicrous analysis of Pocockius in Johnson's Lives. 
 
 2 u
 
 33Q 
 
 the Dean and Chapter declared " the place of Mr. Smith 
 void, lie having been convicted of riotous behaviour in the 
 house of Mr. Cole, an apothecary ; but it was referred to 
 the Dean when, and upon what occasion, the sentence 
 should be put into execution." Thus tenderly was he treat- 
 ed : the governors of his college could hardly keep him, and 
 yet wished that he would not force them to drive him away. 
 Some time afterwards he assumed an appearance of de- 
 cency : in his own phrase, he whitened himself, having a de- 
 sire to obtain the censorship, an office of honour and some 
 profit in the college ; but, when the election came, the pre- 
 ference was given to Mr. Foulkes, his junior; the same, 1 
 suppose, that joined with Friend in an edition of part of 
 Demosthenes. The censor is a tutor; and it was not 
 thought proper to trust the superintendence of others to a 
 man who took so little care of himself. From this time 
 Smith employed his malice and his wit against the Dean, 
 Dr. Aldrich, whom he considered as the opponent of his 
 claim. Of his lampoon upon him, I once heard a single line 
 too gross to be repeated. But he was still a genius and a scho- 
 lar, and Oxford was unwilling to lose him : he was endured, 
 with all his pranks, and his vices, two years longer ; but on 
 December 20, 1 705, at the instance of all the canons, the 
 sentence declared five years before was put in execution. 
 'J he execution was, I believe, silent and tender ; for one of 
 his friends, from whom I learned much of his life, appeared 
 not to know it. He was now driven to London, where he 
 associated himself with the Whigs, whether because they 
 were in power, or because the Tories had expelled him, or 
 because he was a Whig by principle, may perhaps be doubt- 
 ed. He was, however, caressed by men of great abilities, 
 whatever were their party, and was supported by the li- 
 berality of those who delighted in his conversation. There 
 was once a design, hinted at by Oldisworth, to have made 
 him useful. One evening* as he was sitting with a friend at 
 a tavern, he was called down by the waiter : and, having 
 staid some time below, came up thoughtful. After a pause,
 
 331 
 
 said he to his friend, " he that wanted me below was Addi- 
 son, whose business was to tell me that a History of the Re- 
 volution was intended, and to propose that I should under- 
 take it. I said, ' What shall I do with the character of Lord 
 Sunderland?' and Addison immediately returned, ' When, 
 Rag, were you drunk last?' and went away " Captain Mag 
 was a name which he got at Oxford bv his negligence of 
 dress. This story I heard from the late Mr. Clark, of Lin- 
 coln's Inn, to whom it was told bv the friend of Smith. 
 Such scruples might debar him from some profitable em- 
 ployments ; but, as they could not deprive him of any re:;'. 
 esteem, they left him many friends; and no man was ever 
 better introduced to the theatre than he, who, in that vi- 
 olent conflict of parties, had a prologue and epilogue from 
 the first wits on either side. But learning and nature will 
 now and then take different courses. His play pleased the 
 critics, and the critics only. It was, as Addison has re- 
 corded, hardly heard the third night. Smith had indeed 
 trusted entirely to his merit, had ensured no band of ap- 
 plauders, nor used any artifice to force success, and found 
 that native excellence was not sufficient for its own support. 
 The] play, however, was bought by Lintot, who advanced 
 the price from fifty guineas, the current rate, to sixty , and 
 Halifax, the general patron, accepted the dedication. 
 Smith's indolence kept him from writing the dedication till 
 Lintot, after fruitless importunity, gave notice that he would 
 publish the play without it. Now, therefore, it was written; 
 and Halifax expected the author with his book, and had 
 prepared to reward him with a place of three hundred pounds 
 a year. Smith, by pride, or caprice, or indolence, or bash- 
 fulness, neglected to attend him, though doubtless warned 
 and pressed by his friends, and at last missed his reward by 
 not going to solicit it. Addison has, in the Spectator, men- 
 tioned the neglect of Smith's tragedy as disgraceful to the 
 nation, and imputes it to the fondness for operas then pre- 
 vailing. The authority of Addison is great ; yet the voice <>f 
 the people, when to llease the people is the purpose, de-
 
 332 
 
 serves regard. In this question, I cannot but think the 
 people in the right. The fable is mythological, a story 
 which we are accustomed to reject as false ; and the manners 
 are so distant from our own, that we know them not from 
 sympathy, but by study ; the ignorant do not understand the 
 action ; the learned reject it as a school-boy's tale; incredu- 
 lus odi. What I cannot for a moment believe, I cannot for a 
 moment behold with interest or anxiety. The sentiments 
 thus remote from life are removed yet further by the dictiou, 
 which is too luxuriant and splendid for dialogue, and enve- 
 lopes the thoughts rather than displays them. It is a scho- 
 lar's, play, such as may please the reader rather than the spec- 
 tator ; the work of a vigorous and elegant mind, accustom- 
 ed to please itself with its own conceptions, but of little ac- 
 quaintance with the course of life. 
 
 " Dennis tells us, in one of his pieces, that he had once a 
 design to have written the tragedy of Phcedra ; but was con- 
 vinced that the action was too mythological. In 1709, a 
 year after the exhibition of Phccdra, died John Phillips, the 
 friend and fellow-collegian of Smith, who, on that occasion, 
 wrote a poem, which justice must place among the best 
 elegies which our language can show, an elegant mixture of 
 fondness and admiration, of dignity and softness. There 
 are some passages too ludicrous ; but every human per- 
 formance has its faults. This elegy it was the mode among 
 his friends to purchase for a guinea : and, as his acquaint- 
 ance was numerous, it was a very profitable poem. Of his 
 Pindar , mentioned by Oldis worth, I have never otherwise 
 heard. His Longinus he intended to accompany with some 
 illustrations, and had selected his instances of the false sub- 
 lime from the works of Blackmore. He resolved to try again 
 the fortune of the stage, with the story of Lady Jane Grey. 
 It is not unlikely that his experience of the inefficacy and in- 
 credibility of a mythological tale might determine him to 
 choose an action from the English History, at no great dis- 
 tance from our own times, which was to end in a real event, 
 produced by the operation of known characters. A subject
 
 333 
 
 will not easily occur that can give more opportunities of in- 
 forming the understanding, for which Smith was unques- 
 tionably qualified, or for moving the passions, in which I 
 suspect him to have had less power. Having formed his 
 plan, and collected materials, he declared that a few months 
 would complete his design ; and, that he might pursue his 
 work with less frequent avocations, he was, in June, 1710, 
 invited by Mr. George Ducket to his house at Gartham, in 
 Wiltshire. Here he found such opportunities of indulgence 
 as did not much forward his studies, and particularly some 
 strong; ale, too delicious to be resisted. He ate and drank 
 till he found himself plethoric ; and then resolving to ease 
 himself by evacuation, he wrote to an apothecary in the neigh- 
 bourhood a prescription of a purge so forcible, that the apo- 
 thecary thought it his duty to delay it till he had given notice 
 of its danger. Smith, not pleased with the contradiction of 
 a shopman, and boastful of his own knowledge, treated the 
 notice with rude contempt, and swallowed his own medicine, 
 which, in July, 1710, brought him to the grave. He was 
 buried at Gartham. Many years afterwards, Ducket com- 
 municated to Oldmixon, the historian, an account pretend- 
 ed to have been received from Smith, that Clarendon's 
 History was, in its publication, corrupted by Aldrich, 
 Smalridge, and Atterbury ; and that Smith was employed 
 to forge and insert the alterations. This story was published 
 triumphantly by Oldmixon, and may be supposed to have 
 been eagerly received ; but its progress was soon checked ; 
 for, finding its way into the journal of Trevoux, it fell un- 
 der the eye of Atterbury, then an exile in France, who im- 
 mediately denied the charge, with this remarkable parti- 
 cular, that he never in his whole life had once spoken to 
 Smith;* his company being, as must be inferred, not ac- 
 cepted by those who attended to their characters. The 
 
 « 
 
 See Bishop Atterbury's "Epistolary Correspondence," 1799, vol.3. 
 p. 126— 133. In the same, work, vol.1, p. 325, it appears that Smith was 
 at one time suspected by Atterbury to have been the author of the " Tale of 
 a Tub."
 
 334 
 
 charge was afterwards very diligently refuted by Dr. Burtou, 
 of Eton, a man eminent for literature ; and though not of 
 the same party with Aldrich and Atterbury, too studious of 
 truth to leave them burdened with a false charge. The tes- 
 timonies which he has collected have convinced mankind 
 that either Smith or Ducket was guilty of wilful and mali- 
 cious falsehood- This controversy brought into view those 
 parts of Smith's life which, with more honour to his name, 
 might have been concealed. 
 
 " Of Smith I can yet say a little more. He was a man of 
 such estimation among his companions, that the casual cen- 
 sures or praises which he dropped in conversation were con- 
 sidered, like those of Scaliger, as worthy of preservation. 
 He had great readiness and exactness of criticism, and by a 
 cursory glance over a new composition would exactly tell ail 
 its faults and beauties. He was remarkable for the power of 
 reading with great rapidity, and of retaining with great fide- 
 lity what he so easily collected. He therefore always knew 
 what the present question required ; and, when his friends 
 expressed their wonder at his acquisitions, made in a state of 
 apparent negligence and drunkenness, he never discovered 
 his hours of reading or method of study, but involved him- 
 self in affected silence, and fed his own vanity with their 
 admiration. One practice he had, which was easily ob- 
 served ; if any thought or image was presented to his mind 
 that he could use or improve, he did not suffer it to be lost ; 
 but, amidst the jollity of a tavern, or in the warmth of con- 
 versation, very diligently committed it to paper. Thus it 
 was that he had gathered two quires of hints for his new tra- 
 gedy ; of which Rovve, when they were put into his hands, 
 could make, as he says, very little use, but which the col- 
 lector considered as a valuable stock of materials. 
 
 " When he came to London, his way of life connected him 
 with the licentious and dissolute ; and he affected the airs 
 and gaiety of a man of pleasure ; but his dress Mas always 
 deficient ; scholastic cloudiness still hung about him ; and 
 his merriment was sure to produce the scorn of his compa-
 
 335 
 
 nions. With all his carelessness, and all his vices, he was 
 one of the murmurers at Fortune ; and wondered why he 
 was suffered to be poor, when Addison was caressed and 
 preferred : nor would a very little have contented him ; for 
 he estimated his wants at six hundred pounds a year. In 
 his course of reading, it was particular that he had diligently 
 perused, and accurately remembered, the old romances of 
 knight-errantry. He had a high opinion of his own merit, 
 and was something contemptuous in his treatment of those 
 whom he considered as not qualified to oppose or contradict 
 him. He had many frailties ; yet it cannot but be supposed 
 that he had great merit who could obtain to the same play a 
 prologue from Addison and an epilogue from Prior; and 
 who could have at once the patronage of Halifax and the 
 praise of Oldisworth. 
 
 " For the power of communicating these minute memo- 
 rials, continues Dr. Johnson, I am indebted to my con- 
 versation with Gilbert Walmsley, late registrar of the ec- 
 clesiastical court of Lichfield, who was acquainted both 
 with Smith and Ducket; and declared, that, if the tale 
 concerning Clarendon were forged, he should suspect 
 Ducket of the falsehood : ' for Rag was a man of great ve- 
 racity.' " Dr. Johnson thus proceeds : — " Edmund Smith 
 is one of those lucky writers who have, without much 
 labour, attained high reputation, and who are mentioned 
 with reverence rather for the possession than the exertion 
 of uncommon abilities. Of his life little is known; and 
 that little claims no praise but what can be given to in- 
 tellectual excellence seldom employed to any virtuous pur- 
 pose. His character, as given by Mr. Oldisworth, with all 
 the partiality of friendship, is said by Dr. Burton to show 
 " what tine things one man of parts can say of another." 
 The declamation of Oldisworth, which may be seen in Dr. 
 Johnson's Lives of the Poets, written while his admiration 
 was yet fresh, and his kindness warm, and therefore such as, 
 without any criminal purpose of deceiving, shews a strong 
 desire to make the most of all favourable truth. I cannot
 
 336 
 
 much commend the performance; the praise is often in- 
 distinct, and the sentences are loaded with words of more 
 pomp than use. There is little, however, that can be con- 
 tradicted, even when a plainer tale comes to be told." 
 
 Richard Estcourt. 
 This Theatrical Performer and celebrated Dramatist was 
 born at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, 1668 : having an 
 early inclination for the stage, he stole away from his father's 
 house at the age of 15, and joined a travelling company of 
 comedians then at Worcester ; where, for fear of being 
 known, he made his first appearance in female attire, in the 
 part of Roxana. For an entertaining account of Estcourt, 
 see the Biographia Dram. Estcourt died in 1713. He 
 was the author of " The Fair Example," and " Prunella." 
 
 John Wynne. D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1705, 
 
 Was afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph ; and, resigning his 
 principality in 1720, was translated, in 1727, to the see of 
 Bath and Wells. He Mas educated at Jesus College, Ox- 
 ford, of which he was a Fellow: and in 17 12 he was elected 
 Principal. He compiled an Abridgement of Locke on 
 Christianity; and died in 1743. — Ackermann's Oxford, ar- 
 ticle Jesus Coll. His son, Huddlestone Wynne, was the 
 author of Fables of Flowers, 1773: he was apprenticed to 
 a compositor. — See an interesting life of him in Nicol's 
 Lit. Anecdotes. 
 
 William Thomas, D. D, 
 Grandson of Bishop Thomas, and only son of John Tho- 
 mas and Mary Bagnall, which Mary was daughter to Mr. 
 Bagnall, who lived in Sidbury, and was so instrumental in 
 saving the life of Charles II, (see article Bagnall.) He was 
 born in 1671, and inherited but little from his grandfather. 
 He was educated at Westminster school, from whence 
 elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, June 25, 1688, 
 Leing then 17 years old, as appears by the accounts of ad-
 
 OOT 
 
 37 
 
 missions in that college. Here lie took his Master's degree, 
 and soon after went into orders : he had the living of Exall, 
 in Warwickshire, given him by the interest of Lord Somers, 
 to whom he was distantly related : at Atherston, in the same 
 county, he had a considerable estate, as he had likewise at 
 the Grange, near Todington, in Gloucestershire ; the 
 former came to him by his wife, the latter by his uncle, 
 William Thomas. Queen Anne was well disposed to him, 
 and made many enquiries after him, his grandfather the Bi- 
 shop having been formerly her preceptor; but he declined 
 preferment, or attendance at Court. He married Elizabeth 
 Carter, only daughter of George Carter, Esq. of Brill, in 
 the county of Bucks, with whom he had a considerable 
 fortune. By her he had a numerous family, nine daughters 
 and five sons ; of the latter, one only survived him about 
 eight years, (Nash says he died without male issue,) and 
 died unmarrried. For the education of this numerous fa- 
 mily, Dr. Thomas wished to go to Worcester, which he 
 accordingly did in 1721, and in 1723 was presented to the 
 rectory of St. Nicholas, in that city,* by Bishop Hough, to 
 whom he dedicated " Antiquitates Prioratus Majoris Mal- 
 verne ;" printed in 1725 ; his edition of " Dugdale's War- 
 wickshire," in 1730; and likewise his " Survey of the Ca- 
 thedral Church of Worcester," printed in 1736 : to Dug- 
 dale he made many large and valuable additions, and it is 
 now deservedly a book of great price. In his younger years, 
 namely, in 1700, he travelled to France and Italy, where 
 he contracted a particular intimacy with Sir John Pakington ; 
 he was well skilled in the Greek and Latin languages, to 
 which he added the French and Italian. He likewise made 
 himself master of the Saxon, a task at that time not so easy 
 as at present, when we have a good dictionary, and a good 
 grammar ; the former would have saved him great trouble, 
 as Dr. Nash saw one he made himself, for his own use, 
 
 * He founded a library at this church, for the benefit of succeeding rectors, 
 of which a few volumes only are now preserved. — See Chambers's AYorcester. 
 
 2 x
 
 338 
 
 which cost him great pains ; his industry, indeed, was 
 amazing ; as he hardly allowed himself time for sleep, meals, 
 or amusement. He fully intended, if Providence had spared 
 liis life, to have published the history of Worcestershire, and 
 with this view had carefully examined and transcribed many 
 of the registers of the Bishops, and the church of Worces- 
 ter.* To these labours Dr. Nash owns himself indebted, 
 and says, " he should be highly ungrateful if he did not take 
 every opportunity of acknowledging the obligations, He 
 visited likewise every church in the county about 50 years 
 ago, which, together with the church gatherings of old Ha- 
 bingdon, were of great service to Dr. Nash, by explaining 
 defaced arms and obliterated inscriptions ; indeed, the ac- 
 count of the painted glass is chiefly taken from their MSS. 
 as it is now, by time and other accidents, almost all broken, 
 or rendered unintelligible by the glaziers. He died July 26, 
 1738, aged 68, and is buried in the cloisters of Worcester 
 Cathedral, near his grandfather.-}- 
 
 James Brooke, M.A. 
 Rector of Hill Cromb,J and Vicar of Hanley Castle, 
 1725, both in this county, was the author of a Funeral Ser- 
 mon on Sir Francis Russell, Prov. x. 7, 1706, 4to.; and 
 
 * Bishop Lyttelton praises Dr. Thomas for being an industrious antiquary, 
 but regretted he had made many mistakes and omissions. — Vide Lyttelton's 
 Letter to Smart Lethieulier, in Green's Appendix, p. cxlii.— See also a 
 defence of the Dr. for making a false citation, at the next page, by Mr. 
 Garbet. 
 
 + In the year 1731, Bishop Hough made him a handsome present of a 
 silver bason and ewer, which weighed 152 ounces, with his name engraved, 
 and this inscription :— " Ex dono Reverendi in Christo patris, Johannes, 
 permissione divina, Episcopi Wigorniensis." This present, from such a 
 worthy prelate, Dr. Thomas highly esteemed. 
 
 t In Dr. Nash's list of Incumbents to Hill Cromb, the names of Brooke is 
 thus inserted — 
 
 Jacobus Brooke, el. A. B. 1 Jan. 1705. 
 James Brooke, A. M. 12 April, 1742. 
 
 There is also an entry of the same names in the incumbents of Croome 
 D'Abitot, 1771, and of Pirton, (M. A.) 1762.
 
 339 
 
 The Duty and Advantage of Singing to the Lord, Col. iii. 
 16, 1,728, 8vo. 
 
 William Delaune,D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 17 14, 
 Was of St. John's College, Oxford : B.A. 1683, B.D. 
 1688, D.D. 1697, and President of the College, March 
 12, 1697-8. He was also Rector of Chilbolton, Hants, 
 and for four years successively Vice Chancellor of the Uni- 
 versity ; installed Prebendary of Winchester March 4, 
 1701; afterwards Rector of Hanborough, Oxon, and Lady 
 Margaret's Professor of Divinity. He published a sermon 
 preached before the House of Commons, in 170(2, twelve 
 sermons upon several subjects and occasions, 172S, in 
 which year he died, and was buried in the inner chancel of 
 his college, with this inscription on a small white stone : — 
 
 H.S. E. G. DELAUNE, Prases; 
 Ob. Maii23, 1728, setat 69. 
 
 See more of him in Nichol's Literary Anecdotes. 
 
 James Stillingfleet, D.D. Prebendary, 1698, 
 
 Dean, 1726, 
 
 Son of the learned Bishop Stillingfleet, by his second 
 wife. He took the degree of M. A. in Wadham College, 
 Oxford, 1695, and became Rector of Hartlebury in 1698-9. 
 Dean Stillingfleet died, after presiding near twenty years in 
 his Deanery, in September, 1746, and was buried in Wor- 
 cester Cathedral. — See Hutchinson's History of Durham. 
 
 Nicholas Lechmere, 
 Baron of Evesham, of a family which came originally out 
 of the Low Countries, served under William the Conqueror, 
 and obtained lands in Hanley, called, from them, Lech- 
 mere's Place, and Lechmere's Field ; they are moreover al- 
 lied to the De Rupes, the Dinelys, the Nevilles, Lords 
 Abergavenny, &c. Nicholas was the second son of Ed- 
 mund Lechmere, and studied at the Middle Temple, of
 
 340 
 
 which society he was a member. In the Parliament which 
 met July 8, 1708, he was returned for Appleby, in West- 
 moreland ; in that of November 25, 1710, for Cocker- 
 mouth, which place he likewise represented in 1713 and 
 1715. On the accession of George I. October 8, 1714, 
 he was appointed Solicitor General, in the room of Sir Ro- 
 bert Raymond, about which time we find him opposing 
 Walpole's charges against General Cadogan, for a fraud in 
 transporting the Dutch troops, in the time of the rebellion, 
 to and from Great Britain, as frivolous, and the result of 
 malice.— Vide Cox's Life of Walpole, vol.3, p. 112. lu 
 1717, he was promoted to the Chancellorship of the Duchy 
 of Lancaster, and on vacating his seat in Parliament, he 
 was immediately chosen for Tewkesbury, for which he like- 
 wise was returned again, on his being promoted to the of- 
 fice of Attorney General in 1718, in which year I find him 
 supporting the Peerage bill. He was one of the managers 
 against Dr. Sacheverel!,and moved the impeachment against 
 Lord Derwentwater, one of the rebel Lords. His speech 
 on the latter occasion has been published in a pamphlet, 
 and in the Historical Register, vol. 1, p. 142. He was 
 created Baron Lechmere, of Evesham, in the county of 
 Worcester, Aug. 25, 1721, 7 George I. The preamble to 
 his patent is as follows : — taking no notice of the antiquity 
 of his family,* " he choosing rather to be the first, than to 
 have it supposed he could derive any honour from those who 
 had gone before him. In his younger years, furnished with 
 a general and extensive knowledge of all good literature, he 
 applied himself particularly to the laws of his country, in 
 the practice whereof he soon appeared eminent for both the 
 qualifications, exact judgment and inimitable eloquence, in 
 
 * Noble, in his continuation of Granger, contradicts this assertion, 
 and says, " It expressly mentions therein, ' that he is a person il- 
 lustrious by his descent on both sides from an honourable and most ancient 
 family of that county, in which, for many ages, his ancestors have distin- 
 guished themselves by their loyalty and love to the true interest and li- 
 berty of their country, &c.' ; — Vol. 1, p. 171, note.
 
 341 
 
 cither of which but few only attain unto perfection ; which 
 excellency, both of judgment and elocution, as it first shined 
 forth in the business of his profession, so it soon appeared 
 and continued more eminently conspicuous in debates in 
 Parliament, where, by constant attendance and applica- 
 tion, at the same time that he underwent the great weight 
 both of private business and public office, he acquired, in 
 the universal opinion of men of all parties, an uncommon 
 skill and ability in Parliamentary affairs, with incredible 
 distinctness of thought and clearness of expression, opening 
 the most extensive and perplexed matters, and by the co- 
 piousness and strength of his reasons influencing the most 
 nice and important debates. For these causes we thought 
 fit formerly to appoint him a Member of our Privy Council, 
 and our Attorney General, and Chancellor for Life of our 
 Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster, honours hardly 
 ever before united in the same person ; and now, with regard 
 to the same excellency, and that distinguished zeal and in- 
 tegrity of our service, of which he has in every employment, 
 and upon every occasion, continued to give new and un- 
 doubted proofs, we have resolved to promote the said Ni- 
 cholas Lechmere, Esq. to the dignity of Peerage." In 1717 
 he was one of the committee of secrecy to examine the books 
 and papers relative to the South Sea Act. He died of an 
 apoplexy, while at table, at the age of 52, in 1727,* at 
 Camden House,t which he had purchased, and which was 
 sold by his heir. He was a good lawyer, a quick and dis- 
 tinguished orator, much courted by the Whig party, but of 
 a temper violent, proud, and impracticable. One particular 
 instance of his violence is related by Mr. Cox, in his Life 
 of Walpole, vol. 1, p. 122, when, instead of confining him- 
 self to the subject of debate, he poured forth invectives 
 
 * See an account in Cox's History of Walpole, vol. 1, p. 264, of the in- 
 decent intrusion of Lechmere in the King's closet. 
 
 t See the ballad, published in Swift's works, said to be written by Gay, 
 entitled " Duke upon Duke, or a ludicrous account of a Quarrel between 
 Lord Lechmere and Sir John Guise."
 
 342 
 
 against Walpole, who, having replied, he again attempted 
 to speak, when the House refused to hear him : see also 
 p. 145 of the same work. His character may be con- 
 jectured from what Sir Robert Walpole said to him, 
 drawing a parallel between him and one of his coach- 
 horses. Lord Lechmere, who was a great lover of fine 
 horses, overtaking Sir Robert in his coach, coming from 
 Chelsea, admired his cattle ; Sir Robert agreed with him 
 that they were all fine horses, but, says he, there is one in 
 the set that is worth all the rest, if he would not be restive, 
 but draw in company; sometimes he is so violent he will 
 draw all himself; at other times he will hang back, and do 
 a great deal more harm than good. 
 
 The same impetuosity led him to speak in the House of 
 Commons the instant that he had taken the oaths, upon 
 which a member interrupted him, and facetiously objected 
 to Mr. Lechmere as not a sitting member, he never having 
 sat down in the House before he spoke. " These anecdotes," 
 says Dr. Nash, from whom this account is extracted, " I 
 had from Sir John Rushout, his intimate friend, who had 
 his portrait at Northwick, but the character of the man 
 is so lost in the immensity of wig, that I did not 
 think it worth engraving. It is well known these full-bot- 
 tomed wigs were in fashion during the reigns of King 
 William and Queen Anne. Lord Bolingbroke was one of 
 the first who tied them up, with which the Queen was 
 much offended, and said to a bye-stander, " he will soon 
 come to Court in his night-cap." Soon after, tye-wigs, 
 instead of being a mark of undress, became the high Court 
 dress. Nicholas, Lord Lechmere, married Elizabeth, 
 third daughter of Charles, Earl of Carlisle, by whom he 
 had no issue : she re-married Sir Thomas Robinson, of 
 Rokeby, in the county of York, Bart, and died April 10, 
 1739-" The reader will find some circumstances relating to 
 his brother in Bolingbroke's Correspondence, pages 55 
 and 58.
 
 343 
 
 William Worth, B. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1715, 
 and Archdeacon, 1705, 
 
 Was also the Incumbent of Alvechurch and of North- 
 field, both in this county : to the former he was collated 
 April 9, 1713, and to the latter July 11 of the same year. 
 He was a Fellow of All Souls College, and published 
 Tatian, at Oxford, in the year 1700. The following ex- 
 tract is copied from the Bodleian Letters — Hearne to Dr. 
 Smith : — " I suppose you have looked into a book lately 
 published, called Chronicon Pretiosum, the chief design of 
 which is to keep Mr. Worth in his Fellowship of All Souls 
 College, which he ought to leave on account of the Arch- 
 deaconry of Worcester being almost a year since conferred 
 on him, and is valued more in the Queen's book than is con- 
 sistent with the oath he had took at his entering upon his 
 Fellowship, viz. to observe all the statutes of the college. 
 But the author of this book, which some say is Dr. Wm. 
 Fleetwood, endeavours to shew that he is not obliged to re- 
 sign, if the value of money be considered as it was at that 
 time." Dr. Nash, in his History of Worcester, has availed 
 himself of the Collections of Archdeacon Worth, who died 
 in 1742. 
 
 John Doharty, 
 
 A native of Ireland, resided for some time in Worcester : 
 he was a mathematician of great eminence, and kept an aca- 
 demy of that science in this city and county for fifty-five 
 years, with great reputation, out of which he furnished to 
 the world many ingenious persons. Among these, his two 
 sons, Joseph and John, became distinguished as surveyors: 
 the former produced the most correct Ichnography of the 
 Cathedral of Worcester that had then been published — see 
 Dr. Thomas's Survey of the Church, 1734 ; and John pub- 
 lished the best plan of the city of Worcester that had ap- 
 peared prior to the year 1741. Doharty, sen. died at Wor- 
 cester January 11, \75o, aged 78, and had interment in
 
 344 
 
 the centre of the area of the cloisters of the cathedral. His 
 Treatise of Practical Gauging, and his Mathematical Di- 
 gests, are the principal part of his publications.* 
 
 Thomas White, 
 A Native of this city, Architect. It is not known who 
 was his father, but his mother was one of the daughters of 
 Mr. Twitty, of Ronkswood. He served an apprenticeship 
 to a statuary and stone-cutter in Piccadilly, near Hyde 
 Park Corner, London, and afterwards distinguished him- 
 self as a promising young artist. Sir Christopher Wren, 
 who had witnessed his ardour and ability in the arts, took 
 him to Rome, where he placed him with a statuary. In 
 the intervals of his profession he varied his studies, by em- 
 ploying those hours in making measures of all the com- 
 ponent parts of St. Peter's Church ; and assisted Sir Chris- 
 topher Wren in modelling that of St. Paul's, London, which 
 model is still shewn there, with one of St. Peter's church, 
 on the same scale. It is asserted, but which assertion I 
 doubt, that Sir Christopher Wren would, at his return to 
 England, have retained him as superintendant of the building 
 of St. Paul's, but Mr. White, having an estate in houses 
 at Worcester, chose rather to retire to his native city, where 
 he lived in great reputation as an architect : here he also oc- 
 casionally exercised the art of sculpture ; and the statue of 
 Queen Anne, at the Guildhall of this city, which originally 
 
 * " Whereas it has been maliciously reported, that 1, after having been a 
 scholar to Mr. John Dougharty, of Worcester, above three years, did as- 
 sert that he could teach me no further, and that he kept me back for that 
 reason, &c. I do hereby utterly deny that I ever said any such a thing, 
 directly or indirectly : and do affirm, that he immediately answered all 
 difficulties offered to him, either by myself or other scholars, with the greatest 
 freedom, and to our satisfaction ; and that, by his diligence in his school, 
 his ingenious method of teaching, and profound skill in letters, numbers, 
 and all useful parts of the mathematics, he is the only person to fit youth for 
 any sort of business, at land or at sea that I could ever meet w ith ; and was 
 capable of instructing me further, had not other business forced me to leave 
 him. 
 
 Worcester Post Mark, March 15, 1715, " JOSHUA PERRY."
 
 345 
 
 stood on a pedestal before the Town Hall, and is now placed 
 in a niche over the door of the modern building, is the work 
 of his hands, and for which the Corporation gave him his free- 
 dom : the other statues, of the two Charles's, and the alle- 
 gorical ones on the parapet of the same building, together 
 with the trophy of ancient armour in the front, are undoubt- 
 edly of his design, although not of his entire execution. 
 The Britannia, on the front of a house near St. Oswald's 
 hospital, is, according to Mr. Green's opinion, the most 
 successful of his works, as an attempt at the execution of 
 the whole figure. In heads, continues Mr. Green, whe- 
 ther portraits or imaginary characters, he was on the whole 
 better informed. " The heads of the two Kings at Guild- 
 hall, which (adds his biographer) I cannot doubt are by 
 him ; that of George II. at King Edgar's tower, for which 
 he is said to have taken only a promise to be invited yearly to 
 the audit dinner, and the head of Bishop Hough, at the east 
 end of the church of All Saints, have merit sufficient to place 
 him in a respectable point of view as an artist ; nor have the 
 ideal characters of the other figures at the Guild Hall, or the 
 masks above the windows, and other parts of the building, a 
 want of excellence with which an artist might not be well sa- 
 tisfied." Such is the opinion of Mr. Green, himself an artist, 
 upon the merits of Mr. White as a sculptor. But I presume 
 it requires no great knowledge of art to perceive that the pro- 
 ductions of Mr.W. as a statuary, are very far indeed from bear- 
 ing that high character which Mr. Green, in his over anxiety to 
 compliment, has conferred on them, making all due allow- 
 ance for the period in which they were executed. Mr. 
 White is supposed to have been the architect of several of 
 the new churches built in the reign of Queen Anne. The 
 Corporation of Worcester were so well satisfied with his abi- 
 lities as an architect, shewn in the erection of their Guild 
 or Town Hall, that they settled upon him a pension of £30 
 per annum during his life. He lived in easy circumstances, 
 and died unmarried about the year 1738, leaving the arrears 
 
 <2 Y
 
 346 
 
 of his annuity of £30 per annum, due from the Corporation 
 of Worcester, to the Worcester Infirmary. 
 
 Charles Ponty. 
 This versatile artist, as it will be seen by his advertise- 
 ment annexed, flourished in Worcester in the year 17 16 : — 
 
 " This is to give notice to Gentlemen and Ladies, that Mr. Charles Ponty, 
 Limner, gives constant attendance at his summer house in Sansomc-Jields, 
 Worcester, every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and at his house at 
 Kobcrts-cnd-strcet, in Iianley, every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, to 
 draw pictures hy the life, in great or little, and other curiosities in Painting, 
 viz. large historical pictures for halls, stair-cases, altar-pieces, &c. land- 
 scapes for chimney-pieces, &c. An exact prospect of any gentleman's seat, 
 with the out-houses, gardens, &c. according to the rules of perspective, 
 giving at the same time (if desired) a true survey of the estate in a map. 
 He also mends and copies any picture very justly, and paints any sort of 
 dials with proper ornaments. This, and other business in Painting, any 
 Gentleman or Lady, upon coming or sending to him, may have performed 
 at easy rates, to their satisfaction." — Worcester Postman, No. 365, 1716. 
 
 Ponty painted the altar-piece, &c. of Great Malvern 
 church. — Vide Chambers's Malvern, p. 85. 
 
 Elizabeth Elstob, 
 
 The celebrated Professor of the Saxon language, was born 
 in Newcastle, 1683, and took up her residence at Evesham, 
 in Worcestershire. Having assumed another name, she led 
 at first but an uncomfortable and penurious life, but grow- 
 ing acquainted afterwards with the gentry of the town, her 
 affairs mended, but still she had scarcely time to eat, much 
 less for study. Her own account of her situation at Evesham 
 runs thus : — " I had several other designs, but was unhap- 
 pily hindered by a necessity of getting my bread with much 
 difficulty, labour, and ill health, which I have endeavoured to 
 do with very indifferent success. If it had not been that Al- 
 mighty God was graciously pleased to raise up lately some 
 gracious and good friends, I could not have subsisted, to 
 whom I always was, and will, by the grace of God, be most 
 grateful-." — MS. Life. Mrs. Elstob, however, saw better 
 days, and died at an advanced age, in the service of the
 
 347 
 
 Dowager Duchess of Portland, May 30, 1756, and was 
 buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. 
 
 George Boraston, 
 A Native of this county, was born November 29, 
 1683 ; his father was minister of Bewdley, in the same 
 county (vide Wood), and George was of Wadham Col- 
 lege, Oxford, and the author of " The Royal Law," and 
 " The Golden Rule of Justice and Charity," and of " A 
 Sermon preached at the Anniversary Meeting of the Gen- 
 tlemen, inhabitants of London, and others, born within the 
 county of Worcester, Nov. 29, 1(383." There was a Jons 
 Boraston, who held the living of Bewdley, or Ribbes- 
 ford, 1638, who was engaged in a troublesome tythe cause 
 •with Sir Henry Herbert, of which see an accoont in Series 
 1 of Epistolary Curiosities, p. 96, and a long account in 
 Appendix to ditto. This John Boraston, who was a Roy- 
 alist, died 1688, aged 8a, after being Rector of Ribbes- 
 ford 58 years. 
 
 George Lavington, Prebendary of Worcester, 1719, 
 Was born at the parsonage-house of Meldon Hall, in the 
 county of Wilts, and baptized January 18, 1683: he was 
 educated at Wykeham's foundation, near Winchester, from 
 whence he succeeded to a Fellowship of New College, 
 early in the reign of Queen Anne, and, while yet a school- 
 boy, he had produced a Greek translation of Virgil's 
 Eclogues, which is still preserved in MS. at Winchester. 
 In 1717 he was presented by his College to the Rectory of 
 Hayford Warren, Oxfordshire. Earl Coningsby, also, not 
 only appointed him his Domestic Chaplain, but introduced 
 him in the same capacity to the Court of George I. His 
 appointment to a stall in this Cathedral, he esteemed one ot 
 the happiest events in his life, and through which he was in- 
 troduced to the learned Dr. Hare, Dean of Worcester. He 
 would never, probably, have thought of any other prefer- 
 ment than that of Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, and the
 
 348 
 
 « 
 
 Rectory of St. Michael's, Bassishaw, procured him through 
 the influence of his friend, Dr. Hare, if the death of Dr. 
 Stillingfleet, Dean of Worcester, in 1746, had not recalled 
 to his memory the pleasing ideas of many years spent in 
 that city, in the prime of life ; but his friends had higher 
 views for him, he was therefore collated to the Bishopric of 
 Exeter, where he died September 3, 1762, universally la- 
 mented, crowning a life that had been devoted to God's 
 service by a pious act of resignation to his will, for the last 
 words pronounced by his faultering tongue were, Aofa tw © £ « 
 — " Glory to God." — See Polwhele's Devonshire. He 
 married Frances Maria, daughter of Lave, of Corfe Mou- 
 lin, Dorset, who had taken refuge in this kingdom from the 
 Popish persecution in France. Bishop Lavington pub- 
 lished only a few occasional sermons, ( 1 . " On the Influence 
 of Church Music, a Sermon preached at the Anniversary of 
 the Three Choirs at Worcester, Sept. S, 1725, and pub- 
 lished at their request;" 2. " Fear God, Honour the King; 
 an Assize Sermon, preached at Worcester, August 16, 
 1726 ;") and his " Enthusiam of the Methodists and Papists 
 compared, 3 parts," which involved him in a temporary 
 controversy with Whitfield and Westley. 
 
 Richard Beaed, M. D. 
 Author of several papers in the Philosophical Transac- 
 tion?, particularly an account of a person (an officer's lady*) 
 killed by lightning at Worcester, June 10, 1724, for which 
 see the Transactions Abridged, vol. 7, p. 153. He died 
 July 8, 1734, aged 47, and was buried in the church of 
 St. Peter the Great, in this city. — See a long inscription 
 to his memory in Nash's History. 
 
 Thomas Jenner, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1728, 
 Whose date, by Mr. Green, is 1721, Mas Professor 
 
 * What was very singular, (his lady, having had a brother killed by 
 lightning,} had moved her seat in the hopes of avoiding the effects of this 
 storm.
 
 349 
 
 (Lady Margaret's) of Divinity, of Magdalen College, Ox- 
 ford, November 13, 1745, and died January 12, 1768. 
 
 Philip Smalridge, M.A. Prebendary of Worcester, 
 1731, and Chancellor, 1742, 
 
 The son of George, Bishop of Bristol, was admitted a 
 scholar on the foundation at Westminster, 1714, elected to 
 Christ Church in 1717, M.A. 1723, B. and D. D. 1742: 
 he married, in 1730, a daughter of the celebrated Dr. Friend, 
 who, in the lottery of 1714-15, got the great prize of 
 £20,000. He obtained a Prebend in the Cathedral of 
 Worcester by the patronage of Queen Caroline, and had 
 the Chancellorship of that diocese conferred on him by Bi- 
 shop Hough, out of regard to his father's memory ; he was 
 also presented to the rectory of Christleton, near Chester, 
 by Sir Roger Mostyn. I cannot learn when he died. 
 
 James Mackenzie, M. D. 
 
 A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Edin- 
 burgh, practised in Worcester many years with high repu- 
 tation and success. He was the first to whom Madox, 
 Bishop of Worcester, communicated his noble design of 
 establishing his Infirmary at Worcester, and earnestly co- 
 operated with that good prelate in struggling against the 
 many discouragements it met with. \\ hen he found it ex- 
 pedient to retire from business, the Bishop of Worcester 
 affectionately reminded him " that it is our duty to do all 
 the good in our power in every situation of life ; and that a 
 physician of long experience might contrive some method of 
 being useful, even in retirement." His age rendered him 
 unable to pursue the painful practice of a country physician : 
 he could not ride long journies to cure diseases : he deter- 
 mined, therefore, to endeavour in some measure to prevent 
 them, by acquainting those who will restrain their appetites, 
 and hearken to reason, with the most effectual rules to pre- 
 serve health ; and solaced himself, under the natural infirmities 
 of old age, with the reflection of still being a benefactor to
 
 350 
 
 mankind, even beyond the grave. With this view, he 
 wrote his History of Health, published October, 1758, 
 which he dedicated to his friend Bishop Madox, whose sti- 
 mulus to usefulnes he had not forgotten. This book was so 
 well received, that it quickly passed through three editions, 
 and is, I believe, still held in estimation. Besides his His- 
 tory of Health, in which he highly eulogizes Armstrong's 
 Art of Preserving Health, Dr. M. at the close of his life, 
 published a volume of Devout Meditations. His name 
 was withdrawn as Attending Physician on the Worcester 
 Infirmary in 1750, at which time he retired entirely from all 
 professional practice. Dr. Mackenzie was first elected 
 Physician to the Worcester Infirmary in 1745, and died in 
 Scotland, but in what year I am not acquainted. Accord- 
 ing to the account of Dr. Johnstone, sen. in this work, he 
 first retired to Kidderminster. In the new edition of Wood's 
 Athena?, by Mr. Bisse, is the following correction of Dr. 
 Mackenzie : — " Dr. James Mackenzie, in his History of 
 Health, mistakes Dr. Thomas Cogan for a Thomas Morgan, 
 of whom I can discover no trace. Unless Mackenzie has 
 erred in the name, and of this I have no doubt, there was a 
 Thomas Morgan, educated at Oxford, who wrote a treatise 
 with the same title as Cogan's, as well as gave an account 
 of the sickness in Oxford,* who escaped the researches of 
 Wood. But this is very improbable ; for, first, we cannot 
 suppose that two authors wrote, so near together, two 
 works with corresponding titles ; and, secondly, the indus- 
 trious Herbert, who had in his own collection, and parti- 
 cularly registers, Cogan's Haven of Health, had never dis- 
 covered or heard of any writer of that period, with the name 
 of Thomas Morgan. It is, however, difficult to account 
 for Mackenzie's error (which must be more than that of the 
 
 ♦Mackenzie says, that Morgan wrote on the BlackJsslzesixt Oxford, 
 which was an infectious damp or plague that occurred during the Assizes in 
 1577, and destroyed above 500 souls. Here again he seemed to have mis- 
 taken a date, for Wood expressly tells us, Cogan wrote on the sickness that 
 happened in 1575.
 
 351 
 
 press, for he repeats it in three places), since he had evi- 
 dently seen the work itself, and quotes several passages from 
 it. His (Cogan's) Rules of Health, says Mackenzie, are 
 taken for the most part from Hippocrates and Galen, espe- 
 cially from the latter. He treats of exercise, particularly, 
 in a concise and masterly manner, blending his own observa- 
 tions with the precepts of the ancients. — History of Health, 
 p. 30. Mackenzie had never seen Wood's Life of Cogan, 
 for he supposes him (or Morgan) not to have proceeded re- 
 gularly in the faculty of medicine. — See Wood's Ath.v.2,ip. 19- 
 
 Jacob Tonson, 
 
 The celebrated Bookseller, who died at Ledbury, 1735, 
 ajred 80, according to Mr. Malone, in his Life of Drvden, 
 possessed estates in Herefordshire, Giocestershire, and Wor- 
 cestershire ; but Dr. Nash is totally silent with regard to 
 the latter county.* 
 
 Martha Whiteway. 
 This ladv, the cousin german and intimate friend of the 
 celebrated Dean, was, according to the Worcester Journal, 
 a woman of great endowments, both natural and acquired, 
 had abundance of spirits, was a firm and sincere friend, a 
 despiser of riches, and always liberal to the poor and dis- 
 tressed. She died in this city on Thursday, the 1 1th of Fe- 
 bruary, 1768, in the 78th year of her age. — For a further 
 account of this lady, see Walter Scott's edition of Swift's 
 Works. 
 
 Bernard Wilson, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1735, 
 Was of Trinity College, Cambridge, A. D. 17 12. He 
 held this Prebend of the Crown, and was Prebendary also 
 of Carborough, at Lichfield, and Vicar of Newark, &c. 
 where he had a house given him by Bishop Chandler. He 
 was presented to Battesford, in Leicestershire, July, 1735, 
 
 * This article should bave been inserted at p. 302,
 
 352 
 
 but never took possession of it. He translated some parts 
 of Fleury; and published, in 1729, the first volume, in folio, 
 of M. de Thou's History of his own Time ; in which work 
 it is imagined he proceeded no further. Soon afterwards 
 lie received a great accession to his fortune by the will of 
 Sir George Markham, a bequest which, being censured by 
 that oentleman's relations, obliged him to print a defence of 
 himself against their aspersions (in 4to. 7 pages.) He was 
 involved in a suit at law, in consequence of the non-per- 
 formance of a marriage contract, and had the ill fortune to 
 be frequeutly in dispute with his town's people. Among 
 others, I find in print the following pieces, by himself, or in 
 answer to him, viz. — " An Account of the Donations to the 
 Parish of Newark-upon-Trent, by a Parishioner," London, 
 1 748, 4to. ; on the preface to which were published, " Re- 
 marks, by a M r of P m 1, printed [by one of 
 
 the churchwardens] not for the abuse, but the real use, and 
 lasting service, of the Parishioners." 1751, 4to. This was 
 followed by " An Impartial Relation of some Parish Trans- 
 auctions at N k," 1751, 8vo. ; "A Discourse ad- 
 dressed to the Inhabitants of Newark, against the Misap- 
 plication of Public Charities, and enforced from the follow- 
 ing text, Eccles. vi. 1, by the Rev. Bernard Wilson, D. D. 
 Vicar of Newark, and Prebendary of Worcester, to which 
 is added a more full and true Account of the very consi- 
 derable and numerous Benefactions left to the Town of 
 Newark than has hitherto been published," London, 1768, 
 4to. He died April 3, 1772, and in the church of New- 
 ark is an inscription to his memory. 
 
 Nathaniel Wilkinson, 
 A common mason, who built the beautiful spire of St. 
 Andrew's church, in this city ; he was also the builder of the 
 steeples of Ledbury and Ross, Herefordshire, and Mitchell 
 Dean, Glocestershire, and the steeple of Monmouth. He is 
 also said to be the sculptor of those figures, intended to re- 
 present Fortitude and Justice, at the end of Frog-lane;
 
 353 
 
 but as these productions cannot confer on him any fame as 
 an artist, I readily adopt the opinion of a well-informed 
 person, who says that Wilkinson was not their author, 
 but that they were brought to the place where they now 
 stand from Leigh. In 1730 Mr. Wilkinson repaired Edgar's 
 tower ; he was also architect to the Cathedral ; and in the 
 year 1748, rebuilt the north end of the great cross aisle, 
 with some of the windows, and the spires of that church. 
 He died September 28, 1764, leaving some property to his 
 descendants, and was buried in St. Peter's church, under 
 the seats of the children of the Sunday School, leaving be- 
 hind him the splendid monument of his talents, the spire of 
 St. Andrew's, finished by his son, the beauty and stability 
 of which will for ever perpetuate his name.* 
 
 The Right Hon. Thomas Winnington, 
 Grandson of Sir Francis Winnington, Solicitor General 
 to Charles II. and son of Salwey Winnington, of Stanford 
 Court, in Worcestershire, was born December 31, 1696. 
 He was educated at Westminster School, from whence he 
 went to Christ Church, Oxford. He was chosen Member 
 for Droitwich, 1725, for which place he continued a Mem- 
 ber until 1741, when he was elected for Worcester. In 
 1730 he was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty, of the 
 Treasury in 1736; and in the following year I find him 
 moving two resolutions, in substance thus : — " That all the 
 public funds redeemable by law, which carry an interest of 
 4 per cent, per aim. be redeemed, according to the re- 
 spective provisos or clauses of redemption contained in the 
 Acts of Parliament for that purpose, or (with consent of 
 the proprietors) be converted into an interest of annuity, not 
 exceeding 3 percent, per aim. not redeemable till after 14 
 years. That his Majesty be enabled to borrow from any 
 person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, any sum or 
 
 * In the entry of inscriptions, in Dr. Nash, of St. Peter's church, we read 
 of Thomas Wilkinson, mason, and his wife, late of this parish. He died 
 November 9.5, 1736. 
 
 2 Z
 
 354 
 
 sums of money, at an interest not exceeding 3 per cent, 
 to be applied towards redeeming the national debt." — 
 Vide Cox's Mem. of Sir R.Walpole, vol.1, p. 503. And 
 in 1737-8, he agreed with the Speaker and the Whigs on the 
 propriety of prohibiting printing the debates of the House 
 in the public papers. — Ibid. p. 569- In 1741 he became 
 Paymaster of the Household, on the resignation of Wal- 
 pole, and Paymaster of the Forces in 1743. In 174G, on 
 the appointment of the Grenville Administration, several 
 Members of the former Ministry resigning, Mr. Winning- 
 ton also declared his intention of vacating his office of Pay- 
 master of the Forces ; and when the King offered him the 
 situation of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, he re- 
 turned the seals three times into his Majesty's hands, adding, 
 " the new Ministry, Sir, can neither support your Majesty 
 nor themselves ; they cannot depend upon more than thirty- 
 one Lords and eighty Commoners." Perplexed and em- 
 barrassed at the resignation of many officers of the old Ca- 
 binet, the King shut himself up in his closet, and refused to 
 admit the new-made Ministers; and soon after he sent for 
 Mr. Wilmington, told him he was the honestest man about 
 his person, and should have the honour of reconciling him 
 with the late Ministers, and that all his old servants should 
 be reinstated; thus the Pelham Ministry was again formed, 
 after a retirement of forty hours. — Cox's Lord Walpole, 
 p. C97. He was a man of great penetration and quick 
 parts, being a ready debater ; he was very useful in sup- 
 porting the measures of Government in the House of Com- 
 mons, and possessed the intimate confidence of Sir Robert 
 Walpole.* He was among the distinguished votaries of 
 
 * At which time (1727 to 1730) the reader cannot but be struck with the 
 coincidence of circumstances between those times and the present.— " The 
 Opposition declaimed against the profuse expenditure of the public money. 
 They declared that, although large supplies were annually voted, and the 
 produce of the sinking fund had been applied to the discharge of the national 
 debt, during a period of almost uninterrupted tranquillity, yet the public 
 burthens were increased, instead of being diminished ; and they observed, 
 that if the war with Spain should continue, and new troubles arise in Europe,
 
 355 
 
 w it and pleasure, and was an associate of Lord Hervey, 
 Mr. Fox, and Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. He pos- 
 sessed great knowledge of the world, could talk agreeably 
 upon any subject, either in private company or in the House 
 of Commons : though a man of pleasure and expence, he 
 was, when at Christ Church, reckoned by his companions 
 attentive to money, on which account they gave him the nick- 
 name of Penny Winnington, and his name is so printed 
 among the subscribers to Bishop Smalridge's Sermons. 
 Soon after his death, in 1746, a curious pamphlet made its 
 appearance, which was entitled " An Apology for the con- 
 duct of a late celebrated second-rate Minister," said, in the 
 preface, to have been found among his papers. It impli- 
 cated him with Sir Robert Walpole, in a supposed scheme 
 to bring in the Pretender. This publication, although 
 plainly ironical, gained such credit as induced his executors 
 (Lord Holland and Mr. Ingram), to declare by advertisement 
 that it was not found among his papers, and to offer a reward 
 of £50 for the discovery of the author. Mr. Wilmington 
 married Love Read, sister and co-heiress of Sir James Read, 
 Bart, of Brockethall, Herts, by whom he left no issue, 
 according to some of his biographers, but Dr. Nash says he 
 left a son. He died April 23, 1746. His estates at Brocket- 
 hall were divided between his two sisters, Lady Masham 
 and Mrs, Wheeler, and Stanford Court, with his other es- 
 tates in Worcestershire, descended to his cousin, Sir Ed- 
 ward Wilmington, who was created a Bart, in 1755, and to 
 whose son, Sir Edward Wilmington, Mr. Cox was indebted 
 for these particulars. — See also his Historical Tour in Mon- 
 mouthshire, c. 29. Dr. Nash says it is more than probable 
 Mr. Wilmington died through the ignorance of his physician; 
 his case occasioned many pamphlets to be written. 
 
 Mr. Winnington was buried in Stanford church, where 
 are the following lines inscribed to his memory : 
 
 fresh taxes must be perpetuated to the latest posterity, and the nation must 
 inevitably sink under such an accumulated load." — Cot's Sir Robert TValpole, 
 v.l,p.?9i.
 
 356 
 
 Near his paternal seat here buried lies, 
 
 The grave, the gay, the witty, and the wise ; 
 
 Equal to every part, in all he shin'd — 
 
 Variously great — a genius unconfin'd : 
 
 In converse bright, judicious in debate ; 
 
 In private amiable, in public great : 
 
 "With all the statesman's knowledge — prudence — art- 
 
 With friendship's open, undesigning heart. 
 
 The friend* and heir + here join their duty— one 
 
 Erects the busto — one inscribes the stone : 
 
 Not that they hope by these his fame should live ; 
 
 That claims a lenger date than these can give. 
 
 False to their trusts — the mould'ring busts decay, 
 
 And soon the effaced inscription wears away. 
 
 But England's annals shall their place supply ; 
 
 And while they live, his name can never die. 
 
 Isaac Madox, D.D. Bishop of Worcester, 1743, 
 Was born in London, July 27, 1697, of obscure pa- 
 rents, whom he lost while he was young, and was taken 
 care of by an aunt, who placed him in a charity school, and 
 afterwards put him on trial for apprenticeship to a pastry- 
 cook, but before he entered into articles the master told her 
 that the boy was not fit for trade, that he was continually 
 reading books of learning above his (the master's) compre- 
 hension, and therefore advised that she should take him 
 away, and send him back to school, to follow the bent of 
 his inclinations ; (see Dr. Nowell's " Answer to Pietas 
 Oxoniensis," 1768, p. 49 ;) he was, on this, sent, by an 
 exhibition of some dissenting friends, to the University of 
 Aberdeen, but not caring to take orders in that church, was 
 afterwards, through the patronage of Bishop Gibson, ad- 
 mitted of Queen's College, Cambridge, and favoured with 
 a Doctor's degree, at Lambeth. After entering into orders, 
 he was first a Curate of St. Bride's, then Domestic Chap- 
 lain to Dr. Waddington, Bishop of Chichester, whose niece 
 he married, and in 1731 was appointed to the Rectory of 
 St. Vedast, Foster-lane ; and it is believed Clerk of the Clo- 
 
 * Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. + Sir Edward Winnington.
 
 357 
 
 set to Queen Caroline 1729* In 1733 he was made Dean 
 of Wells; in 1736, Bishop of St. Asaph : and, in Novem- 
 ber, 1743, translated to Worcester, during which time he 
 hired a house at Little Mario w, Bucks. His tract, where- 
 in he vindicates the spirit and plan of the great conductors 
 of the Reformation under Queen Elizabeth against the in- 
 jurious reflections of Mr. Neal, is a lasting monument of 
 his diligence and discernment ; in this he was assisted by 
 Dr. Gray, who intended to have communicated his remarks 
 in 2 vols. The Infirmary at Worcester acknowledges in 
 him its father. Several of the London hospitals were in- 
 debted to him for more than his contributions — his zealous 
 services. He is said to have spent more than £l 2,000 in 
 adorning his chapel at Martlebury. It ought to be recorded, 
 to the honour of this worthy prelate, that, in the year 1758, 
 he informed his clergy, by the Archdeacon, that he would, 
 every year, as long as he should live, assign £200 to the 
 improvement of small livings within the diocese, a bene- 
 faction which would entitle every poor incumbent who 
 should receive it to £200 more, from the Governors of 
 Queen Anne's bounty : but death deprived the clergy of his 
 liberality, after his benefaction had been once bestowed, 
 and the concomitant addition procured. 
 
 Bishop Madox was a great encourager of trade, en- 
 gaging in the British fishery, by which he lost some money. 
 He likewise was a strong advocate for the act against spi- 
 rituous liquors; see an epistle to the Right Hon. the Lord 
 Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London, and 
 Governors of the several hospitals, with an appendix, con- 
 taining the most material extracts from his sermon preached 
 at St. Bridget's church on Easier Monday, concerning the 
 pernicious and excessive use of spirituous liquors, 3d ed. 
 with additions, by Isaac, Bishop of Worcester, Lord Pre- 
 sident ; printed by H.Woodfall, 1751, price (id. Happy 
 in the veneration and love of the clergy and laity, he presided 
 at Worcester 16 years, and dying at Hartlebury September 
 27, 1759, had interment m the Cathedral.— See his epitaph
 
 358 
 
 in Chambers's Worcester, p. 183. Bishop Madox married, 
 in 1731, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Price, of Hayes, 
 in the county of Middlesex; he left one daughter, who 
 married the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Yorke, late Bishop of 
 Gloucester and of Ely. — See an eulogiumon Bishop Madox 
 in the Worcester Journal, 1759, No. 216. 
 
 While Queen Caroline (wife of George II.) dressed, 
 prayers used to be read in the outward room, where hung 
 a naked Venus. Mrs. Selvvyn, bed-chamber woman in 
 waiting, was one day ordered to bid Dr. Madox, as chap- 
 lain, to begin the service : he said, archly, " and a very 
 proper altar-piece is here, Madam." This reminds me of a 
 well-known anecdote of Queen Anno, who had the same 
 custom ; and once ordering the door to be shut while she 
 attired, the chaplain stopped ; the Queen sent to ask why 
 he did not proceed : he very properly replied, " he would 
 not whistle the word of God through a key-hole." 
 
 One of the lives of the estate at White Lady Aston, 
 which had been appropriated by Bishop Lloyd (see his 
 article) to his school, dropping, in the time of Bishop 
 Madox, although he had a family, generously renewed the 
 whole, without taking any fine to himself; and so secretly 
 did he perform this charitable act, that, upon the death of 
 Mr. Stillingiieet, at Hartlebury, it was supposed the estate 
 dropped to Bishop North ; however, Bishop Madox's re- 
 newal, says Nash, saved the estate of Aston. 
 
 William Broughton, M. A. 
 A Rector in Worcestershire, according to the Biblio r 
 graphia Britannica, Mas the author of " Idleness in Spiritual 
 Affairs considered, a Sermon on Matt. xx. 6 & 7," 1726, 
 8vo. In my search through Nash, I find Wm. Broughton, 
 Rector of Chaddesley Corbet in 1663; and in the account 
 of burials in that church, " William Broughton, S. T. P, 
 Rector per 50 annos, abdormivit 1715, £et. 77 ;" and in the 
 list of Incumbents of Rushock, in this county, " Wm,
 
 Broughion, cl. A.M. 19 Nov. 1714;" this latter is pro- 
 bably the above person. 
 
 Richard Meadowcourt, Prebendary of Worcester, 
 
 1735, 
 
 A celebrated critic, was born in Staffordshire, 1(J97, 
 and .was educated at Merton College, Oxford, of which he 
 became a Fellow. In 1732 he published notes on Milton's 
 Paradise Regained ; he was afterwards promoted to a Ca- 
 nonry in the church of Worcester; and in 1751 he was 
 collated to Lindridge. He was the author of several small 
 tracts, containing critical remarks on the English Poets ; and 
 his notes were not neglected by the late Bishop Newton, in 
 publishing his edition of Milton. He was greatly esteemed 
 by the learned in general, and died in Worcester, 1 76*9, 
 aged 72. — See Dr. Newton's thanks for the services of Mr. 
 Meadowcourt, in his Preface to Paradise Regained. Mr. 
 Meadowcourt was author of eleven printed sermons, which 
 are enumerated in Cooke's Preacher's Assistant ; among 
 which is one on the general Fast, April 11, 1744, "The 
 Duty of considering our Ways explained," printed at the 
 request of the Mayor and Aldermen of the city of Worces- 
 ter ; this seems to have caused some uncommon sensation 
 of feeling in the city in the year 17 15. — Vide Worcester 
 Journal. Also a sermon preached before the University of 
 Oxford, in Merton College Chapel, May 1, 1723, " On 
 the Grounds and Rule both of interpreting and of trying the 
 Interpretations of Extraordinary Events, prescribed and 
 established, and particularly applied to a series of such 
 events brought to pass in behalf of the people of these king- 
 doms, from the Reformation to the present time," published 
 at the desire of several of the hearers. There are some lines 
 on Hag'.ey, addressed to Ld. Lyttelton, by Mr. Meadow- 
 court, hi Nash's Worcestershire, vol. 1, p. 490. 
 
 The following letter of Mr. Meadoweourt's to Mr. Dun- 
 comb, is taken from " Letters by several eminent Persons 
 deceased," vol.2, p. 246:
 
 360 
 
 " Dear Sir, " Worcester, July 10, 1758. 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you for remembering a person who has been 
 so long out of sight, and for giving me so acceptable a token of your remem- 
 brance as the first volume of your ' Horace.' To the dishonour of this place, 
 there are no booksellers, and but few readers of books, here. Most of the 
 clergy, especially the incumbents, on cushions in a cathedral, have finished 
 their studies before they are lifted into preferment.* Wordly cares, or world- 
 ly enjoyments, too active or too passive a life, often lead them too far astray 
 from literary pursuits. 
 
 " The account you have heard of my being much addicted to the 
 peripatetic sect, is a true account : but it is in winter, and in the cool sea- 
 sons, that I venture on walks of any considerable length. He who travels 
 on foot has an opportunity of wandering from hill to hill, from stream to 
 stream, and from one rich valley to another, of dwelling on lovely land- 
 scapes and delicious scenes, and of seeing numberless objects and numberless 
 places which are inaccessible to the horseman, and never were seen by any 
 one whirled through the country in the state prison of a coach. For 
 these, and many other reasons, I choose to make use of my own legs, and 
 prefer the wholesome exercise of walking to all the modes of conveyance 
 which effeminacy and luxury can invent. If I live to take another phi- 
 losophical journey on foot to London, Mr. Duncomb, in Frith street, may 
 depend on hearing me knock at his door. My place of residence, during the 
 summer months, is almost twenty miles from hence, in reducta valle, 
 
 Qua pinus ingens albaque populus 
 Umbram hospilalern consociare amant ramis. 
 
 Here my days pass away in peace, undisturbed by ambition and envy ; not 
 altogether devoted to solitude, nor too often interrupted by social visits. I 
 rejoice here in the works of my hands, which are constantly employed in 
 forming a wood into walks, in nursing a thicket of shrubs, and in adding the 
 improvements of art to those of nature, in a most delightful situation, f "Was 
 
 * The reader will please to observe this is more than half a century ago. 
 + This gentleman, while he was Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, about 
 the year 1729, had a very elegant garden there, in which were the following 
 mottoes : 
 Over the door : 
 
 Me sylva cavusque 
 
 Tutus ab insidiis tenui solabitur ervo. 
 
 On a bench near the cntrauce of the garden : 
 
 Hffic est 
 Vita Bolutomm misera ambitione gravique. 
 On another bench near the fields : 
 
 ■ ■ " Mihi parva rura 
 Parca nonmendax dedit, et innlignurn 
 Spernere vutgus.
 
 361 
 
 it not for such amusements as these, accompanied with the entertainments of 
 books, I should probably be found at the feet of Parnassus, courting the 
 Muses, and catching at some of the poetical spirit which is still indulged to 
 you. May it long be indulged to you, and be ever attended with satisfaction 
 and success. These are not the compliments, but the sincere wishes of, dear 
 Sir, &c. &c. 
 
 " R. MEADOWCOURT. 
 " I can give you but a bad account of any thing I have published of late 
 years. Mr. Sandby,* bookseller, in P'leet-street, may perhaps have reason 
 to give you a worse." 
 
 There is a letter from Mr. Meadowcourt, on the rejoic- 
 ings at Oxford for the relinquishment of the excise scheme, 
 in the Mem. of Sir Rob. Walpole, v. 2, p. 137. 
 
 Edward Stillingfleet, M.A. Prebendary of 
 Worcester, 1737, 
 Grandson of the Bishop, and son of Dr. James Stilling- 
 fleet, was educated at Merton College, Oxford, took the 
 degree of M. A. 1721, Minister of St. Nicholas, in this 
 city,f and Rector of Hartlebury, 1737- He died March 
 16, 1777, and was buried in the middle aisle (west end) 
 
 On a small pump: 
 
 Parvum parva decent. 
 And on a little pyramid in memory of the founder, Walter de Merton : 
 
 Ille nobis hajc otia fecit. 
 On the outside of a summer-house at the upper end of the garden : 
 In his ipsis rebus, qua? ad requietera animi delectationemque quaerunter, 
 natura dominatur. 
 And in the inside : 
 
 Inter cuncta leges, et percontabere doctos, 
 Qua ratione queas traducere lenitur aevum ; 
 Quid rainuatcuras. quid te tibi reddat amicum, 
 Quid pure tranquillet, honos, an dulce lucellum, 
 An secretum iter, et fallentis semita vitae. 
 J n bis chambers, also, over his books, was inscribed : 
 His me consolor, victurum suavius, ac si 
 Quaestor avus, pater atque meus patruusque fuissent. 
 And on one of his chairs : 
 
 Otium, non desidia. 
 
 * Brother of a Prebendary of Worcester. 
 + He is so recorded in the pedigree of the Stillingfleets ; but his name does 
 not appear in Dr. Nash's list of the Incumbents of this church. 
 
 3 A
 
 362 
 
 of his cathedral : his tomb was thus inscribed, by his own 
 direction : — 
 
 Edvardus Stillingfleet 
 
 Episcopi Nepos 
 
 Decani Filius 
 
 Ipse Canonicus, 
 
 Sed quorsum hi Tituli Sepukhrales 
 
 Cum Regibus cum Patriciis cum Plebeiis 
 
 Jacet 
 
 communem Mundi expectans Rogum. 
 
 Ob. Mart, die 16, 
 
 Anno salutis humanae, 1777, 
 
 jEtatis 79. 
 
 Edwin Sandys, LL. B. Prebendary of Worcester, 1743, 
 Was the son of Martin Sandys, Esq. who was Town 
 Clerk of this city, and who died in 1753. Edwin Sandys 
 was Rector of Holt, 1740, and Incumbent of St. John's, 
 Bedwardine, 1746, both in this county. I can no where find 
 the date of his death. 
 
 Samuel Woolley, M. A. Prebendary of Worcester, 1760, 
 Also Prebendary of Glocester, was thirty years resident 
 of the parish of Powick ; he was born in 1698 ; died 1764. 
 The family of the Woolleys, Dr. Nash believes, are 
 founder's kin at New College. Giles Woolley, of Hinlip, 
 in this county, was admitted into Winchester College, as 
 founder's kinsman, A. D. 1642; and John Woolley in 
 1634. Samuel Woolley was buried in the church of Powick, 
 in this county. 
 
 Edmund Martin, D.D. Dean of Worcester, 1747, 
 Enjoyed the Deanery but a short time, dying in 1751. 
 
 Lewis Crusius, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1751. 
 Of this person I have been able to gain but little inform- 
 ation. He was elected Head Master of the Charter-house 
 School in 1748, collated a Prebendary of Worcester, Nov. 
 1751. He was Rector of Stoke Prior, 1754, and of St.
 
 3G3 
 
 John's, Bedwardine, Worcester, May 28, 1764. He died 
 May 23, 1775, and was interred under the piazza of the 
 Charter-house Chapel. Dr. C. was the author of the Lives 
 of the Roman Poets, with an Essay on Dramatic Poetry, 
 Lond. 1733, 2 vols. 12mo. ; and the Lives of the Roman 
 Poets, with an Account of their Writings, Lond. 1753, 
 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
 Richard Lovett, 
 
 A Lay Clerk of the Cathedral Church of Worcester, and 
 author of some philosophical works, was born at Chalfont 
 St. Giles, Bucks, in 1692. In September, 1758, he is- 
 sued the following notice : — " Mr. Lovett, of this city, hav- 
 ing for more than eight years past experienced the good ef- 
 fects of electricity when applied as a remedy in human dis- 
 eases, and having made some successful trials in common 
 sore throats, is of opinion the like good effects will appear 
 when the same experiments are applied to the ulcerated sore 
 throats now so rife, and often times mortal, and therefore 
 designs, for the benefit of the public, to make trials (gratis) 
 
 on any person who will apply to him. N. B. Electricity 
 
 has been found so efficacious in removing obstructions, that 
 he thinks he has sufficient reason to conclude that whoever 
 applies for help, before the ulcers are formed, will never be 
 troubled with any." 
 
 Mr. Lovett died on Thursday, June 8, 1780, in the pa- 
 rish of St. Swithin. He had a son, named Timothy, who 
 was a pupil at the Worcester Infirmary, and afterwards re- 
 sided near the Cross, in this city, but who died before his 
 father. The subject of this memoir was the author of — 
 1." Philosophical Essays, in 3 Parts," 8vo. 1766, price 6s.; 
 and 2. " The Electrical Philosopher : containing a new Sys- 
 tem of Physics, founded upon the principle of an universal 
 Plenum of Elementary Fire ; wherein the nature of Ele- 
 mentary Fire is explained, its office pointed out, its exten- 
 sive influence and utility in explaining many of the most ab- 
 struse Phenomena of Nature shewn ; and the Grand De-
 
 364 
 
 sideratum in particular, which has hitherto either been given 
 up as inexplicable, or else sought after in vain by the most 
 able naturalists, is at length happily obtained, viz. ' The 
 cause of Gravity, the cause of Cohesion, &c.' to which is 
 subjoined a Postscript, containing Strictures upon the un- 
 candid Animadversions of the Monthly Reviewers," 8vo. 
 1775, plates, price 3s. The editor of the Critical Review, 
 for October, 1766, speaking of this work, thus concludes : 
 — " We must refer such readers as are curious in these mat- 
 ters to the book itself, which is evidently a work of genius, 
 by no means undeserving the perusal of modern philoso- 
 phers." 
 
 Daniel Brooker, 
 Vicar of St. Peter's, Worcester, January 8, 174f, and 
 a Minor Canon of the Cathedral ; author of a Sermon on 
 Music, at Worcester, on Ps. xxxii. 1, 3, 1743, 4to. ; and 
 a Sermon on John xviii. 38, 1745 ; and a Thanksgiving 
 Sermon for Victory over the Rebels, from Ps. xxi. 12, 13, 
 1746, 4to. 
 
 Thomas Tanner, 
 A Surgeon of Hartleburv, Worcestershire, was the au- 
 thor of a Practical Treatise on the Small Pox and Measles, 
 published in March, 1746. 
 
 Thomas Cameron, M. D. 
 The son of the Rev. John Cameron, Minister of Callen- 
 dar, was born A. D. 1704, in Edinburgh, and educated in 
 the High School of that city, from whence he was elected an 
 Exhibitioner to Balliol College, Oxford; for in the year 
 1666 Dr. John Warner, Bishop of Rochester, had founded 
 four exhibitions for scholars of the Scottish nation, who, 
 when they had taken the degree of M. A. were to return to 
 their native country in " Holy Orders, that there may never 
 be wanting in Scotland some who shall support the eccle- 
 siastical establishment of England :" and in 1679 John Snell,
 
 365 
 
 Esq. of Ayrshire, left the manor ofUfton, in Warwickshire, 
 to the College, to support from five to twelve more exhi- 
 bitioners, having the same object in view as Bishop Warner, 
 the support of episcopacy in Scotland. But when, upon 
 the accession of King William, episcopacy was abolished, 
 the trustees permitted the exhibitioners to chuse their own 
 professions, and Dr. Cameron was the first who did not en- 
 ter into holy orders. He was a complete master of Latin, 
 writing and speaking the language with great fluency, having 
 got almost the whole of Terence by heart, in order to qualify 
 himself for conversation with learned foreigners, who came 
 to see the University, which he was often called upon to do, 
 as at that period the Latin tongue was the chief medium of 
 communication with the literati of other nations. Dr. Ca- 
 meron commenced the practice of physic at Worcester in 
 the year 1727, and laboured assiduously in his profession 
 for the term of fifty years, with great reputation to himself, 
 and benefit to mankind, during which time he was one of 
 those gentlemen who promoted the first establishment of 
 the Infirmary in 1745, to which institution he was elected 
 Physician before the present building was erected, to which 
 the patients were removed in 1770. He was at length re- 
 leased from a tedious and painful disease, the stone, on the 
 Gist day of November, 1777, and was buried in St. Peter's 
 church, where there is an inscription to his memory. Dr. 
 Cameron was twice married : by his first wife, Miss Severn, 
 he had no child. In 1747 he married Barbara Ann, daugh- 
 ter of Win. Plowden, of Plowden, in the county of Salop, 
 Esq. ; and it was a singular circumstance that this lady's fa- 
 ther, and the father of Dr. Cameron, were both sufferers in 
 the same cause, though they were of different kingdoms, 
 and different religions ; Mr. Plowden being a Roman Ca- 
 tholic, and having been an officer in the guards to James II. 
 was obliged to abscond, because he would not take the 
 oaths to King William ; and Mr. Cameron, from the same 
 conscientious conduct, lost his preferment. Dr. Cameron 
 was the author of two letters in the Gent.'s Magazine ; one
 
 3($0 
 
 on the Small Pox, dated 1752, and tiie other on the Mea- 
 sles * To the superior method of treatment of the latter dis- 
 order by Dr. Cameron, Dr. Percival bears ample testimony, 
 in the 5th vol. of Medical Observations and Enquiries, by 
 a Society of Physicians in London, 8vo. 1776, p. 284, as 
 follows : — " The practice of giving the bark in this disease 
 (the measles) was first introduced by Dr. Cameron, a very 
 eminent physician of Worcester ; he observes that it pre- 
 vents the retrocession of the morbid acrimony, and conti- 
 nues the efflorescence on the skin, sometimes so long as the 
 12th day. By this salutary operation, the cough, and other 
 inflammatory symptoms, are, in a great measure, obviated, 
 and the patient is freed from all danger of a peripneumony, 
 the fatality of which Sydenham describes in such strong 
 terms. It is many years since I first adopted the method of 
 cure recommended by Dr. Cameron, and experience has 
 afforded me the fullest conviction of its safety and efficacy 
 in all ordinary cases." — See also Medical Museum, vol. 1, 
 No. 37, p. 281. The late Mr. Percival Pott paid frequent 
 tributes to the merits of Dr. Cameron, in conversation with 
 Dr. Woodyatt, of Worcester, and others : and in his " Chi- 
 rurgical Works, vol. 3, p. 453, he says—" In a former 
 edition I gave an account of a conversation which passed be- 
 tween me and the late Dr. Cameron, of Worcester, who 
 told me that, having remarked in Hippocrates an account of 
 a paralysis of the lower limbs cured by an abscess in the 
 back, he had, in a case of useless limbs, attended with a 
 curvature of the spine, endeavoured to imitate this act of 
 nature by exciting a purulent discharge, and that it had 
 proved very beneficial, which was confirmed to me by Mr. 
 Jeffrys, of Worcester, who made the same experiment with 
 the same success." Dr. Cameron left two sons and one 
 daughter, the eldest of whom, Charles, was also of Bal- 
 
 * The editor of the Bibliotheca Britannica mentions " Thomas Cameron, 
 M. D. author of a paper, ' A Dissection of a man who died of a hurt, La- 
 ceration of the Lymphisis Pubis and Bladder,' in the Phil. Trans. 1747, 
 Ab. ix. p. 370," but I am uncertain if this be the same person.
 
 367 
 
 liol College, where he took the degree of Bachelor in Me- 
 dicine, and settled in Worcester, in 1772-3. He was soon 
 afterwards, in consideration of his father's long services, 
 appointed Supernumerary Physician to the Worcester In- 
 firmary, and in 1773 was elected Physician to that esta- 
 blishment, which he attended with unremitting assiduity for 
 more than forty years, when impaired health and strength 
 obliged him to resign his situation in 18 16. The above par- 
 ticulars were given me by himself, who lived but a very short 
 time afterwards, when the following impartial notice of the 
 recorder of his father's life appeared in the Worcester He- 
 rald : — "On Sunday, December 27th, 1818, died, after 
 a protracted illness, in the 71st year of his age, Charles 
 Cameron, M. B. for more than forty years Physician 
 to the Worcester Infirmary. He was the elder son. of 
 Dr. Thomas Cameron, a name eminent in the history 
 of medical science, and still highly endeared to all who 
 retain a remembrance of his superior talents and acquire- 
 ments, or his moral worth. His son Charles was edu- 
 cated at Eton, graduated at Balliol College, Oxford, and 
 completed his course of medical study in London, and at 
 the University of Edinburgh. As a Physician, he was dis- 
 tinguished by sound judgment and accurate discrimination, 
 and his own acquirements were enriched by the resources 
 he derived from the profound skill and experience of his fa- 
 ther. Impediments, however, existed, to the successful 
 exertion of his abilities in the world. He was naturally in- 
 clined to inaction, and this tendency was increased by dis- 
 ease, and the progress of advancing years. During a part 
 of his life, also, he indulged in habits of amusement, which 
 were inconsistent with professional attention and exertion. 
 A certain delicacy of sentiment, and a modesty of mir.d, 
 which made him shrink from all appearance of obtruding 
 upon the notice of others, or pushing himself into practice, 
 led him into conduct which was often misunderstood, and 
 exposed him to the censure of pride, or of neglect, to his 
 own worldly 'disadvantage. The distinguishing qualities of
 
 368 
 
 his heart were sensibility and affection ; and those who knew 
 him most intimately, feel, better than they can express, the 
 moral excellence of his character. One striking feature in 
 it, must not be passed over : under all the trying circum- 
 stances of life, he felt and he expressed a degree of confi- 
 dence, too rarely manifested even by persons apparently of 
 superior piety, in the kind and providential care of a Hea- 
 venly Father, who never suffered him to be disappointed in 
 that trust." 
 
 James Johnson, D. D. Bishop of Worcester, 1759, 
 Son of the Rev. James Johnson, Rector of Milford, Suf- 
 folk, and grandson of George Johnson, Esq. of Bowden 
 Park, M. P. for the borough of Devizes. He was elected 
 from Westminster School, where he first cultivated the 
 friendship of Judge Mansfield, to a studentship of Christ 
 Church. Some years after, he was appointed second Mas- 
 tet of that distinguished seminary in which he had received 
 his classical education. In 1748 he attended George II. to 
 Hanover as his Chaplain, and the same year was made Ca- 
 non Residentary of St. Paul's. He attended the King a se- 
 cond time to Hanover in 1752; and in the couse of that 
 year was promoted to the see of Gloucester ; and from 
 thence to Worcester, November 9, 1759. He greatly im- 
 proved and embellished the episcopal house at Hartlebury, 
 and made some valuable additions to that of Worcester, at 
 an expence exceeding 50001. He also added to the patron- 
 age of his successors the rectory of Ricard's Castle, in the 
 diocese of Hereford. He was remarkable for an uniform 
 sweetness of temper, which constantly displayed itself in 
 placid and cheerful affability, and in condescending acts of 
 benevolence. He died at Bath, in consequence of a fall from 
 his horse, 1774, and was buried with his ancestors at Lay- 
 cock, Wilts, but an elegant monument is erected to his me- 
 mory in Worcester Cathedral by his only surviving sister, 
 Mrs. Sarah Johnson. — See an account of a sermon written
 
 369 
 
 for Bishop Johnson by the great Lord Mansfield, in page 
 489 of Halliday's Life of that nobleman. 
 
 John Baskerville, 
 A Native of this county, was bora at Wolverley* in 
 1 706. He was heir to a paternal estate of 601. per annum, 
 which, 50 years after, while in his own possession, had in- 
 creased to 901. ; and this estate, with an exemplary filial 
 piety and generosity, he allowed to his parents + till their 
 death, which occurred at an advanced age. Mr. Noble, in 
 his Continuation of Granger, thinks Baskerville was origi- 
 nally a footman to a clergyman at King's Norton, near Bir- 
 mingham, who used to make him instruct the poor youths 
 of his parish in writing, as an old woman near him did to 
 read ; and from this place he went to Birmingham ; there, in 
 a little court or yard near the High Town, he taught writing 
 and accounts. According to the account by most of his bi- 
 ographers, he was trained to no occupation, but having ac- 
 quired in early life a skill and taste for fine writing and cutting 
 in stone, he removed to Birmingham at the age of 20, where 
 he settled as a writing master. In 1737 he taught at a school 
 in the Bull King, and wrote an excellent hand. As painting 
 suited his talents, he entered into the lucrative branch of 
 japanning, and resided at No. 22, in Moor-street ; but in 
 1745 he took a building lease of 8 acres and two furlongs 
 north-west of the town, to which he gave the name of Easy 
 Hill, and converting it into a little Eden, built a house in 
 the centre : J but the town daily increasing in magnitude 
 
 » The Editor of the Beauties of Worcestershire, calls him a most use- 
 ful and estimable character, says he was of an ancient family, as old as the 
 Conquest : and Robert de Baskerville, of Eardesley, in Herefordshire, 
 .married a daughter of Rhees ap Tudor, Prince of Wales, in 1090. He was, 
 he adds, equal a? a printer, to Elzevir or Foulis. 
 
 + An estate, Mr. Laird very properly remarks, which must have come to 
 him by some collateral bequest ; as any inherited estate must have been the 
 property of one or other of his parents. 
 
 % Mr. Derrick, in a letter written to the Earl of Cork, July 15, 1760, 
 voutaining a .ie-ciiptiou of Bii-iniughum, sa}?. -v I need not remind your 
 
 3 B
 
 370 
 
 and population, soon surrounded it with buildings. Here 
 he continued the husiness of a japanner for life : this resi- 
 dence was afterwards the property of Mr. Ryland. Accord- 
 ing to Mr. Noble, he commenced this trade at the period 
 when Mr. Taylor began the japanning or painting of snuff 
 boxes. Baskerville followed his example, but dealt more in 
 tea waiters, and thus acquired a large fortune before he at- 
 tempted printing. His carriage, each pannel of which was 
 a distinct picture, might be considered the pattern card oi 
 his trade, and was drawn by a beautiful pair of cream-co- 
 loured horses. His inclination for letters induced him, in 
 1750, to turn his thoughts towards the press. He spent 
 many years in the uncertain pursuit, sunk 6001. before he 
 could produce one letter to please himself, and some thou- 
 sands before the shallow stream of profit began to flow. His 
 first attempt was a 4to edition of Virgil, 1756,* price one 
 
 Lordship, that Baskerville, one of the best printers in the world, was born in 
 this town, and resides near it. His house stands at about half a mile distance, 
 on an eminence that commands a fine prospect. I paid him a visit, and was 
 received with great politeness, though an entire stranger. His apartments 
 are elegant; his stair-case is particularly curious; and tbe room in which 
 he dines, and calls a smoking room, is very handsome. The grate and furni- 
 ture belongining to it are, I think, of bright wrought iron, and cost him a round 
 sum. He has just completed an elegant octavo Common Prayer Book, has a 
 scheme for publishing a grand folio edition of the Bible ; and will soon finish 
 a beautiful collection of Fables, by the ingenious Mr. Dodsley. He manu • 
 factures his own paper, types, and ink ; and they are remarkably good. 
 This ingenious artist carries on a great trade in the japan way, in which ho 
 shewed me several useful articles, such as candlesticks, stands, salvers, wait- 
 ers, breadbaskets, tea boards, &c. elegantly designed and highly finished. 
 Baskerville is a great cherisher of genius, which, wherever he finds it, he 
 loses no opportunity of cultivating. One of his workmen has manifested fine 
 talents for fruit painting in several pieces which he shewed me." Dr. Kippis, 
 who has copied this letter, adds his own testimony concerning Mr. B.'s polite- 
 ness to strangers, and the cheerful hospitality with which he treated those 
 who were introduced to him ; " he was well knswn," says the Dr. " to ma- 
 ny ingenious men, and was particularly intimate with the late Mr. Robert 
 Dodsley, and Mr. Shenstone.'' 
 
 * " My copy of Baskerville's Quarto Virgil, given me by the late Duke of 
 Roxburgh, bound in red Morocco, on leaving Eton, is dated 1757. Query, 
 if the first or second edition." Mr. Dibdiii, vol.2, p. 335, Introduction to 
 tbe Classics, mentions only 1757. " I compared mine lately with Mr.Wood-
 
 371 
 
 guinea, now of much greater value, even three times thai 
 price. This here-printed in 8vo. 1758, and in that year he 
 was employed by the University of Oxford on an entirely 
 new-faced Greek type. — See an advertisement to that effect 
 copied in NichoPs Lit. Anecdotes, from the St. James's 
 Chronicle, Sept. 5, 1758, with a hint of his great merit. 
 Soon after this he printed many other works, with more sa- 
 tisfaction to the literary world than emolument to himself, 
 and obtained leave from the University of Cambridge to 
 print a Bible in royal folio, and two editions of the Com- 
 mon Prayer, in three sizes, for which permission he paid a 
 considerable premium to the University. The next in order 
 of his works was — 1. Dr. Newton's edition of Milton's Po- 
 etical Works, 1759, 2 vols. 8vo.; 2. in May, 1760, he cir- 
 culated proposals for printing a folio Bible ; and in that 
 year he printed, 3. the Book of Common Prayer, the con- 
 sequence, I presume, of his permission from the University 
 of Cambridge; 4. Dodsley's Select Fables of JEsop, 1701, 
 8vo. ; 5. Juvenal and Perseus, 1761, 8vo. ; 6. Congreve's 
 Works, 1761, 3 vols. 8vo.; 7. The Book of Common 
 Prayer, in long lines, 1762, 8vo.; and 8. an edition in 
 12mo. ; 9. Horace, edited by J. Livie, A. M. 1762, Svo. ; 10. 
 Addison's Works, 1763, 4 vols. 4to. ; 11. Dr. Jenning's 
 Introduction to the Knowledge of Medals, 1763, Svo. ; 12, 
 The Holy Bible, for the Use of Churches, 1763, a beau- 
 tiful royal folio. He also printed editions of Terence, Ca- 
 tullus, Lucretius, Sallust, and Florus, in royal 4to. The 
 paper and ink, as well as the type, were prepared by him- 
 self; and the beauty of his work, says his biographer, was 
 unrivalled : the type was distinguished by a peculiar fine- 
 ness and sharpness, which gave to the printing a strong re- 
 semblance to fine print-hand writing ; and the paper had a 
 
 hull's account of his, when Mr. Charles Hoare was of opinion with myself, 
 that the difference was only caused, as Mr. Woodhull expresses it, ' currente 
 prelo.' " Mr. Dibdin makes Shenstone speak (March, 1757,) of the pub- 
 lication as being to take place soon. " Baskerville publishes at the close of Mis 
 nonth."— Note on Baskerville's Life in Nichols, by E. J.
 
 372 
 
 remarkable gloss, which set off the type, "but not without 
 offending the eye. It is observed, however, that Basker- 
 ville's editions are not remarkable for their correctness ; and 
 some of his copies of the Prayer Book bear marks of un- 
 professional management. Deriving very little encourage- 
 ment from booksellers, he set up a type foundery for the 
 sale of letters. His publications, however, according to 
 some critics, rank the name of Baskerville with those per- 
 sons who have the most contributed, at least in modern 
 times, to the beauty and improvement of the art of printing. 
 But after the publication of his folio Bible, in 1763,* he 
 
 * The subscribers are desired to send for those volumes to Mr. Baskerville's 
 Printing-Office, at Mr. Paterson's, Essex-house, inEsscx-street, in the Strand. 
 The following is a copy of a letter from Mr. Baskerville: 
 
 " To the Hon. Horace Walpole, Esq. Member of Parliament. 
 in Arlington-street, London, this : 
 
 " Sir, " Easy Hilt, Birmingham, 2 Nov. 1762. 
 
 " As tiie patron and encourager of arts, and particularly (hat of 
 printing, I have taken the liberty of sending you a specimen of mine begun 
 10 years ago at the age of 47; and prosecuted ever since, with the utmost 
 care and attention; on the strongest presumption, that if I could fairly ex- 
 cel in this divine art, it would make my affaits easy, or at least give me 
 bread. But alas in both I was mistaken. The Booksellers do not chuse to 
 encourage me, though I have offered them as low terms as 1 could possibly 
 live by ; nor dare I attempt an old copy till a law suit relating to that 
 affair is determined. The University of Cambridge have given me grant 
 to print their 8vo. and 12mo. common Prayer books ; but under such shackles 
 as greatly hurt me. I pay them for the former 201. and for the latter 121. 10s. 
 the thousand ; and to (hi Stationer's Company 32 pounds for their permission 
 to print one edition of the Psalms in metre to the small prayer book ; add to 
 this, the great expence of double and treble carriage ; and the inconvenience 
 of a printing house an hundred miles off. All this summer I have had nothing 
 to print at home. My folio bible is pretty far advanced at Cambridge, which 
 will cost me 20001. all hired at 5 per Cent. If this does not sell, I shall be 
 obliged to sell a small patrimony which brings me in 741. a year, to the bu- 
 siness of printing, which 1 nm heartily tired of, and repent I ever attempted. 
 It is surely a particular hardship, that I should not get bread in my own 
 country (and it is too late to go abroad) after having acquired the reputation 
 of excellency in the most useful art known to mankind ; while every one who 
 excels as a Player, Fiddler, Dancer, &c. not only live in affluence, but has 
 it in their poAver to save a fortune. I have sent a few specimens (same as 
 the enclosed) to the Courts of Russia and Denmark, and shall endeavour to 
 do the same to most of the Courts in Europe ; in hopes of finding in some one
 
 373 
 
 appears to have been weary of the profession of a printer, 
 or at least he declined to carry it on, except through the me- 
 dium of a confidential agent; it is recorded that Mr. Robert 
 Martin "had agreed with Baskerville for the use of his whole 
 printing apparatus, with whom he had wrought as journey- 
 man for 10 years past, he therefore offers his services to 
 print at Birmingham for gentlemen or booksellers on the 
 most moderate terms, who may depend on all possible care 
 and elegance in the execution ; samples if necessary may be 
 seen on sending; a line to John Baskerville or Robert Mar- 
 tin, (June 8, 176...)" In 1764 he had the honour of pre- 
 senting to his Majesty, and to the Princess Dowager of 
 Wales, his then newly-printed 8vo. Common Prayer Book, 
 which was most graciously received. In the same year he 
 applied to his friend, the eminent Dr. Franklin, in London, 
 respecting his types ; the following is an extract from the 
 Doctor's letter : 
 
 " Dear Sir, " Craven-street, I^ondon, 1764. 
 
 " Let me give you a pleasant instance of the prejudice some have 
 entertained against your work. Soon after I returned, discoursing with a 
 
 of them a purchaser of the whole scheme, on the condition of my never at- 
 tempting another type. I was saying this to a particular friend, who re- 
 proached me with not giving my own country the preference, as it would (he 
 was pleased to say) be a national reproach to loose it : I told him, nothing 
 but the greatest necessity would put me upon it, and even then I should resign 
 it with the utmost reluctance. He observed the Parliament had given a 
 handsome premium for a great medicine ; and, he doubted not, if my affair 
 was properly brought before the House of Commons, but some regard would 
 be paid to it. I replyd, I durst not presume to petition the House, unless 
 encouraged by some of the Members, who might do me the honour to promote 
 it, of which I saw not the least hopes. Thus, Sir, I have taken the liberty 
 of laying before you my affairs, without the least aggravation ; and humbly 
 hope your patronage. To whom can I apply for protection, but the great, 
 who alone have it in their power to serve me ? I rely on your candour as a 
 lover of the arts, and to excuse this presumption in your most obedient and 
 most humble servant, " JOHN BASKERVILLE. 
 
 " P. S. The folding of the specimens will be taken out, by laying them a 
 
 short time between damped papers. N. B. The ink, presses, chases, moulds 
 
 for casting, and all the apparatus for Printing, were made in my own shops."
 
 374 
 
 gentleman concerning the artists of Birmingham, he said H you would be a 
 means of blinding all the readers in the nation, for the strokes of your letters 
 being too thin and narrow, hurt the eye, and he could never read a line of 
 them without pain t" " I thought," said I, " you were going to complain of 
 the gloss on the paper, some object to." " No, no," says he, " I have heard 
 that mentioned ; but it is not that, it is in the form and cut of the letters 
 themselves ; they have not that natural and easy proportion between the 
 height and thickness of the stroke, which makes the common printing so much 
 the more comfortable to the eye." You see this gentleman was a connoisseur. 
 In vain I endeavoured to support your character against the charge ; he knew 
 what he felt, and could see the reason of it : and several other gentlemen 
 among his friends had made the same observation, &c. Yesterday he called 
 to visit me, when mischievously bent to try his judgment, I stept into my 
 closet, tore otf the top of Mr. Caslon's specimen, and produced it to him as 
 your's brought with me from Birmingham, saying, "I had been examining 
 it since he spoke to me, and could not for my life perceive the disproportion 
 he mentioned, desiring him to point it out to me." He readily undertook 
 it, and went over the several founts, shewing tne every where what he thought 
 instances of that disproportion ; and declared, " that he could not then read 
 the specimen without feeling very strongly the pain lie had mentioned to me." 
 I spared him that time the confusion of being told, that these were the types 
 he had been reading all his life with so much ease to his eyes ; the types his 
 adored Newton is printed with, on which he had pored not a little ; nay, the 
 very type his own book is printed with, for he is himself an author, and yet 
 never discovered this painful disproportion in them, till he thought they were 
 yours. I am, &c. " B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 He again applied to the Doctor, who was then at Paris, in 
 1765, to sound the opinion of the literati respecting the pur- 
 chase of his types, but received for answer, that the French, 
 reduced by the war of 1756, were so far from being able to 
 pursue schemes of taste, that they were unable to repair 
 their public buildings, and suffered the scaffolding to rot 
 before them. 
 
 In regard to Baskerville's character, he was very eccen- 
 tric, and idle in the extreme, but his invention was active ; 
 he could well design, but procured others to execute ,* 
 wherever he found merit he caressed it : he was remarkably 
 attentive to strangers, fond of shew ; his figure was rather of 
 the smaller size, and he delighted to adorn that figure with 
 gold lace ; although constructed with the light timbers of a 
 
 * The name of the artist who executed Baskerville's types, I am informed, 
 was John Handy, He died Jan, 24, 1793.
 
 o/O 
 
 frigate, his movement was stately as a ship of the line. 
 During the last 25 years of his life, though then in his de- 
 cline, he retained the traces of a handsome man. If he ex- 
 hibited a peevish temper, says one of his biographers, we 
 may consider that good nature and intense thinking are not 
 always found together ; taste accompanied him through the 
 different walks of agriculture, architecture, and the fine 
 arts. Whatever passed through his fingers bore the marks 
 of John Baskerville. He died without issue Jan. 8, 1775. 
 I have to regret that, in his will, executed about two years 
 before, he unblushingly avows, not only his disbelief of, 
 but his contempt for revealed religion, and that in terms too 
 gross for repetition : his will is as follows : — 
 
 MEMORANDUM.— That I, John Baskerville, of Birmingham, in the 
 county of Warwick, on the 6th day of January, H73, do make this my last 
 will and testament, as follows : First, I give, bequeath, and devise unto my 
 executors hereafter named, the sum of 20001. in trust, to'discharge a settle- 
 ment made before my marriage to my wife Sarah. I also give to my exe- 
 cutors the lease of my house and land, held under the late John Ruston, in 
 trust, for the sole use and benefit of the said Sarah my wife, during the term 
 of her natural life, and after her decease, to the uses mentioned below. And 
 my further will is, that the sum of 20001. shall be raised and paid to my wife 
 out of my book debts, stock in trade, and household furniture, plate, and 
 china. — (N. B. The use of my furniture, plate, and china, I have already 
 given by deed to my wife for the term of her natural life, but this will makes 
 it entirely her own.) I appoint and desire my executors to take an inventory 
 and appraisement of all my effects whatsoever, within six weeks after my 
 decease. I also give to my executors hereafter named, the sum of 1001. in 
 trust, to the sole use and benefit of my nephew John Townsend, to whom I 
 also give my gold watch as a keep-sake. 1 further give to my executors, in 
 like trust, the sum of 1001. for the sole use and benefit of my niece Rebecca, 
 the wife of Thomas Westley, as an acknowledgment of relationship. I have 
 heretofore given by will, to each of the last-named relations, a more consi- 
 derable sum , but as I have observed with pleasure that Providence has blessed 
 their endeavours with success, in acquiring a greater fortune than they will 
 ever expend the income of; and as they have no child or chick to inherit 
 what they leave behind them, I have stayed my hand, and have thereby re- 
 served a power to assist any branch of my family that may stand in need of 
 it, I have the greatest respect and esteem for each of the above parties. I 
 also give to my executsrs in like trust, the sum of 1501. for the use of my ne- 
 phew Richard Townsend, butclier. 1 further give to my executors the sum 
 of 3001. to be disposed of as follows : to Joseph, Thomas, and Jacob, sons of 
 Thomas Marston by hisvife Sarah, my niece, 1001. each, as they shall se-
 
 "376 
 
 yerally attain the age of 21 years, but should any of them die before they 
 come of age, then such 1001. shall be divided, share and share alike, among 
 the survivors. I also give to Isaac, the son of Thomas Marston, the sum of 
 101. for pocket money ; and my reason is, his being patronized by his worthy 
 uncle Mr. Thomas Westley, who, if he behaves well, will put him in a way 
 to acquire an easy fortune. But I must not forget my little favourite, 1 
 therefore give to my executors, in trust, the sum of 5001. for the sole use and 
 benefit of Sarah, the daughter of Ferdinand and Sarah de Mierre (my wife's 
 daughter), to be paid her when she attains the age of 21 years : but should 
 she happen to die before that age, my pleasure is, that my wife shall have 
 the disposal of the said 5001. at her pleasure, signified in her last will. I 
 also give to my executors the further sum of 14001. in trust, to the following 
 uses, viz. to Rebecca Wesley, John Townsend, Richard Townsend, and 
 the four sons of Thomas Mamon, by his wife Sarah, my niece, the sum of 
 2001. eacb, to become due and payable (only) on the day of my wife's future 
 marriage, which, ifshechuses, I wish her happy, equal to her merit ; but if 
 ebe continues a widow, the last-mentioned legacies are entirely void. I fur- 
 ther give to my executors, in trust, all my goods and chattels, household fur- 
 niture, plate, and china, not disposed of as above, to the following uses ; 
 first, for the payment of my several legacies and debts (if any), and all the 
 residue and remainder (except the sale of my lease, as below,) to the sole 
 use and benefit of my wife Sarah. I further give to my executors, in trust, 
 the reversion of the lease of my house and land, held under my good friend 
 the late Jonathan Ruston, together with the fixtures in the house, particu- 
 larly the fire-place, including the grate, fender, &c. ; together with three 
 leaden figures, all plantations of trees and shrubs of every kind, including 
 my grotto, and whatever contributes to beautify the place: that the whole 
 shall be sold at public auction, after being properly advertized in some of the 
 London and the neighbouring county papers. The money arising from such 
 sale, I give to the following uses, viz. : 1st. 5001. to the Committee for the 
 time being of the Protestant Dissenting Charity School at Birmingham, in 
 trust, towards erecting a commodious building for the use of the said Cha- 
 rity : 7001. more arising from the said sale, 1 give and bequeath as follows : 
 4001. to be shared equally among the sons of Thomas Marston, by his wife 
 Sarah ; to Jonathan, John, and Richard Townsend, my nephews, 1001. 
 each; to Rebecca Westley, my niece, 1001.; and my will is, that this and 
 the above-mentioned sum of 1001. shall be entirely at her own disposal, and 
 not subject to the controul or intermeddling of her husband, and yet her re- 
 ceipt alone shall be a sufficient discharge to my executors ; 8001. more arising 
 from the said sale I give to the three sons of the late Jonathan Ruston, in 
 equal and even shares, viz. John, Daniel, and Josiah Ruston. What further 
 sum of money may arise from the sale of the above lease, I give to the sole 
 disposal of my wife Sarah, by her last will. As I doubt not the children of 
 my late worthy friend will endeavour to traduce my memory, as they have 
 already done my character, in having my lease on too easy terms, I there- 
 fore think proper to declare, that at the time I took the aforesaid lease, I 
 paid the full value of it, and have laid out little less than 6,0001. upon tbe
 
 377 
 
 premises. But as the increase of the town has since enhanced its value, I 
 have made an acknowledgment as above, which I always proposed, to the 
 sons of my most valued friend, and which would have been much more con- 
 siderable, if they had refrained from injuriously abusing me. I had even 
 
 given by will the reversion of my lease to Martha , upon the death of 
 
 my wife's eldest son, and my intended successor ; but her unprovoked pe- 
 tulant malice and spleen, and abusive treatment of me without cause, con- 
 vinced me of the rancour of her heart, and determined me as above. My 
 farther will and pleasure is, and I do hereby declare, that the devise of my 
 goods and chattels, as above, is upon this express condition, that my wife, in 
 concert with my executors, do cause my body to be buried in a conical build- 
 ing in my own premises, heretofore used as a mill, w hich I have lately raised 
 higher and painted, and in a vault which I have prepared for it.* This, 
 doubtless to many will appear a whim ; perhaps it i^ so, but it is a whim for 
 many years resolved upon, as I have a hearty contempt for all superstiton, — 
 [What follows is by far too indecent for repetition.] * * * 
 
 ********** 
 I expect some shrewd remarks will be made on this my declaration by the 
 ignorant and bigotted, who cannot distinguish between religion and super- 
 stition, and are taught to believe that morality (by which I understand all 
 the duties a man owes to God and his fellow-creatures) is not sufficient 
 to entitle him to Divine favour without professing to believe — [Here again 
 I must leave a blank] ****** 
 
 This morality alone I profess to have been my religion, and the rule of my 
 actions, to which I appeal how far my profession and practice has been con* 
 sistent. Lastly, I do hereby appoint my worthy friends, Mr. Edward Palmer, 
 and Josiah Ruston, my wife's brother, joint executors of this my will, in most 
 perfect confidence (as I know the integrity of their hearts) that they will 
 jointly and cordially execute this my most important trust committed to them 
 with integrity and candour, to each of which 1 leave 6 guineas to buy a ring, 
 which I hope they will consider as a keep-sake. In witness, &c. Sarah 
 Stuart, Joseph Bridgwater, John Webster. 
 
 * This was accordingly performed ; and although his dwelling-house was 
 destroyed in the riots of 1790, his remains continued undisturbed. 
 
 On the top of the windmill, after it fell into disuse, he had erected an 
 urn, for which he had prepared the following inscription : 
 
 " Stranger, 
 
 Beneath this cone, in unconsecrated ground, 
 
 a friend to the liberties of mankind directed his 
 
 body to be inurn'd. 
 
 May the example contribute to emancipate thy mind 
 
 From the idle fears of Superstition, 
 
 and the wicked arts of Priesthood." 
 
 His grave however was merely covered with flat stones without any inscrip- 
 tion. Near him lies a favourite dog, with the epitaph, " Alas ! poor Trim." 
 Ur. Butcher, in his Tour from Sidmouth to Chester, says, that some time 
 
 3 C
 
 378 
 
 Many efforts were used after Baskerville's death to dis- 
 pose of his types and matrices in this country,* but without 
 effect : no purchaser could be found in the whole common- 
 wealth of letters ; the Universities rejected the offer ; and 
 the London booksellers preferred the sterling types of Cas- 
 lon, and his apprentice, Jackson : the valuable property 
 therefore lay a dead weight till it was purchased by a literary 
 society at Paris in 1779, for 37001. and were afterwards 
 employed in a splendid edition of Voltaire's works.f The 
 principal part of his fortune, amounting to about 12,0001. 
 he left to his widowj^who sold the stock, and retired to the 
 house which her husband had built. She had before been 
 the widow of a person who, having been guilty of some 
 fraudulent practices in regard to a relation's will, was obliged 
 to quit the kingdom, having first made over his property to 
 a person at Birmingham, who, after his return, refused to 
 resign it. His son, reduced to drive waggons for his main- 
 tenance, by the assistance and support of Baskerville, (to 
 whom his mother retired, and who afterwards married her,) 
 recovered his estate, and made a handsome provision for his 
 two sisters.— Gough's Brit. Top. 1780, vol.' 2, p. 306. In 
 April, 1773, Mrs. Baskerville wholly declined the printing 
 business, but continued that of letter-founder till February, 
 1777 : she died in March or April, 1788. The reader will 
 find an advertisement of Mrs. Baskerville, recommending 
 her types to the public, in Nichol's Literary Anecdotes, 
 
 ago a report had gone abroad that this grave had been robbed for the 
 sake of the leaden coffin ; an actual examination, however, proved that this 
 was unfounded. 
 
 * The types of Baskerville's Oxford Greek Testament, according to the 
 late Mr. Bowyer, -the celebrated printer, were not good ones. 
 
 + Mr. Laird, in his Beauties of Worcestershire, says, " that even the re- 
 maining copies of Baskerville's productions could not find a purchaser uutil 
 Mr. Smart (the predecessor of the publisher of this work) ventured to pur- 
 chase them ; and that Baskerville House, built by Smart, near this city, re- 
 ceived its name from the respect which he had for this amiable man's (Basker- 
 ville's) memory." I cannot help adding, that the page from which this is 
 extracted, shews a striking instance of the folly of complimenting persons 
 who, to say the best of them, are no better than their neighbours.
 
 379 
 
 under the head Baskerville. The very partial author of the 
 life of the subject of this memoir, inserted in the Histon of 
 Birmingham, thus ends his biograghy of Baskerville. " It 
 is an old remark, that no country abounds with genius so 
 much as this island ; and it is a remark nearl) as old, that ge- 
 nius is no where so little rewarded. How else came Dryden, 
 Goldsmith, and Chatterton to want bread ? Is merit like ;t 
 flower of the field, too common to attract notice ? or is the 
 use of money beneath the care of exalted talents : Invention 
 seldom pays the inventor — if you ask what fortune Baskerville 
 ought to have been rewarded with : the most which can be 
 comprised in 5 figures; if you farther as!:, what he poss< 
 ed ? the least, but none of it squeezed from the press. We 
 must admire, if we do not imitate, the taste and economy of 
 the French nation, who, brought by the British arms, in 17t'i l 2, 
 to the very verge of ruin, rising above distress, were able in 17 
 years to purchase Baskerville's elegant types, refused b) his 
 own country, and to expend 100,0001. in poisoning the prin- 
 ciples of mankind by printing the works of Voltaire. 1 low 
 greatly must we regret the projected sale of his estate for 
 pavment of a debt incurred for borrowed capital to print his 
 bible, when we witness the price which it now produces, 
 whenever offered for sale ; more particularly when we re- 
 flect that, though entitled to this estate from his birth, Bas- 
 kerville appropriated the produce of it, during the lives of 
 his parents, to their comfort and support." Many unjust 
 and unnecessary reflections are made in the work 1 have just 
 quoted, on the booksellers and Universities; the answer, 
 says Mr. Chalmers, in his Biog. Dictionary, is easy ; Bas- 
 kerville himself derived little advantage from them, and at 
 the time they were offered for sale, and for many years af- 
 terwards, the principal works which came from his press 
 were sold at a price so inferior, as to render any further spe- 
 culation hopeless : the following documents relate to the use 
 of his types in Trance : 
 
 " The English language and learning are so cultivated in France, and 
 so eagerly learned, that the best authors of Great Britain are bow re-print-
 
 380 
 
 ing in this metropolis : Shakespeare, Addison, Pope, Johnson, Hume, and 
 Robertson, are to be published here very soon. Baskerville's types, which 
 ■were bought, it seems, for a trifle, to the eternal disgrace of Englishmen, 
 are to be made use of for the purpose of propagating the English language 
 in this country." — Letters from Paris, Jug. 8, 1780. 
 
 " A complete edition of the works of Voltaire, printed, by subscription, 
 with the types of Baskerville. — This work, the most extensive and magni- 
 ficent that ever was printed, is now in the press at Fort Kehl, near Stras- 
 burgh, a free place, subject to no restraint or imprimatur, and will be pub- 
 lished towards the close of the present year. It will never be on sale. Sub- 
 scribers only can have copies. Each set is to be numbered, and a parti- 
 cular number appropriated to each subscriber at the time of subscribing. 
 As the sets to be worked off are limited to a fixed and small number, con- 
 sidering the demand of all E#rope, those who wish to be possessed of so valu- 
 able a work must be early in their applications, lest they be shut out by the 
 subscriptions being previously filled. Voltaire's MS. and port folios, besides 
 bis works already published, cost 12,000 guineas. This and the other ex- 
 pellees attending the publication, will lay the Editors under an advance of 
 100,0001. sterling. The public may from thence form a judgment of the ex- 
 traordinary care that will be taken to make this edition a lasting monumeut of 
 typographical elegance and grandeur. Subscriptions are taken in at the fol- 
 lowing banking-houses : London, Sir Robert Herries & Co. ; Edinburgh, 
 Sir William Forbes, J. Hunter, & Co. ; Dublin, Messrs. Black & Murray. 
 Proposals and particulars may be had, and Subscriptions taken in, at Mr. 
 Elmsley's, bookseller, in the Strand ; Mr. Woodmason's, Leadenhall-street ; 
 Mr. Farquharson's, Agent to the undertaking; and at John Henderson's, 
 Esq. Milk-street, Cheapside.— June 4, 1782." 
 
 " I well remember Baskerville," says Mr. Noble, " he 
 taught my respected father, who maintained an acquaintance 
 with him as long as he lived, to write, and I have been very 
 often with him to Baskerville's house, and found him ever a 
 most profane wretch, and ignorant of literature to a wonder- 
 ful degree. I have seen many of his letters, which, like 
 his will, were not written grammatically ; nor could he even 
 spell well. In person, he was a shrivelled old coxcomb. 
 His favourite dress was green, edged with a narrow gold 
 lace , a scarlet waistcoat, with a very broad gold lace ; and 
 a small round hat, likewise edged with gold lace. His wife 
 was all that affectation can describe : she lived with him in 
 adultery many years. She was originally a servant : such a 
 pair are rarely met with. He had wit; but it was always at 
 the expence of religion and decency, particularly if in com-
 
 381 
 
 pany with the clergy. I have often thought there was much 
 similarity in his person to Voltaire, whose sentiments lie was 
 ever retailing. The Biographia Britannica has made several 
 mistakes relative to Baskerville. Baskerville, who kept up 
 an acquaintance with my lather, as long as he lived, was in 
 the habit of receiving the finest specimens of writing from 
 the most eminent masters, which were handsomely trained 
 and glazed, and made pleasing ornaments to one of his 
 apartments." 
 
 The following notice respecting the productions of Bas- 
 kerville are to be seen in a letter from Mr. Paterson, in Ni- 
 chol's Literary Anecdotes : — " I could give you also a note 
 on Baskerville, to demonstrate that he knew very little of the 
 execution of typography beyond the common productions 
 which are to be found every day in Paternoster-row, and there- 
 fore, in a comparative view, might readily conclude that he 
 had outstript them all." But Mr. Dibdin, whose judgment 
 in these matters few will call in question, thus speaks of him 
 in Bibliographical Decameron : — " Rowe Mores, in his 
 abuse of Baskerville, exhibits the painful and perhaps mirth- 
 provoking efforts of a man kicking against the thorns. Bas- 
 kerville was a wonderful creature as an artist, but a vain and 
 silly man. The greatest compliment paid to his memory was 
 the beautiful edition of the works of V oltaire, printed by 
 Beaumarchais, in Fort Khell, on the Rhine, with types cast 
 in the matrices of Baskerville." And again — " the star of 
 .Baskerville shone with a lustre fidl of hope and promise : 
 this star ran a short but brilliant course, and at its declen- 
 sion a night of typographical darkness threatened to set in on 
 all sides. The types of Bondoni and Baskerville are much 
 like each other. The prayer books of Baskerville are pro- 
 bably more frequently seen within the pews of a church than 
 any other, at least they were so within these dozen years 
 past ; they are of two forms or sizes, royal octavo and crown 
 octavo : of the former there were two different impressions, 
 one in long lines and the other in double columns ; and each 
 of these asrain is varied by the omission or introduction ol a
 
 382 
 
 fancy border round the entire page. The crown octavo im- 
 pression, which is the rarer of the two, has no such dis- 
 tinction of border : it is executed in a small character, in 
 double columns, upon thin paper, but of a close and durable 
 texture. I do not remember to have seen more than one 
 copy of the royal octavo in an uncut state, and of the crown 
 octavo not a single copy, so popular were these impressions 
 upon a first appearance ; there is a soft and silky tint about 
 these volumes which make them grateful to the eye, but, in 
 point of fine printing, they have each of them been ex- 
 celled by a royal and crown prayer book from the press of 
 Buhner." 
 
 " Aldus and Baskerville appear to have chosen Jonson 
 for their model ; what was left undone by Jonson was per- 
 formed by his imitator Baskerville. The little Horace of 
 1762, executed by the latter, possesses as much excellence 
 of typographical arrangement and execution as in any other 
 volume which owes its production to the early Venetian 
 press." Lord Shaftesbury's works, &c. were also produced 
 from the founts of Baskerville. 
 
 The following account of Baskerville is copied from the 
 European Magazine of December, 1735 : 
 
 " I was acquainted with Baskerville, the printer, but cannot wholly agree 
 with the extracts concerning him, from Hutton's History of Birmingham. 
 It is true he was very ingenious in mechanics, but it is also well known he was 
 extremely illiterate, and his jokes and sarcasms on the Bible, with which 
 his conversation abounded, shewed the most contemptible ignorance of eastern 
 history and manners, and indeed of ever} thii g. His quarto edition of Mil- 
 ton's Paradise Lost, withal! its splendour, is a deep disgrace to the English 
 press. lie could not spell himself, and knew not who could. A Warwick- 
 shire country schoolmaster, of some parish charity school, we presume, wai 
 employed by him to correct this splendid edition, and that dunce has spelt 
 many words in ii according to the vulgar Warwickshire pronunciation. For 
 example, many of the western vulgar clap an h to every word beginning with 
 an open vowel, or even the «o, as hood for wood, my harm for my arm, heggs 
 for eggs, &e. &c. and again as viciously dropping the h in verbs, as ave for 
 have, as fur has, &.C. &c. Many instances of this horrid ignorance we find 
 in the ingenious Baskerville's splendid Milton, where as is often put for the 
 %erb has, and has for the conjunction as, v\ ith several others of this worse thau 
 cockney family, ftor can 1 by any means agree with Mr. Huttou that " it i*
 
 383 
 
 to the lasting discredit of the British nation that no purchaser could he found 
 for his types.'' — What was the merit of his priming ? — Ills paper was afa 
 finer gloss, and his ink of a brighter black than ordinary; his type was thick- 
 er than usual in the third strokes, and finer in the fine, and was sharpened in 
 the angles in a novel manner ; all these combined gave his editions a brilliant 
 rich look, when his pages were turned lightly over ; but when you sit down 
 to read them, the eye is almost immediately fatigued with the gloss of the 
 paper and ink, and the sharp angles of the type ; audit is universally known 
 that Baskerville's printing is not read ; that the better sort of the London 
 printing is infinitely preferable for USE, and even for real sterling elegance. 
 The Universities and London booksellers therefore are not to be blamed for 
 declining the purchase of Baskerville's types, which we are told were bougl t 
 by a Society at Paris, where tawdry silk and tinsel is preferred to the finest 
 English broad cloth, or even Genoa velvet. Mr. Hutton says, "If you ask 
 what fortune Baskerville ought to have been rewarded with ? the most which 
 can be comprised in 5 figures. If you further ask, what he possessed ? the 
 least, but none of it squeezed from the press." By this quaint riddle me rec, 
 I suppose it is meant that Baskerville's genius ought to haie been rewarded 
 with ,£99,999. good English money, hut that, such was the baseness of the 
 age, he only died worth £11,111.; and that none of this was squeezed from 
 the press is a full proof that there was more glitter than real merit or improve- 
 ment in the boasted printing of Baskerville. " Y IATOE." 
 
 Some of Baskerville's types are now in use in the office of 
 Messrs. Harris, of Liverpool. 
 
 Robert Eden, D. D. 
 A Canon of Worcester, wrote a sermon on the Necessity 
 and Unchangeable difference of Moral Good and Evil, Isai. 
 v. 20, Ox. 1743, 4to. ; on Jerem. xxix. 7, Ox. 1743, 4to.; 
 on Ps. exxxviii. 5, 6, 1755, 4to. ; the necessary Connexion 
 of Truth and Love in matters of Religion, a sermon on 
 Ephesians iv. 14, 15, Lond. 1754, 4to.; the Harmony of 
 Benevolence, a sermon, Lond. 1756, 4to. Is. 
 
 William Thomson, M. D. 
 A descendant of the Poet of that name, appointed Phy- 
 sician to the Worcester Infirmary in 1757, which situation 
 he resigned in 1793, was originally a dissenting minister, 
 and tutor to several young gentlemen, whom he accompa- 
 nied on the grand tour; tired of an occupation far from 
 congenial with his wishes, he was advised by Dr. Nash, 
 the historian of Worcestershire, to retire to Leyden, to studj
 
 384 
 
 medicine, which advice he followed, and afterwards settled 
 at Ludlow as an accoucheur and surgeon, from whence he 
 came to Worcester, and succeeded to the practice of the ce- 
 lebrated Dr. Wall. He died March 4, 1802, aged upwards 
 of 80. Dr. Thomson was a humane, good man, and had a 
 son educated under Goodinge at the King's School, Wor- 
 cester ; he was afterwards Profesor of Chemistry at Oxford. 
 
 William Gooohall. 
 
 From the account this writer gives of himself, in a preface 
 to his MisceUcnries, I learn that he was an apprentice to a 
 clothier at Worcester, with whom he lived until the time of 
 his service expired, at the end of which he came to London, 
 and was recommended by Mr. Sandys to the service of the 
 Hon. James Douglas, where he remained, and published 
 his only dramatic piece, in 1740, called " The False 
 Guardians outwitted, Ballad Op." 8vo. printed in a col- 
 lection called " The true Englishman's Miscellany :" it does 
 not appear to have been ever acted. 
 
 John Wall, M. D. 
 A Native of this county, was born in the village of 
 Powick in 170S. He was the only son of Mr. John Wall, 
 a respectable tradesman of this city, who served the office 
 of Mayor in the year 1703, and descended from a good family 
 winch had settled near Leominster, in Herefordshire : he dy- 
 ing while his son was at an early age, the latter, with a dis- 
 crimination which shewed his good sense, chose the late 
 Lord Sandys for one of his guardians. The subject of this 
 article received the early part of his education at Leigh Sin- 
 ton, and at the King's School of this city, from the latter of 
 Vvbichhewas elected a scholar of Worcester College, Ox- 
 ford, in June, 1726. In the year 1735 he was elected a 
 fellow of Merton College; and while he remained in this 
 University he was distinguished by his assiduity in his several 
 studies, and his acquaintance was solicited by the eminent, 
 as weil as by those who wished to gain a reputation for 
 learning. After remaining some years, diligently applying
 
 385 
 
 himself, at Oxford, and at St. Thomas's Hospital, with a 
 reference to the profession of medicine ; he took the degree 
 of M.A. April 15, 1736, and that of Bachelor of Physic 
 on December 5 following, at which time he also obtained 
 licence to practice : but he did not complete his degrees in 
 that faculty till June 30, 1759, when lie went out grand 
 compounder, and afterwards commenced his professional 
 career in Worcester. In 1740 he married Catherine, young- 
 est daughter of Martin Sandys, Esq. of the city of Wor- 
 cester, uncle to the first Lord Sandys, of Ombersley Court. 
 In 1759 he took the degree of Doctor of Physic. He died 
 at Bath, of a lingering disorder, at which place he had lat- 
 terly resided, and was buried in the Abbey Church, where, 
 on a plain stone attached to one of the pillars, is the follow- 
 ing inscription : — 
 
 Sacred to the Memory 
 
 of 
 
 JOHN WALL, M. D. 
 
 late of Worcester, 
 
 whose body restethjiere 
 
 after a life of labour for the good of others» 
 
 Nature gave him talents ; 
 
 a benevolent heart directed the attention of them 
 
 to the study and practice of 
 
 a profession the most beneficial to mankind ; 
 
 and 
 
 by a most uncommon genius for Historic Painting 
 
 (an amusement worthy his enlarged mind) 
 
 he has produced many lasting evidences 
 
 of the 
 
 noble simplicity of his sentiments, 
 
 and the 
 
 extensiveness of his abilities. 
 
 Husbands, Fathers, Friends, and Neighbours, 
 
 saw in him 
 
 a living pattern of their duties — 
 
 and ever must remember 
 
 the various excellencies of that Heart 
 
 the loss of which they now lament. 
 
 He died June 27, 177G, 
 
 A ged 07 . 
 
 3 D
 
 386 
 
 In all the concerns of life, and particularly in his practice, 
 Dr. Wall was distinguished by an uncommon sweetness of 
 manners and chearfulness of disposition, which, in union 
 with his knowledge and discernment, attracted the affection 
 and secured the confidence of those who required his pro- 
 fessional assistance. In this employment his experience 
 matured his judgment, and enabled him to reject many of 
 the delusions and errors of former practitioners.* These 
 important improvements he communicated to the public in 
 the weekly, monthly, or annual repositories of medical and 
 philosophical discoveries : they have since been collected in 
 one volume by his son, Dr. Martin Wall, and published, 
 with annotations, at Oxford, in 1780, 8vo. This volume 
 contains — I. Of the extraordinary effects of Musk in con- 
 vulsive disorders, &c. II. Of the use of the Peruvian Bark 
 in the small pox. III. Of the cure of the putrid sore throat. 
 
 IV. Mr. Oram's account of the case of the Norfolk boy. 
 
 V. Observations on that case, and on the efficacy of Oil in 
 worm cases. VI. Experiments and Observations on the Mal- 
 vern Waters : to these are added further experiments by his 
 son, Dr. M. Wall. VII. Letter to Sir Geo. Baker, &x. on 
 the Poison of Lead, and the impregnation of Cyder with 
 that Metal. VIII. A Letter to Dr. Heberden on the An- 
 gina Pectoris. — Supplement, containing an account of the 
 Epidemic Fever of 1740-1741-1742: these were first print- 
 ed in the weekly or monthly collections, and in the Phi- 
 losophical and Medical Transactions. Dr. Wall contri- 
 buted also, an exact account of the symptoms of the Epi- 
 demie at Worcester, which is inserted at full length in the 
 Historia Morbi. in Dr. Baker's Treatise, in his enquiry 
 into the nature, &c. of the Epidemic Fever ; he also pub- 
 
 * Perhaps a greater compliment cannot be paid to the medical talents of 
 Dr. Wall than the opinion of Mr. Russell, tfce celebrated surgeon, of Wor- 
 cester, a man capable of judging, and one who never paid an undeserved 
 compliment. Although he affected not to give credit to all Dr. Wall's as- 
 sertions respecting the effects of the Malvern Waters, yet he had the highest 
 possible regard for his professional abilities.
 
 387 
 
 fished, in the Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. 1751, a suc- 
 cessful method of treating a malignant sore throat with fever, 
 that prevailed at Kidderminster in the year 1750; the printer 
 of the Mag. has by mistake put the signature of W. Wall 
 instead of J. Wall. 
 
 Nor were the exertions of Dr. Wall's talents limited to 
 his profession ; ever attached with fervor to experimental 
 chemistry, he directed his researches in the pursuit of ma- 
 terials by means of which the fine porcelain of the East 
 might be imitated in Europe.* To these experiments the 
 city of Worcester owes its China .Manufacture ; and from 
 these the great improvement of the Potteries in the midland 
 couuties in England are said to have been original ly de- 
 duced.f About the same period of time, reports of the 
 successful use of the Malvern Waters in many dangerous 
 disorders, having been circulated through the neighbouring 
 counties, he collected all the authentic cases, and gave them 
 to the public with annotations and chemical observations. 
 This publication, to which for several successive \ears he 
 added new cases, coining from an authority so respee table, 
 drew a great resort of company to that delightful situation, 
 and even under all the difficulties; of bad accommodation ; 
 to remedy these incoveniences, he proposed many improve- 
 ments, and not only suggested, but enforced, superintended, 
 and at length saw completed, such a system of accommo- 
 dation at the Wells, that persons resorting there, either for 
 health or amusement, might be received and entertained 
 with every possible advantage. — See Chambers's. History of 
 Malvern,, But his humane disposition was display ed in its 
 utmost extent in his unremitting attention to the poor. To 
 his zeal and diligence the county and city of W oreesler are 
 
 * I have been informed that the introduction of the Porcelain Manufactory 
 owes its birth to a determination of the low party of the county to introduce 
 same fresh branch of commerce, which should enable them, by the ?ates ot 
 its possessors, to stand a competition, as Members of Parliament, with the 
 Ministerial or popular party. 
 
 t These experiments were made by Dr. Wall, and others, on the pro- 
 mises, in Broad-street, now occupied by Mr. llulslun, apothecary.
 
 388 
 
 in no small degree indebted for the advantages of their In- 
 firmary, of which he was one of the earliest and most assi- 
 duous patrons. He gave it constant and regular attendance 
 during his whole life, and under every trying circumstance 
 of fatigue and indisposition ; he never allowed any cause 
 but absolute confinement by illness, to interrupt his punc- 
 tual exercise of this humane duty. The Governors of the 
 Infirmary have recorded, in terms of great respect, their 
 sense of the obligations they owed to his assiduity. As a 
 relaxation from these fatiguing employments, he yielded to 
 the natural bent of his genius for the fine arts, and parti- 
 cularly painting : his numerous productions, though great- 
 ly inferior to his own ideas of perfection, cannot be viewed 
 without applause, even when the circumstances under which 
 they were produced are unknown : but when we are told 
 that they are the native effusions of uninstructed genius, 
 designed and executed at uncertain intervals of respite from 
 the almost incessant engagements of a very active life, it 
 will become a matter of wonder how any one so situated 
 could have attained to so great a degree of eminence in the 
 most eminent and difficult arts. In justification of these as- 
 sertions concerning Dr. Wall, I will only add, says Dr. 
 Nash, that that excellent critic in all works of taste, Dr. 
 Joseph Warton, late head master of Winchester School, 
 speaking, in the 2d edition of his Virgil, of Dr. Wall's ca- 
 pital picture of Brutus condemning his Sons, has made use 
 of these expressions — (C This subject has been very well exe- 
 cuted by Dr. Wall, of Worcester, whose fine genius for 
 history painting would make us regret that his time is em- 
 ployed in another profession, were it not for the interest of 
 mankind that he is so employed." 
 
 Indeed, as a self-taught artist, the productions of Dr. 
 Wall, particularly the designs of them, certainly rivalled the 
 works of the regular professors of his day, as may be seen 
 by those of Edwards, and others, who were afterwards 
 Royal Academicians ; his colouring, it is true, discovers the 
 pencil of a young artist, whose manner of setting about a
 
 389 
 
 picture, and mixing his colours, are drawn alone from his 
 own resources; and yet he needs not even this excuse tor 
 some of his pictures. It has been thought by some, that 
 the eulogium passed upon him by the great Lord Lyttelton, 
 which asserts, " that if he had not been one of the first phy- 
 sicians, he would have been one of the first painters of the 
 age," was founded more in compliment than in truth ; 1 beg 
 leave to say that I do not see it in this light. It is well 
 known, that from his earliest youth he was particularly at- 
 tached to the arts of design, and left no means untried to 
 prosecute this study. 
 
 His guardian, Lord Sandys, apprehensive that the smell 
 of oil colours would injure his health, or that it might other- 
 wise suffer from this sedentary amusement, when added to 
 the more necessary pursuit of his literary studies, deprived 
 him of the means of prosecuting his favourite pursuit. To 
 obviate the deprivation of colours, he, it is said, has fre- 
 quently saved the juice of his currant pudding, and with it 
 tinted his juvenile attempts. I am aware that this early 
 bias is not always indicative of talent, but the reader will 
 find similar anecdotes of early propensities to the arts in 
 the lives of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. West/ and Mr. 
 Haydon. His oil paintings, in later life, were the source 
 of attraction to every stranger visiting Worcester : among 
 others, Garrick, whose quick and vivacious manner of junk- 
 ing upon the chairs to assist this little great actor in his 
 nearer approach to the pictures, is still known by tradition 
 in this city. Dr. Wall's painting room is attached to the 
 back part of the house in which he lived in Foregate-street ; 
 it was once an Inn, called the Green Dragon, but now 
 the residence of Geo. W r oodyatt, M. D. When the va- 
 riety and importance of his pursuits are considered, it may 
 well be a matter of surprise how he could, as he certainly 
 did, perform his duty in all. The care of the Infirmary, 
 and his other numerous patients, his chemical processes, 
 his plans relative to the improvement of Malvern, his pub- 
 lications, and his pictures, one of which he always had up-
 
 390 
 
 on his ease!, can only be accounted for by his own favourite 
 expression, when pressed to inform any one how he found 
 time for all : ** I make time," said he ; with these words lie 
 always answered those who wondered how he could com- 
 plete so much. Of his pictures, Mr. Gough, in his addi- 
 tion to Camden, in Worcestershire, vol. 2, p. 359, says: 
 " The windows of the chapel of the Bishop's Palace at 
 Hartlebury, Mere painted by Price, after some designs by 
 Dr. Wall, of Worcester." Win. Peckitt. in 1767, put up, 
 at Oriel College, a window of the Presentation of Christ in 
 the Temple, from a design of Dr. Wall's.* The principal 
 paintings by Dr. Wall, are, a large historical composition 
 presented by him to Merton College, Oxford, and which 
 now adorns its hall ; it represents the Founder, seated, in 
 his episcopal robes and mitre, and pointing to a view of his 
 college : on the right, is Minerva introducing a youth hold- 
 ing a book : to the left, stand Religion and Prudence ; be- 
 hind which are two Monks retiring, with countenances ex- 
 pressive of malignity and indignation : in the upper part are 
 two winged figures bearing a laurel wreath and a scroll, 
 containing the names of 11. Bacon, Scot i us, Wickhf/e, 
 Linaere, Jewel, Bodley, Saville, and Harvey, who had 
 been distinguished members of this college : at the bottom 
 are these inscriptions : 
 
 J. Wall COLL. MERTON 
 
 avrolittoivTos Custodi et Sociis 
 
 Inv. pinx. Tabulam hanc 
 
 1705 Manu sua depictam 
 
 J. WALL, M.D. 
 
 Istius Collegii Soc, 
 
 lu publicum animi grati 
 
 Testimonium. 
 
 D. D. D. 
 
 Dv. Wall painted also " The Head of Pompey brought 
 to Cassar," now at Hagley (Lord Lyttelton's) ; The Judge- 
 
 * This was presented to the Chapel by three Noblemen, namely, the Duk« 
 •f Beaufort, Lord Weotaan, and Lord Leigh.
 
 .391 
 
 ment of Brutus ; The Return of Regulus to Carthage ; 
 Queen Eleanor sucking the Poison from the arm of Ed- 
 ward I. ; Moses striking the Rock ; Elijah i'ed by the Ra- 
 vens; The Grecian Daughter; The School of Physic; 
 David and Nathan; &c. many of which are in the posses- 
 sion of Mrs. Catherine Wall, of the High-street, in this 
 city. Samuel Crane, Esq. also, of Foregate-street, pos- 
 sesses two clever pictures of his hand, viz. The Shunamite's 
 Child Restored, and The Head of John the Baptist brought 
 in a Charger ; his other pictures are dispersed among his 
 numerous descendants. Dr. Wall etched several prints 
 from his own designs, a plate of which is in the possession 
 of the gentleman just alluded to ; it is a free etching of 
 An Hermit in Contemplation, in a landscape, all from Dr. 
 W.'s own design. He also designed a frontispiece to an 
 editon of Hervey's Meditations ; one to Smith's translation 
 of Longinus ; and one to Mr. Cambridge's Scribleriad.* 
 There is also, in Granger, vol. 4, p. 335, mention made of 
 a design of his, Christ praying in the Garden, which was 
 painted in glass for Maddox, Bishop of Worcester, but 
 where placed I know not. Dr. Wall informed Granger 
 that this design was strangely altered in the execution, oc- 
 casioned by the deficiency of the glass painter (Rowell) as a 
 draftsman. The following extract is from one of Ladv Lux- 
 borough's letters x\ 
 
 " I was agreeably surprised yesterday with a visit from Dr. Wall, [licr 
 physician] who dined with me, and returned to "Worcester. He talked ta 
 meof a poem I am impatient to see ; he had it in the manuscript, and lias it 
 also in print; but it was published for the public but on Saturday last : the 
 author is Mr. Cambridge, the gentleman who entertained the Prince and 
 Princess of Wales so elegantly last summer, at his seat on the Severn, as yon 
 must have read in the newspapers. The title of the poem is, I think, " I'hc 
 Scribleriad, an Heroic Poem." — The subject is the supposed travels and ad- 
 ventures cf Scriblerus, of which Dr. Wall named no particulars but one, 
 
 * " -I want to see the frontispieces, because Dr. Wall is so ingenious a 
 man that 1 am persuaded he gives nothing to the public but what is worthy 
 persons of taste." — Lady Luxborough's \Otk Letter. 
 
 + For an account of this lady, see Parke's Noble and Royal Author*.
 
 392 
 
 which was his being enamoured with a Princess, whom he meets with in a 
 Gothic castle ; and I imagine this poem is not calculated to please Mr. 
 Miller, and the rest of the Gothic gentlemen; for this Mr. Cambridge ex- 
 presses a dislike to the introducing or reviving tastes and fashions that are in- 
 ferior to the modern taste of our country. The frontispiece to this poem Dr. 
 Wall presented Mr. Cambridge with ; and as it is the Doctor's own drawing 
 and inventing, I did not think it civil to ask the description of it, so I wait 
 till I can get the book to judge of it, and should be glad to have your judg- 
 ment of it, when you have seen and read it. He says the poem is all fi- 
 nished ; but I do not know whether this which is published is more than the 
 first part.— We talked of the Leasowes; he wished to see it, and seemed to 
 regret that his business deprived him of the pleasure of going to see the 
 
 places he should relish. If he has as great a relish for money as Dr. M , 
 
 the misfortune he complains of will be none to him ; but I rather imagine 
 him not to be of that excessive craving temper." — Vide Letter 58, 1750. 
 
 It appears from the following extract (part of the P. S. of 
 Letter 63) that her Ladyship sometimes varied in her opi- 
 nion : 
 
 " I never saw any thing of Dr. Wall's drawing but his frontispiece to Her- 
 vey's Meditations, which 1 did not like, and now this to the Scribleriad : 
 but Capt. Robinson says that the Doctor's rooms are adorned with his own 
 works ; but he does not say a great deal in recommendation of them. Mais Ic 
 desseinii'est pas son metier ; ilfautdonc ltd laisser ses ouvrages en ce genre, 
 pour son propre amusement." 
 
 I have inserted these remarks of Lady Luxborough with- 
 out any fear that the merits of Dr. Wall, as a painter, will 
 at all suffer while he has such eulogists as Dr. Wharton, 
 Lord Lyttelton, &c. Dr. Wall was instrumental in bring- 
 ing into public notice the ingenious Miss Whately (see her 
 article in this book). In consequence of a letter written by 
 the Doctor to a friend having found its way into a news- 
 paper, occasioned another in explanation from his pen ; the 
 result was a subscription for printing that lady's poems, 
 and they accordingly made their appearance in 4to. in 1764. 
 — See New Monthly Mag. for Dec. 1814, p. 400. 
 
 The life of Dr. Wall passed in the greatest tranquillity, 
 either in the labours of his profession, or in the amusement 
 of his favourite arts and sciences. His mind was constantly 
 chearful and serene; he was not the votary of ambition, 
 but he was particularly averse to, and carefully avoided, all
 
 393 
 
 strife, emulation, and contest ; his spirits were equal anil 
 good ; and his success as a physician greater than his most 
 sanguine hopes. Such was his dislike to make those uneasy 
 about him, that, during those fits of the gout to which he 
 was a martyr, he insisted on being attended only by his man 
 servant, lest, in the agony of pain, he should cause those 
 he loved, and would otherwise be about him, to suffer with 
 him. He left behind him five children, namely, Col. 
 Wall,* deceased, late of the Lodge, Tewkesbury ; Mar- 
 tin Wall, M. D. now of Oxford, (for an account of whom, 
 and his works, see Calendar of Authors) ; and three daugh- 
 ters. 
 
 John Dalton, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1748, 
 Was the son of the Rev. John Dalton, Rector of Dean, 
 in Cumberland, where he was born in 1709 : he was a mem- 
 ber of Queen's College, Oxford, and took the degree of 
 M.A. May 9, 1734: he afterwards became tutor or go- 
 vernor to the only son of Algernon Seymour, Duke ot 
 Somerset, a very hopeful and promising young gentleman, 
 whose death, in the bloom of youth and expectation, 
 stands on record in a very affecting manner, in two letters 
 on that occasion, written by his afflicted mother, the Coun- 
 tess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, and 
 which, since her death, have been published in Mr. Dun- 
 combe's Collection of Letters. On the 4th July, 1750, he 
 took the degree of B. and D. D. but died July 22, 1763, 
 at the time he was Rector of St. Mary-at-Hill. Dr. Dal- 
 ton added considerably to Milton's admirable Masque at 
 Ludlow Castle, which he considerably extended, not only 
 by the insertion of some songs and different passages of the 
 Allegro, Sec. selected from other of Milton's works, but 
 also by the addition of several songs and improvements oi 
 
 * The second wife of this gentleman was niece to the author of the Spi- 
 ritual Quixote, her mother is immortalized by Shenstone under the name of 
 Delia: she rejected the Poet, and married the Rev. Dr. Taylor, Rector of 
 Ashton Clinton, Berks. 
 
 3 E
 
 394 
 
 his own, " so admirably adapted," says the author of the 
 Biog. Dram, "to the manner of the original author of the 
 Masque, as by no means to disgrace the more genuine parts, 
 but, on the contrary, greatly exalt our ideas of Dr. Dal- 
 ton's poetical abilities." — No mean praise this. It has 
 moreover had the advantage of being most excellently set 
 to music by Dr. Arne, and is sometimes acted under the 
 title of " Comus, a Masque," 8vo. 1738. During the run 
 of Comus, Dr. D. industriously sought out a grand-daughter 
 of Milton (Elizabeth Foster), oppressed both by age and 
 poverty, and procured her a benefit from it at Drury Lano 
 Theatre, April 5, 1750, by which she cleared above 1301. 
 Mr. Garrick spoke a prologue, which was written by Dr. 
 Johnson for the occasion. — See Critiques on this alteration 
 of Comus in the Biog. Dram. 
 
 George, Lord Lyttelton, 
 A Native of this county, descended from the author of 
 the Tenures, (see p. 33 of this work) # was born in 1709, 
 and was the eldest son of ten children of Sir Thomas Lyt- 
 telton, f of Ilagley, in the county of Worcester, Bart. He 
 came into the world at seven months, and is reported to have 
 been thrown aside by the nurse, as dead ; but upon closer 
 examination he appeared alive, and was with some difficulty 
 reared. His mother was Christian Temple, sister of Sir 
 Richard Temple, Bart, of Stowe, Bucks, afterwards Lord 
 Viscount Cobham. He was educated at Eton, where he 
 so much distinguished himself, that his exercises were 
 recommended as models to his school-fellows ; his poe- 
 
 * The Luteltons, or Lytteltons, held Frankley of William I. The reader 
 will see much curious information relative to this family in Dr. Nash's His- 
 tory of Worcestershire. 
 
 t Sir Thomas Lyttelton, when Member for the county, about the year 
 U 13, gave great offence to his constituents by voting for an excise. — See a 
 very manly letter which he addressed to them on this subject in Dr. Nash's 
 Corrections and Additions to his Worcestershire, p. 33, col. 2. Sir Thomas, 
 although he always complained of his head, died of a polypus in the great ar- 
 tery, 1751, aged u6.
 
 395 
 
 tical compositions are said to have been highly esteemed 
 for their correctness and elegance ; and at this place hL> 
 Soliloquy on a Beauty in the Country, and his verses on 
 Good Humour were also produced. From Eton he went to 
 Christ's Church, where he retained the same reputation for 
 superior powers, and displayed his abilities to the pub- 
 lic in a poem on Blenheim, written in 1 7 C 7 . He was a 
 very early writer, both in verse and prose. His " Progress 
 of Love," and his " Persian Letters," were both written 
 when he was young-, namely, in 173.3; but his earlier pro- 
 duction was his Epistle to Lord Hervey, written in 1730. 
 His Persian Letters were in imitation of Montesquieu's, 
 whom he had known in England. " The character of ;i 
 young man," says Dr. Johnson, "is very visible in them; 
 they have something of that indistinctness and head-strong 
 ardour for liberty, which a young man of genius always 
 catches when he enters the world, and always suffers to cool 
 as he passes forward." In the following year he addres 
 an elegant copy of verses to his cousin Pitt, on his losing 
 his commission in the army for his conduct in Parliament. 
 Mr. Lyttelton did not stay long at Oxford, for in 1728 he 
 began his travels, visited France and Italy, and resided 
 some time at Luneville, in Lorrain, as appears by his letters 
 to his father, in which he describes the places he visited, and 
 relates some of the principal incidents of his journey. In 
 one of his letters he expresses his dissatisfaction at the 
 thoughts of returning to Luneville. — " Luneville was my 
 school of breeding, and I was there more unavoidably sub- 
 ject to the influence of bad example, as the politesse prac- 
 ticed in that place is fuller of ceremony than elsewhere, and 
 in many instances peculiar to itself. This is the first and 
 strongest reason why I despair of being happy in Lorraine. 
 I am not only averse to, but have often expressed my con- 
 tempt for, the fopperies and ridiculous customs which are 
 so prevalent in this seat of luxury and dissipation." It is 
 impossible to peruse his letters to his father without b< 
 charmed with the manlv and virtuous sentiments with which
 
 3.96 
 
 he discovers his strong aversion to vice and folly, and par- 
 ticularly with the unaffected ardour of filial affection which 
 runs throughout the whole. At Paris he employed much 
 of his time in the cultivation of his poetical talents, and wrote 
 a very manly and correct epistle to Dr. Ayscough, a divine 
 of great learning and probity, who had been his tutor at Ox- 
 ford, afterwards became his relation, and was appointed 
 tutor to the young Prince, and promoted to the Deanry 
 of Bristol. During his absence, he wrote an elegant 
 poetical epistle to Pope, (prefixed to that poet's works) 
 whom he consulted in 1730 respecting his four pastorals 
 published in Dodsley's Collections. Pope made some alter- 
 ations in them, which may be seen in Bowles's edition of the 
 latter's works, vol. 4, p. 139. I find Pope, a few years af- 
 terwards, in a letter to Swift, speaking thus of Lyttelton 
 — " lie is one of those whom his own merit has forced 
 me to contract an intimacv with, after I had sworn never 
 to love a man more, since th sorrow it cost me to have 
 loved so many, now dead, banished, or unfortunate — I 
 mean Mr. Lyttelton, one of the worthiest of the rising 
 generation, &c." In another letter of Pope's, Mr. Lyttel- 
 ton is mentioned in a manner (as a mere chance acquaintance) 
 with which Dr. Wharton says he was displeased. — When 
 he returned from his tour, he was, May 4, 1729, made 
 Page of Honour to the Princess Royal ; and, in 1735, was 
 returned in Parliament for the borough of Oakhampton, 
 and continued its representative till he Mas made a peer, 
 and soon distinguished himself among the most eager op- 
 ponents of Sir Robert Walpole, though his father, who was 
 one of the Lords of the Admiralty, always voted with the 
 Court. For many years the name of Geo. Lyttelton was 
 seen in every account of every debate of the House of Com- 
 mons. He opposed the standing army, he opposed the ex- 
 cise, he supported the motion for petitioning the King to 
 remove Walpole ; so violent was he against the Minister, 
 that, when he was threatened with an impeachment, every 
 effort was made to exclude Lyttelton from the committee.
 
 397 
 
 The violence of his opposition to the administration of Wal- 
 pole had subjected him to the charge of ingratitude, of 
 which, after all, he may be guiltless ; it is grounded on a let- 
 ter which he wrote to his father while at Luneville, wherein 
 he makes it appear that Walpole's recommendation procured 
 him the friendship of Prince Craon ; his words are these : 
 " You will let Sir Robert Walpole know how much I am 
 obliged by his letter, and do justice to Prince Craon, who 
 has expressed his regard to it in the strongest manner, and 
 bv a kindness which I cannot acknowledge. " The Prince of 
 Wales being, in 1737, driven from St. James's Palace, 
 (from having incurred the displeasure of his father) kept a 
 separate Court, and opened his arms to the opponents of the 
 Ministry ; and it was about this period that I find it observed 
 by Lyttelton, on the demand of Spain to search our ships 
 loading to and from the British Plantations in America, " that 
 the grievance of England admitted but of one remedy, a verv 
 short and simple one, — that our ships shall not be searched 
 on any pretence. This alone can go to the root of our griev- 
 ance ; all less than this is trifling, hurtful, and fatal to com- 
 merce." — Cox's Walpole, p. 602. Mr, Lyttelton was made, 
 by the Prince, his secretary, with the addition of 2401. 
 the usual sum paid to such a servant of the Prince, yearly 
 to his salary, (vide a letter to his father) and as he was sup- 
 posed to have great influence in the direction of the Prim 
 conduct, his name in consecmence frequently occurs in Dod- 
 dington's Diarv. 
 
 " In 1740," says the Rev. Mr. Graves, in his Life of 
 Shenstone, " Mr. Lyttelton stood for the county of Wor- 
 cester, whose interest Mr. Shenstone warmly espoused, and 
 I believe did him more service than might have been expected 
 from a man of his limited fortune and retired way of life. 
 But Mr. Lyttelton's, and his father, Sir Thomas's, po- 
 litical connexions, made a majority of the country gentle- 
 men, both Whigs and Tories, (who were united against Sir 
 Robert Walpole) against him; and his Persian Letters, 
 which were written with a freedom to which we were then
 
 393 
 
 less accustomed, disgusted the clergy, and made them his 
 enemies, so that Mr. Lyttelton not succeeding was not a 
 matter of much surprise." — The reader will find a satnical 
 poem on this election in the Corrections to Dr. Nash's His- 
 tory of the County. 
 
 Mr. Lyttelton persuading the Prince, whose business it 
 was now to be popular, that he would advance his charac- 
 ter by patronage, Mallet, the poet, was made Under Se- 
 cretary, with an annual salary of 2001. ; and Thomson had 
 a pension of 1001. per annum. The disposition of these two 
 men must account for the difference of their salaries : Mallet 
 could render more service as a politician than the honest- 
 hearted Thomson. For Thomson, Lyttelton always re- 
 tained a kindness, and was at length able to place him in 
 ease, by procuring him the situation of Surveyor General of 
 the Leeward Islands. Thomson's works were collected, 
 after his death : the poem of Liberty was shortened by Sir 
 George Lyttelton, it therefore does not appear in its origi- 
 nal state, (see Wool's Life of Wharton, p. 253.) — It may 
 be added, that even after the death of Thomson, his patron- 
 age descended to his family ; his Coriolanus was brought on 
 the stage by Lyttelton for its benefit, and recommended by 
 a prologue written by the noble promoter of its perform- 
 ance ; and in this prologue is this often quoted but expressive 
 compliment, " no line which, dying, he would wish to blot." 
 Thomson left Lord Lyttelton and Mr. Miller his executors ; 
 by their united interests and exertions the play was brought 
 on the stage to the best advantage, from the profits of which, 
 and the sale of the MS. and other effects, all demands on 
 the poet were duly satisfied, and a handsome sum remitted 
 to his sisters. Moore also courted Lyttelton's favour by an 
 apologetical poem, called " The Trial of Selim," for which 
 he was paid with kind words, which, as is common, says 
 Dr. Johnson, raised high hopes, that at last were disap- 
 pointed. It is possible, however, that these hopes were of 
 another kind than it was in his Lordship's power to gratify. 
 Of this Moore was not always sensible. On one occasion,
 
 399 
 
 when Lord Lyttelton bestowed a small place on Bower, to 
 which the poet thought he had a higher claim, he behaved 
 in such a manner to his patron, as to occasion a coolness. 
 Horace Walpole undertook to reconcile them. Moore did 
 not know tliat Walpole had written the letter to the Whi°-s 
 Which, in his zeal for Lyttelton, he had undertaken to an- 
 swer : Horace, however, kept his own secret, and performed 
 the office of mediator. — Vide Walpole's Letters, vol. 1. It 
 is certain, however, that Lord Lyttelton substituted a me- 
 thod of serving Moore, which was not only successful for a 
 considerable time, but must have been agreeable to the feel- 
 ings of a delicate and independent mind. About the year 
 1751-2, periodical writing began to revive in its most pleas- 
 ing form, but had hitherto been executed by men of learning 
 also ; his Lordship projected a paper, in concert with Dods- 
 ley, which should unite the talents of certain men of rank, 
 and receive such a tone and consequence from that circum- 
 stance, as mere scholars can seldom hope to obtain. Such 
 was the origin of " The World," for every paper of which 
 Dodsley stipulated to pay Moore three guineas, whether 
 the papers were written by him or the volunteer contributors. 
 Lord Lyttelton, to render this bargain more productive to 
 the editor, collected and obtained the assistance of the Earls 
 of Chesterfield, Bath, and Cork ; and of Messrs. Walpole, 
 Cambridge, Jennings, and other men of rank and taste, who 
 gave their assistance, some with great regularity, and all so 
 effectually as to render " The World" far more popular 
 than any of its contemporaries. It is also said, that w hen 
 Moore married, his Lordship did him the honour of stand- 
 ing as father to the bride. To procure the patronage of 
 Lord Lyttelton, Mickle, whose literary talents were then in 
 the highest estimation, had presented him with a copy of his 
 " Providence" before he left Edinburgh, accompanied with 
 a letter, under the assumed signature of " William More,'' 
 in which he requested his comments upon that production ; 
 his Lordship returned a very polite answer, and it brought 
 *>n an epistolary correspondence between the nobleman and
 
 400 
 
 tlic poet, the latter of whom derived no other advantage 
 from it than the honour of being ranked among his acquaint- 
 ance, the instructions resulting from his criticisms on his 
 productions, and the incitement of his sanction in the pro- 
 secution of his poetical studies. — Life of Mickle. But in 
 the event of Mickle's visiting the West Indies, Lord Lyt- 
 telton offered to recommend him to his brother, who was 
 then holding some situation in that part of the world : soon 
 after this all correspondence between these parties ceased. 
 It appears from it, that Mickle lost no promotion for want 
 of hinting his inclinations to his Lordship : at the same time, 
 justice obliges us to add, that Mickle exhibits a laudable in- 
 stance of gratitude and liberality, which reflects great ho- 
 nour on his character, in speaking of his Lordship ever af- 
 ter in terms of the most profound respect and veneration. 
 The sanction of his signature, and the correction of his 
 works, by such a man as Lord Lyttelton, at a time when 
 the poet was little known in London, was probably of vast 
 service to Mickle ; neither is it impossible that he might 
 have tasted of the more substantial bounty of his Lordship, 
 although he is silent on this head. Lord Lyttelton was also 
 the friend of Fielding ; he softened the rigour of his mis- 
 fortunes while he lived, by making him a Middlesex Justice, 
 and exerted himself towards his memory when he was no 
 more, by taking pains to clear up imputations of a par- 
 ticular kind, which had been thrown out against him. 
 Fielding dedicated his Tom Jones to him, in which he in- 
 forms the reader he does it in defiance of his Lordship's re- 
 fusal, that to him the work owes its existence, it being by 
 his Lordship's desire that such a work was ever began, and 
 that he partly owed to his Lordship his existence during the 
 time he was composing his work, who perused the MS. 
 when completed, and who gave it his entire approbation ; 
 and that he has copied the display of benevolence of one 
 character from his Lordship, who introduced him to the 
 Duke of Bedford, &c. — See Preface. In the opinion of 
 his Lordship, Fielding had more wit and humour than
 
 401 
 
 Pope, Swift, and all the other wits of the time put toge- 
 ther. I may add also, that Carr inscribed his translation of 
 Lucian to his Lordship, and that he was one of those distin- 
 guished literary characters who encouraged Mrs. Montague 
 to publish her work on the genius and writings of Shakes- 
 peare. He also patronised Joseph Ameen, an Armenian 
 Prince, who was for some time in this country, reduced 
 to the necessity of blacking shoes, and carrying burthens 
 for a maintenance. Benjamin Wilson, the portrait painter, 
 painted a portrait of Ameen for Lord Lyttelton. Sec an 
 entertaining account of this extraordinary character in Miss 
 Warner's volume of Original Letters. — Also a letter from 
 Lord Lyttelton to Dr. Beattie, in Forbes's Life of that 
 Poet, in which he approves of Dr. Beattie's Essay on 
 Truth, and censures several late metaphysical writers ; also 
 another letter, in the same work, complimentary on the 
 composition of " The Minstrel." 
 
 Lord Lyttelton now stood in the first rank of Opposition ; 
 and Pope, who was incited, it is not known how, to in- 
 crease the clamour against the Ministry, commended him 
 among the other patriots; this drew upon Lyttelton the re- 
 proaches of Mr. Henry Fox, who, in the House, imputed 
 to him as a crime his intimacy with a lampooner so unjust 
 and licentious : Lyttleton supported his friend, and replied 
 " that he thought it an honour to be received into the fa- 
 miliarity of so great a poet." Pope has been applauded by 
 Dr. Warton, for his just and not overeharged encomium, in 
 the following lines : — 
 
 " Free as young Lyttelton, her cause pursue ; 
 Still true to virtue, and a= warm as true." 
 
 Thomson, Shenstone, and Hammond, were also his cor- 
 dial eulogists ; and so appears Mr. Capel Loffit, in his Praise 
 of Poetry : 
 
 "All honoured Lyttelton, thy worth, 
 While any line live true merit to revere, 
 Like a pure stream of li^ht 
 Ltsft here behind on thy soul's parting flight, 
 
 vJ I'
 
 402 
 
 Shall animate us here, 
 
 And bhine forever friendly to mankind." 
 
 Odes, p. 42. 
 
 While Ljttelton was thus conspicuous as the favourite 
 of the Prince of Wales, lie married, in 1741, Miss Lucy 
 Fortescue, sister of Matthew, Lord Fortescue, of Devon- 
 shire, by whom he had a son, Thomas, (afterwards second 
 Lord Lyttelton) and two daughters, and with whom he ap- 
 pears to have lived in the highest degree of connubial feli- 
 city : but human pleasures are short — she died in child-bed, 
 in 1747, and he solaced his grief, says Dr. Johnson, by 
 writing a long poem to her memory. She was buried in 
 Over Arley, in Staffordshire, but a very elegant monument 
 was erected to her memory in Hagley Church, with an in- 
 scription written by her devoted husband. 2 he was a 
 sincere Christian, and Mr. Lyttelton confessed she had 
 made him such. The criticism of Dr. Johnson, on his 
 Lordship's monody, is remarked by Dr. Anderson to be 
 sparing and invidious; to those who have perused it, with the 
 thrilling sympathy of conjugal love, it will also be found 
 insensate : Smollett's broad burlesque was hardly more un- 
 feeling. Such callous criticism, says Mr. Park, leaves a 
 torpor on the mind like that of an opiate on the frame, and 
 induces a temporary stupefaction. Mr. Chalmers remarks, 
 that the notice of this monody, which is given in Dr. John- 
 son's words, has been thought too scanty praise. In truth 
 it is no praise at all, but an assertion, and not a just one, 
 " that \ .ord Lyttelton solaced his grief by writing that poem." 
 The praise or blame was usually reserved by Johnson for the 
 conclusion of his Lives, but in this case the monody is not 
 mentioned at all. There is, however, on record, an opinion 
 of Gray, which the admirers of the poem will perhaps 
 scarcely think more sympathetic than Johnson's silence : in 
 a letter to Lord Orford, who had probably spoken with dis- 
 respect of the monody, Gray says, " I am not totally of 
 vour mind as to Mr. Lvttelton's elesw, tho' I love kids and 
 fawns as little as you do, if it were all like the fourth stanza.
 
 403 
 
 I should be excessively pleased; nature, and sorrow, aud 
 tenderness, are the true genius of such things, aud sonic- 
 thing of these I find in several parts of it, (not in the 
 orange tree) poetical ornaments are foreign to the purpose, 
 for they only shew a man is not sorry; and devotion worse, 
 for it teaches him that he ought not to be sorry, which is all 
 the pleasure of the thing." — Orford's Works, vol. 5, p. 381). 
 Dr. Johnson is undoubtedly ironical in saying that the author 
 " solaced his grief" by writing the monody : the poet's 
 grief must have abated, and his mind recovered its tone, be- 
 fore he could write at all ; and when this became Mr. Lyt- 
 telton's case, he felt it his duty to pay an affectionate tribute 
 to the memory of his lady, who certainly was one of the best 
 of women. His talents led him to do this in poetry ; and 
 he no more deserves the suspicion of hypocrisy than if he 
 had, as an artist, painted an apotheosis, or executed a mo- 
 nument. It is not a little singular, that Johnson should 
 ridicule Mr. Lyttelton's poem, when the Doctor was by 
 no means deficient in affection to his wife. Of Gray, or 
 Lord Orford, they knew nothing of Lyttelton's pleasures as 
 a married man, consequently they were incompetent to judge 
 on his manner of displaying his regard for the memory of his 
 wife. He did not, however, condemn himself to perpe- 
 tual solitude and sorrow, for soon afterwards he sought to 
 find the same happiness again, in a second marriage with 
 the daughter of Field Marshal Sir Robert Rich,* in 17 
 "She was an intimate and dear friend," says Mr. Gilbert 
 West in a letter to Dr. Doddridge, in June, 174<J, "of his 
 former wife, which is some kind of proof of her merit ; J 
 mean the goodness of her heart, for that is the chief merit 
 which Mr. Lyttelton esteemed j and I hope that in this she 
 
 ' * Lord Lyttelton was at Covent Garden one night ; Beard came on ; the 
 former said, " How comes Beard here } what made him leave Drury Lane .' 
 
 Mr. S , who sat next to him, replied, " Why, don*t you know, he ba» 
 
 been such a fool as to go and marry a Miss Kicu ! he has married Kit lis 
 
 daughter. My Lord coloured, S found out what he had taid, and ran 
 
 away. — Orford.
 
 404 
 
 will not disappoint his expectations; in all other points she 
 is well suited to him, being extremely well accomplished 
 in language, music, and painting, and very sensible and 
 well-bred." But the experiment was unsuccessful, and he 
 was for some years before his death separated from this lady, 
 who died Sept. 17, 1795. After a long political struggle, 
 Walpole gave way, and honours and profits were distributed 
 among the conquerors. Lyttelton was made a Lord of the 
 Treasury in 1744. In 1754 he resigned his seat at the 
 Treasury Board, on being appointed Cofferer of the House- 
 hold. In 17-55 he exchanged the place of Cofferer for the 
 important office of Chancellor of the Exchequer,* which he 
 was confessedly unable to fulfil, and which he did not re- 
 tain a year : for it is an anecdote, says a writer, with the 
 signature of R. C. in Nicholas Literary Anecdotes, no less 
 remarkable than true, that Lord Lyttelton could never com- 
 prehend the common rules of arithmetic. Mr. Walpole 
 (Jan. 24, 1750,) says Geo. Lyttelton opened the budget 
 well enough in general, but was strangely bewildered in the 
 
 * During tlie time Lord Lyttelton formed one of the late King's Cabinet, 
 his Majesty conceived great displeasure against him, for some offence which 
 his Lordship had unconsciously committed : this he evinced by a degree of 
 neglect which so highly irritated and wounded the feelings of Lord Lyttelton, 
 that he at length informed his colleague in office, that if the King persevered 
 in the contemptuous silence he had lately observed towards him, he was de- 
 termined to resign his place. Great alarm was caused among them by this 
 threat ; and to prevent, if possible, its execution, they ventured to represent 
 to their Royal Master the serious loss his Council would sustain by being de- 
 prived of a member of such distinguished abilities, at the same time humbly 
 entreating his Majesty to subdue his anger against Lord Lyttelton, so far as 
 to speak to his Lordship, when he should next appear at the levee. The King 
 was with great difficulty prevailed upon to promise that he would purchase, 
 at the expence of a few words, the continuance of this Nobleman's service. 
 The studying how to make these few words so ungraciously inapplicable as 
 possible, cost the King some trouble, till he recollected that Lord Lyttelton, 
 from possessing a most refined mind, and being fondly devoted to intellectual 
 pursuits, held all the rude sports of the field in utter abhorrence. — This re- 
 collection ended his difficulty ; and on Lord Lyttelton's next appearance, his 
 Majesty approached him with this abrupt address, — " You very fond of 
 hunting, my Lord, I know 5" then turned away, and hurried on to another 
 person.' — Lit. Gazette.
 
 405 
 
 figures ; he stumbled over the millions, but dwelt pom- 
 pously on the farthings. Bishop Warburton, on meeting 
 Lyttelton on the road going to pay his respects to Mr. 
 Legge, who was come into the country, on his resignation, 
 with Mr. Pitt, the Bishop said, " Party, like distress, 
 obliges men to make strange acquaintances. Here's Lord Lyt- 
 telton going to pay his respects to Mr. Legge ; Mr. Legge 
 knows only that 2 and 2 make 4, and his Lordship don't 
 know that, or that is just what his Lordship don't know." 
 Politics, however, did not so much engage him as to 
 withhold his thoughts from things of more importance. He 
 had in the pride of juvenile confidence, with the help 
 of corrupt conversation, entertained doubts of the truth 
 of Christianity,* but the time had now arrived when he 
 deemed it no longer fit to doubt, or believe by chance, and 
 applied himself seriously to the great question. His studies 
 being honest, ended in conviction. He found that religion 
 was true, and what he had learned he endeavoured to teach ; 
 and in 1747 issued from the press his "Observations on 
 the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul," a treatise to 
 which, as Dr. Johnson remarks, " infidelity has never been 
 able to fabricate a specious answer." It was at Wickham 
 that Lyttelton received that conviction which produced his 
 work. There is at this place a walk made by Lyttel- 
 ton's friend Pitt, (afterwards the great Chatham) and here, 
 with West, the poet, his cousin, who was a zealous ad- 
 vocate for Christianity, they used to find books and quiet, 
 a decent table and literary conversation, which they glad- 
 ly resorted to when weary of faction and debates. — See 
 Upton's Letter relative to a new edition of Spenser's Pai- 
 ne Queene, 1751, 4to. His "Observations" his father 
 had the happiness of seeing, and expressed his pleasure 
 in a letter which deserves to be inserted, and must have 
 given to such a son a pleasure more easily conceived than 
 
 * It is said that Lord Cobliam, the uncle of Mr. West, too often indul-< ( J, 
 and even instilled notions of infidelity in the minds of his nephew ami I.\ del- 
 ton.
 
 406 
 
 described : — " I have read your religious treatise with in- 
 finite pleasure and satisfaction. The style is fine and clear ; 
 the arguments close, cogent, and irresistible : may the King 
 of Kings, whose glorious cause you have so well defended, 
 reward your pious labours, and grant that I may be found 
 worthy, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to be an eye 
 witness of that happiness which I do not doubt he will boun- 
 tifully bestow upon you. In the mean time I shall never 
 cease glorifying God, for having endowed you with such 
 useful talents, and given me so good a son. Your affection- 
 ate father, Thomas Lyttelton." 
 
 When the University of Oxford conferred the degree of 
 LL.D. on Mr. West, for his excellent work on the Re- 
 surrection, the same offer is said to have been made to Mr. 
 Lyttelton for his religious work, but he declined it in a 
 handsome manner, by saying that he chose not to be under 
 particular attachments, that if he should happen to write 
 any thing of the like kind for the future, it might not appear 
 to proceed from any other motive whatsoever but a pure de- 
 sire of doing good. A few years afterwards, namely, in 
 1751, by the death of his father, he inherited a Baronet's 
 title, with a large estate, which, though perhaps he did not 
 augment, he was careful to adorn, by a house of great ele- 
 gance and expence, and by great attention to the decorations 
 of his park.* An elegant and affectionate epitaph, to the me- 
 mory of his worthy father, inscribed by his Lordship, is 
 placed in Hagley Church, and may be seen in Nash's Wor- 
 cestershire/!- It has been said that Shenstone and Lyttelton, 
 being neighbours and friends, were rivals in landscape gar- 
 dening ; and it is said that i? hensi:one's improvement at the 
 
 * A lady told me, that she saw Hagley House in 1781, and was surprised, 
 after having passed through many tine rooms, to find bertelf in a very ordi- 
 nary bed chamber, and more so to hear tne maid tell her, with tears in her 
 eyes, that in this room, his constant one, his Lordship died. — T. F. 
 
 + When he. rebuilt the mansion, he was allowed by his Majesty to remove 
 the barrels, which the Lyttelton family wen ordered to bear in memory of 
 their share in the Popish plot, I am not acquainted with the date of the new 
 building ; the architect was Miller.
 
 407 
 
 Leasowes excited, at first, the contempt, and afterwards the 
 envy, of the inhabitants of Hagley, who, Dr. Johnson says, 
 took care to defeat the curiosity which they could not sup- 
 press, by conducting their visitants perversely to inconvenient 
 points of view, and introducing them at the wrong end of a 
 walk to detect a deception, injuries of which Shenstonc would 
 heavily complain : I shall therefore give some defence of 
 these circumstances, taken from the Rev. Mr. Graves's " Re- 
 collection of some Particulars in the Life of the late William 
 Shenstone, Esq. in a Series of Letters, m,dcc,lxxxvih." 
 — " On a fine evening, about 1736, Mr. Lyttelton, with Mr. 
 Thos. Pitt, rode over, for the first time, and visited Mr. Shen- 
 stone, at the Leasowes. Mr. Lyttelton, though then in Par- 
 liament, and a rising young man, conversed with great free- 
 dom and familiarity, and gave Shenstone a general invitation 
 to dine at Hagley, whenever he found it agreeable. As the 
 conversation turned chiefly on literary subjects, I remember 
 a trivial assertion of Mr. Lyttelton's, which I never could 
 account for, but by supposing it a mistake. Pope's Shakes- 
 peare lying on the table, Mr. Pitt took it up, and observed 
 that, that was the worst of all Pope's works : ' yes,' replied 
 Mr. Lyttleton, < I'll grant you it is the worst of Pope's 
 works, but the best edition of Shakespeare that ever was 
 published.' ' Theobald's is better,' said Mr. Pitt. * Theo- 
 bald's,' cried Mr. Lyttelton, * he is continually making un- 
 necessary alterations : how do you think he would alter that 
 passage in Hamlet's soliloquy? — ' When every man might 
 his quietus make with a bare bodkin,' — why he says it ought 
 to be dodkin, which he has found out to be an old word 
 for dasher, whereas the beauty of the thought depends on 
 the insignificance of the weapon.' Now, as Theobald 
 does not mention this in his notes, he might probably have 
 only hazarded such a conjecture in conversation ; or it might 
 be one of those five hundred emendations which he boasts, 
 in Mist's Journal, to give Pope and his assistants, that had 
 escaped them all." 
 
 As Mr. Shenstone had at this time done nothing at the
 
 408 
 
 Leasowes worth notice, Mr. Lyttelton's was probably a visit 
 of mere curiosity ; he, however, took his leave, repeating 
 his invitation to Hagley, of which, however, through mere 
 diffidence, Shenstone for the present but rarely availed him- 
 self ; but whenever he some years after visited at Hagley, up- 
 on a freer footing, he was received with the utmost politeness 
 and friendship, and his host and hostess discovered, under his 
 plain and bashful manner, his real merit. Mr. Shenstone was 
 not so satisfied with the conduct of Lord Lyttelton's brother, 
 the Bishop of Carlisle, whom he fancied treated him with ra- 
 ther a supercilious manner. As to any rivalship which has 
 been supposed afterwards to have subsisted between the Lyt- 
 telton family and Mr. Shenstone, in regard to their several plea- 
 sure grounds, and which has been so particularly aggravated 
 in Dr. Johnson's account, nothing can be conceived more 
 ridiculous. The truth of the case is, that the Lyttelton fa- 
 mily went so frequently with their company to the Leasowes, 
 that they were unwilling to break in upon Mr. Shenstone's 
 retirement on every occasion, and therefore often went to the 
 principal points of view without waiting for any one to con- 
 duct them regularly through the whole walk. It might be 
 added, that Lord Lyttelton was frequently gouty, and was 
 for that reason set down at the most convenient part of the 
 walks. Another circumstance of jealousy has been men- 
 tioned with as little foundation, namely, Mr. Spence paying 
 a visit to Hagley without once being taken to the Leasowes, 
 where he had at first been invited. But I am persuaded, 
 continues Mr. Graves, that Shenstone never really suspected 
 any ill-natured intentions in his worthy and much-valued 
 neighbour, although he would sometimes peevishly com- 
 plain of such conduct. It has been also reported, that Lord 
 Lyttelton once spoke disrespectfully of the lady eulogised 
 by Shenstone, by saying, " 1 have seen his Delia — and such 
 a Delia too !" and that this was carried by some good-na- 
 tured friend to Shenstone, and thus begot a coolness : but 
 with regard to jealousy or envy, one cannot be easily per- 
 suaded that a mind so pure and benevolent as that of Lyt-
 
 403 
 
 telton's, was ever debased by such unworthy passions * ; 
 The year after, his curiosity led him into Wales, of which 
 he has given an accouut to Archibald Bower, a man of whom 
 lie had conceived an opinion more favourable than he seems 
 to have deserved, and whom, having once espoused his in- 
 terest and fame, was never persuaded to disown. — See 
 his letter to Dr. Doddridge. This inclination must indeed 
 have proceeded from a strong conviction of Bower's inno- 
 cence, however acquired, that such a man as Lord Lyttleton 
 adhered to him to the very last. About 1755 he prevented 
 Garrick from bringing Bower on the stage in the character 
 of a mock convert, to be shewn in various attitudes, in which 
 the profligacy of his conduct was to be exposed : and a very 
 few years before his own death, he declared to the celebrated 
 Dr. Lardner his opinion of Bower in these words — " I have 
 no more doubt of his having continued a iirm Protestant to 
 the last hour of his life, than I have of my not being a Pa- 
 pist myself."t About the time he made his tour into \\ ales 
 
 * It seems to have been no fault of the friends of Shenstone that he did not 
 quarrel with his Lordship. Lady Luxborou-h, in one of her letters to the 
 former, says, " If your expostulations with Lord Lyttelton were brusques, 
 his visit was as much so, and upon such occasions 1 never love to be behind- 
 hand with great people." This seems a contradiction to Mr. Grave= s 
 statement. 
 
 + Archibald Bower, born in Scotland 1686, educated at the Scolch Col- 
 lege at Douay, and admitted in 1706 into the Society of Jesuits at Rome, 
 was at one time Counsellor of the Inquisition, which he says he left in dis- 
 gust, but from which he was strongly suspected of being discharged for in- 
 continence : he abjured the Catholic faith, and turned Protestant, but be- 
 longed to no particular order of this profession. At length he conformed to 
 the Church of England. He was introduced by Lord A ylmer to Lord Lyt- 
 telton, who considered hiia as a kind of religious confessor, and remained 
 ever after his active friend. It is said he paid a sum of money to be re-ad- 
 mitted into the Order of Jesuits about the year 1745, but again left them on 
 their returning a part of the money. In 1747 he announced to the public 
 " A History of the Popes," the first volume of which was presented to the 
 Ring in the following year. In recompence of his labour Mr. (afterwards Loru) 
 Lyttelton, obtained for hint the place of Keeper of Queen Caroline's Library, 
 and his credit being somewhat revived, he married a niece of Bishop Nichol- 
 son, with a fortune of 40001. In 1754 Mr. Lyttelton appointed him Clerk of 
 tl.e Buck Warrants, a place which, though of no great emolument, evinced 
 
 3 G
 
 410 
 
 he published his " Dialogues of the Dead," which were very 
 eagerly read, though the production rather, as it seems, of lei- 
 sure than of study — rather effusions than compositions. When, 
 in the latter part of the last reign, the inauspicious commence- 
 ment of the war made the dissolution of the Ministry unavoid- 
 able, Sir George Lyttelton losing his employment with the rest, 
 was recompensed in November, 1757, with a peerage, being 
 created Baron Lyttelton, of Frankley, in this county, and rest- 
 ed from political turbulence in the House of Lords. He had 
 now once more an opportunity of shewing his regard for 
 men of talents, and he honoured Jos. Warton, the poet, 
 with a Chaplain's scarf, and to him was submitted his Lord- 
 ship's proposed alteration of Thomson ; and under his 
 critical eye was revised a part of the Life of Henry II. the 
 last literary production of his Lordahip; it was produced in 
 1764, elaborated by the researches and deliberations of 
 twenty years, and published with the greatest anxiety. Why 
 this anxiety should be attributed by Dr. Johnson to vanity, 
 when good motives were avowed by the author, and known 
 to his friends, such as his desire to correct mistakes, his fear 
 of having been too harsh to Becket, &c. says a writer in Ni- 
 chol's Anecdotes, we do not see, but sincerely wish that in 
 this and some other passages Dr. Johnson (for it is from his 
 biographical preface that great part of this article is taken) 
 had observed his own humane maxims, in the Life of Addi- 
 son, " of not giving a pang to a daughter, a brother, or a 
 friend." The story of this publication is remarkable ; the 
 
 his continued attachment. But an event soon happened which was ruinous 
 to the reputation of Bower, and which sunk him into total disgrace, and this 
 was his divulging his correspondence with the Jesuits : the charges alledged 
 against him were repelled with spirit, but his veracity, though attested by 
 aa affidavit, was questioned, and he had scarcely any friend left besides 
 Lord Lyttelton. The reputation of Bower's history declined with his own ; 
 and the composition was eventually hurried, and the latter volumes of small 
 account, Bower died in 1766, at the age of 80, and left a will, dated in 
 1749, which contained no written declaration of his religious principles, 
 agreeable to tfit |;iac!ice of those times, and which might have been reason- 
 ably expected. His widow, however, some time after his death, attested 
 his having died in the Protestant faith.— See Europ. Mag. July, 1794.
 
 411 
 
 whole work was printed twice over, a great part of it three 
 times, and many sheets four or five times: the copy was 
 all transcribed by his Lordship's own hand, and that not a 
 very legible one, as he acknowledges in a letter to his 
 printer : 
 
 " Pray take care of the manuscript, as I have no other copy, and look 
 yourself to the printing, after I have made my corrections in the first 
 and second revisals, which I would have sent me as fast as the press can 
 afford them. I fear you will have some difficulty in reading my copy, as it 
 is not very fair, but being used to my hand, you will make it out. lam 
 most afraid of faults in the last impressions, because they can't be corrected 
 without cancelling sheets. Be particularly careful of the references in the 
 margin, I wish you health and hapiness till I see you again, and am with 
 sincere regard and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant." — Let- 
 ter to Mr. Bowyer, his printer. 
 
 The booksellers paid for the first impression; but the 
 charges and repeated operations of the press were at the ex- 
 pence of the author, whose ambitious accuracy cost him at 
 least a thousand pounds. It was originally published by 
 Mr. Saitdby, who died at Teddington, in Middlesex, Nov. 
 2, 1 799, in his 82d year, universally regretted ; he was for 
 many years an eminent bookseller in Fleet-street, but ex- 
 changed that profession, about 1765, for the far more lu- 
 crative one of a banker, in the old-established firm of Snow 
 and Denne, in the Strand : he was the son of Dr. Sandby, 
 Prebendary of Worcester, and brother to Dr. George Sand- 
 by, late Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge : he mar- 
 ried to his third wife, 1787, Miss Fellows, of Wallon- 
 upon-Thames. Lord Lyttelton began to print his History 
 of Henry II. in 1755 ; three volumes of which appeared in 
 1764, it being nearly ten years in the press ; and by the fol- 
 lowing fact it appears that this excellent Peer, whose finances 
 were not in the most flourishing situation, could bear with great 
 fortitude what by many would have been deemed an insult. 
 The booksellers, at a stated period, had paid the stationer 
 for as much paper as they had agreed to purchase : his Lord- 
 ship then became the paymaster, in which state the work 
 went on for some time, till the stationer, having been dis-
 
 412 
 
 appointed of an expected sum, refused to furnish any more 
 paper; with great reluctance Mr. Bdwyer was prevailed on 
 to carry this report to his Lordship, and began the tale with 
 much hesitation — "Oh! I understand you," says his Lord- 
 ship, very calmly, " the man is afraid to trust me ; I ac- 
 knowledge I am poor, and two-thirds of the House of Peers 
 are in the same situation ; but let me request you to be my 
 security." It is needless to add that Mr. Bowyer obliged 
 his Lordship, and had no reason to repent of his civility. — 
 Mr. Nichols adds, " I have frequently attended the good 
 Peer with proof sheets, and was charmed with the conde- 
 scending maimer in which I was uniformly received by him. 
 A second edition of the Life of Henry II. was printed in 
 1767 ; a third in 176S ;* and the last in 1771-2."f Andrew 
 Iieid, a man not without considerable abilities, and not un- 
 acquainted with letters or with life, undertook to persuade 
 the noble author, as he had persuaded himself, that he was 
 master of the secret of punctuation : and, as fear begets 
 credulity, he was employed, at an unknown price, to 
 point the pages of Henry II. as if, says Johnson once in 
 conversation, " another man could point his sense better than 
 himself." The book, however, was at last pointed, and print- 
 ed, and sent into the world. His Lordship took money for his 
 copy, of which, when he had paid the pointer, he probably 
 gave the rest away, for he was very liberal to the indigent. 
 When time brought this history to a third edition, either 
 Peid was dead or discarded, and the superintendance of 
 typography and punctuation was committed to a man ori- 
 
 * Mr. Parke only mentions the editions of 1767, and 1771-2. 
 
 -r " Lord Lyttelton's History is greatly read and highly esteemed by <he 
 lawyers. It contains a great deal of law, antiquity, and the ancient consti- 
 tution of the kingdom, upon which much of our present law is founded. The 
 composition is good, and the facts related with a great deal of good sense ; 
 but yet, three large volumes in quarto, with a fourth, which is to be added, 
 some time hence, will be likely to tire the reader. I think, too, that the au- 
 thor says too much in praise of his hero, Henry II. — Speaking of his amour 
 with Fair Rosamond, he calls it ' the amiable extravagance of a good 
 heart.'"— Extract of a letter from the Rev. Charles Godwyn, who died in 
 1770.
 
 413 
 
 ginally a comb-maker, but then known by the style of Dr. 
 Saunders, a Scotch LL.D. Something uncommon was 
 probably expected, and something uncommon Mas at last 
 done, for to the edition of Dr. Saunders* is appended what 
 the world had hardly seen before, a list of errors of nineteen 
 pages. The work, however, is ranked among the most va- 
 luable historical performances in the English language ; it is 
 executed with great fidelity, and with a strict regard to the 
 authority of original writers ; the style is perspicuous and 
 unaffected, generally correct, and often elegant and mas- 
 terly ; the sentiments and remarks are judicious and perti- 
 nent ; and, altogether, it forms a work strictly and properly 
 a constitutional history. His verses to the Countess of 
 Egremont, and his letter to Lord Hard wicke in 176l, were 
 poetical productions. His speeches on the Scotch and mu- 
 tiny bills, in 1747, on the naturalization of the Jews, in 
 1753, and on the privileges of Parliament, in 1763, are 
 said to be highly creditable to his head and his heart. But 
 to politics and literature there must be an end. Lord Lyt- 
 telton had never the appearance of a strong or a healthy 
 man ; he had a slender and uncompacted frame,t like most 
 of his family; he lived, however, above 60 years, the latter 
 of which period in retirement, and then was seized with his 
 last illness. Of his death, this very affecting and instructive 
 account was given by his physician, Dr. Johnstone, of Kid- 
 derminster, a part only of which Dr. Samuel Johnson has, 
 according to Miss Warner, in her Notes to Original Let- 
 
 * A life of Dr. S. is introduced in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes. 
 
 + In a political caricature print, levelled against Sir Robert Walpole, 
 Lord Lyttelton is thus described : — 
 
 " But who be dat so lank, so lean, so bony ! ! 
 Oh! dat be de great orator, Lytteltony." 
 The print is called the motion, and represents a chariot drawn by six spirited 
 horses, on and about .vhich are the chiefs of the Opposition, at that time Lords 
 Chesterfield, Carteret, Duke of Argyle, Mr. Sandys, &c. ; it has a hu- 
 mourous song under it. The caricature print was printed for T. Cooper, at 
 the Globe, in Paternoster-row, 1741, published according to Act of Par- 
 liament, price 3d.
 
 414 
 
 ters, given in his Life of Lord Lyttelfcon ; and that letter, 
 she adds, has been given incorrectly : in these mistakes he 
 has been followed by succeeding biographers. Presuming 
 Miss W. to be correct in her account, as she professes to 
 have seen the original, I shall copy from her statement. 
 The letter from the physician was addressed to Mrs. Mon- 
 tague, and was prefaced in this manner : — 
 
 "Madam, " May 26, 1773. 
 
 " I had the particular direction from Lord Lyttelton, 
 on his death-bed, to write to you the event of his illness, 
 the course of which his Lordship did not choose to com- 
 municate to his other friends. I know my letter will not 
 bring you the earliest account of his death. It is the grief 
 and inexpressible concern I feel for the loss of such a friend, 
 and such a man, (who seemed to me to have an angelic pre- 
 eminence above other mortals) that prevented my giving the 
 earliest intelligence, and which now almost incapacitates me 
 from writing, yet I will execute the intention of my dear 
 departed friend as well as I am able : — 
 
 " On Sunday morning (not evening) the symptoms of his 
 disorder, which for a week past had alarmed us, put on a 
 fatal appearance, and his Lordship believed himself to be a 
 dying man. He expected death with the utmost fortitude 
 and resignation ; and from this time suffered from restless- 
 ness rather than pain, was sensible nearly to his last mo- 
 ments, and though his nerves were apparently fluttered, his 
 mental faculties never appeared stronger, as was evident 
 from many expressions which dropped from him, when he 
 was awake. His Lordship's biiious and hepatic complaint 
 seemed alone not equal to this mournful and fatal event ; his 
 long want of sleep, whether the consequence of irritation in 
 his bowels, or, which is more probable, of causes of a 
 different nature, accounts very sufficiently for his sudden 
 loss of strength, for sleep is indeed of such absolute neces- 
 sity, that a long want of it must terminate in either death or 
 madness. His death-bed was one of the most interesting
 
 415 
 
 scenes I ever was a witness of. He was, as I have ob- 
 served, perfectly sensible of his approaching dissolution, 
 though he wished it not to be lingering. He said, it is a 
 folly — a joke, to keep me in misery, by attempting to pro- 
 long life; and yet he was easily persuaded, for the satis- 
 faction of others, to do, or take, any thing thought proper 
 for him. On Saturday he had been remarkably better, and 
 we were not without some hopes of his recovery* On Sun- 
 day, about eleven o'clock, he sent for me, and said he felt a 
 great hurry of spirits, and wished for a little conversation to 
 divert it. Besides many obliging things he said to me in the 
 course of his illness, he now expressed himself thus : — " I 
 have experienced so much kindness from you, and all my 
 friends and attendants, on this occasion, that I think it worth 
 having such an illness to enjoy such kindness. If I wish to 
 live, it is to return it, and be more with you." — In this con- 
 versation he went on to open the fountain in that heart from 
 whence goodness had so long flowed, as from a copious 
 spring :— " Doctor," said he, " you shall be my confessor : 
 when I first set out in the world, I had friends who endea- 
 voured with all their might to shake my belief in the Christian 
 religion ; I saw difficulties which staggered me, but I kept 
 my mind open to conviction. The evidences and doctrines 
 of Christianity, studied with attention, made me a most 
 firm and persuaded believer of the Christian religion. I have 
 made it the rule of my life, and the ground of my future 
 hopes. I have erred, and sinned, but have repented ; have 
 never indulged any vicious habit. In politics, and public 
 life, I made public good the rule of my conduct. I never 
 ga\e councils which I did not at that time think the best. I 
 have seen that I was sometimes in the wrong ; but I did not 
 
 * It is not a little singular, that this sentence, which I have put in Italics, 
 is not at all touched on in Miss Warner's account. Bui from many oilier vari- 
 ations in this letter, I am almost tempted to believe that both letters wore co- 
 pies from different MSS. ; one might be copied from the rough draught, 
 and the other from the letter sent to Mrs. Montague.— See, however, inMances 
 of Johnson's negligence, as to dates, &c. in Wraxall's Mem. v. 1, p. 152.
 
 410 
 
 err designedly. In public affairs, great good can only be 
 done by risking some evils, and morality is in that sphere 
 necessarily in a larger ground than in more private affairs. 
 I have endeavoured, in private life, to do all the good in my 
 power; and never for a moment could indulge malice or 
 unjust designs against any person whatsoever." At another 
 time he said — " I must leave my soul in the same state it 
 was before this illness, I find this a very inconvenient time 
 for solicitude about any thing." In the evening, when the 
 symptoms of death came on, he said, " I shall die, but it 
 will not be your fault — write to Mrs. Montague — comfort 
 Mrs. Lyttelton ;" and a hundred times grasped the hand 
 that now writes you this information. When Lord and La- 
 dy Valentia came (the former his son-in-law) he gave them 
 this solemn benediction, saying — " Be good, be virtuous ; 
 my Lord, you must come to this."* Thus he continued 
 giving his benedictions, dying as he was, to all around him. 
 On Monday morning a lucid interval gave some small hopes, 
 but these vanished in the evening, and he continued dying, 
 but with very little uneasiness, till Tuesday morning, Aug. 
 22, when, between seven and eight o'clock, he expired, al- 
 most without a groan, and was succeeded in his title and es- 
 tate by his son Thomas (see his article). Thus died this 
 amiable and excellent man : his death was one of the tri- 
 umphs of that religion of which he had long been an able ad- 
 vocate, and of which his life was a distinguished and unof- 
 fected ornament. I am, Madam, &c. &c." 
 
 This statement of Dr. Johnstone I had the honour of 
 hearing corroborated by the daughter-in-law of the subject 
 of this article, the present Lady Lyttelton, for whom his 
 
 * Of his danghter-in-law, the present Lady Lyttelton, he took the most 
 affectionate leave ; he had ever expressed the highest respect and tendercst 
 affection for her ; she had become the soiace of his latter days, and incessant- 
 ly watched by his pillow during his last illness : he recommended her, in the 
 strongest terms, never to forget her duty towards God, for at that moment 
 he would not exchange the pleasing consolation of a good conscience for the 
 possession of the universe.
 
 417 
 
 Lordship ever expressed the highest respect and tendereat 
 affection, and who, becoming the solace of his latter days, 
 incessantly watched by his pillow during his last illness. — 
 Vide Chambers's History of Malvern, p. 266. Lord Lyt- 
 telton was buried at Hagley, and the following inscription 
 is cut on the side of the monument erected to the memory 
 of his first wife : — 
 
 This unadorned stone was placed here 
 
 By the particular desire and express directions 
 
 Of the late Right Honourable George Lord Lyttelton, 
 
 Who died Aug. 22, 1773, aged 64. 
 
 The poetry of Lord Lyttelton, first published in the 
 quarto volume of his " Miscellanies," was selected by a 
 friend of Mr. James Dodsley, from a folio volume of that 
 nobleman's MSS. which contained a considerable number 
 more than had appeared in print. His Lordship's prose 
 writings consist of " Letters from a Persian in England to 
 his Friend at Ispahan," 1735. 8vo.; " Observations on the 
 Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul," 1747;* " dia- 
 logues of the Dead," 1760, 8vo. of which a 4th edition, 
 
 * " Nor am I less pleased with your approbation of the little work 
 
 that I send you in print. When I ventured to publish it, I was well aware 
 that I should draw on myself the censure and ridicule of the fashionable 
 world, and of many of those who are esteemed the wisest among us; but I 
 thank God that did not dishearten me ; on the contrary, I thought it more 
 my duty, convinced as I am of the truth of the Christian religion, to resist 
 the torrent that runs so strongly against it, and not to be ashamed of pro- 
 fessing it openly, or giving my reasons for that profession, when it is almost 
 taken for granted, that whoever thinks with any freedom has given it up. I 
 have the satisfaction to hear that my having done this, has made some people 
 consider it with more attention and candour than they would have otherwise 
 done, which alone is more than enough to over-pay me for any contempt 
 that I may suiTer from others on this account. I hope, as in this, so in all 
 other instances, that I shall always preserve as much disregard to unjust 
 censure or scorn, as desire of meriting a well-founded esteem ; and prefer 
 the good opinion of sueh men as you to thousands whom fashion or prejudice 
 may bias against me."— Vide part of a letter from Lord LyUelton to the Lord 
 President of Scotland, Duncan Forbes, 1717, in " Cullodon Paper., 
 p. 304. 
 
 3n
 
 418 
 
 with two additional Dialogues, appeared in 1/65.* '• His- 
 tory of Henry Ii." 3 vols. 4to. (see page 412); "Ob- 
 servations on the Life of Cicero, and on the Roman Histo- 
 ry ;" " Observations on the present State of Affairs at Home 
 and Abroad;" "Letters to Sir Thomas Lyttelton ;"+ "Two 
 Letters to Mr. Bower, giving an account of a Journey into 
 "Wales ;" " Two Letters to Mr. Bos well," in the London 
 Chronicle, May 1 1, 1769; " Four Speeches in Parliament," 
 in 1747, 1751, 1753, and 1763; and some of the papers, it 
 has been said, in " Common Sense ;" Lord Orford has not 
 discovered Lord Lyttelton's share in this work ; but an author, 
 whose name I forget, asserts " he certainly wrote the criticisms 
 on Leonidas which occur in p. 72 of the 1st vol. : in vol. 2, 
 p. 31, is a paper from the pen of Lord Chesterfield, dated 
 March 4, 1738, in defence of Mr. Lyttelton against the at- 
 tacks of the writer in the Daily Gazetteer. From his con- 
 nection with the party in opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, 
 it seems not unreasonable to conjecture that he wrote in the 
 Craftsman, but for this there is no positive authority." 
 
 His Lordship published the History of Henry II. him- 
 self; and the rest of his works, collected by his nephew, 
 Mr. Edward Ayscough, were printed in one large vol. 4to. 
 1774. In the summer of 1774 there were also published 
 of his Lordship's writings, though not re-printed in the col- 
 lection of his works, " An Epistle to William Pitt, (after- 
 wards Earl of Chatham) occasioned by an epistle to the 
 latter from the Hon. Thos. Hervey;" " Prologue to Thom- 
 son's Coriolanus ;" " Hymn to Eliza, (his second wife) on 
 their marriage," printed in the St. James's Mag. for March, 
 1763. He also wrote, or corrected, the inscriptions under 
 the busts of Locke, Pope, and Sir John Barnard, in the 
 
 * An additional Dialogue of the Dead was published by Dr. Brown ; this 
 pamphlet is said to iiave been occasioned by an unintentional affront given by 
 Lord L to Dr. B. ; that nobleman, in a numerous and mixed company, 
 neglected to take notice of this author in ?o respectful a manner as he thought 
 he deserved ; aiu! in n i ei tm< a imposed the Dialogue. 
 
 + In one of these letters is a character of Dr. Morell.
 
 419 
 
 temple of British Worthies in the gardens at Stowe ; an epi- 
 taph on Capt. Henry Grenville ; another on Capt. Cornwall, 
 in Westminster Abbey ; and poems to General Conway and 
 the Countess of Ailesbury after their marriage ; MSS. His 
 Lordship's poetical productions have often been repeated : 
 some additional lines appeared in the New Foundling Hos- 
 pital for Wit, vol. 1, and were said to be printed from the 
 original of George, Lord Lyttelton. — They bear much re- 
 semblance, however, says Mr. Parke, who has introduced 
 them in his Royal and Noble Authors, to a fragment in the 
 poems of his son ; they were " written for a Mask of Child- 
 ren at Hagley, to be addressed by a little girl, in the charac- 
 ter of Queen Mab ;" to Richard, Earl Temple. Mr. 
 Parke, vide his Addenda to his interesting work, quoted 
 above, says, "The Court Secret, printed in 1741, and 
 the Affecting Case of the Queen of Hungary, in 1742, 
 v, ere universally attributed to Lord Lyttelton, though not 
 acknowledged by him." Mr. Parke was informed of this 
 by the late Isaac Reed. Letters to the Whigs, against Lord 
 Lyttelton, was a tract not generally known to be written by 
 Lord Orford, (see Addenda to Parke's Noble and Royal 
 Authors.) In a letter from Guthrie to the Earl of Buchan, 
 in the European Blag, for Sept. 1 802, the former says, 
 
 Lord Lyttelton, in his , has undoubtedly been too hasty 
 
 in pronouncing the Regiam Majestatem to be a transcript 
 of Glanville. Lord Lyttelton's lines to Mr. Pope (thought 
 to be the best of his poetry, by Lord Orford,) " are thought, 
 by Dr. Warton, to be inferior to those of Fenton " " But in 
 my opinion those lines of Lord Lyttelton are much superior 
 to all the recommendatory verses; as elegant and correct in 
 themselves, as the sentiments they convey appear sincere 
 and worthy an ingenious, cultivated, and liberal mind. 
 There is a small inaccuracy in one or two expressions ; and 
 perhaps it would have been better if Virgil's speech had 
 formed the conclusion." — Bowles's Pope, vol. 1, p. 36. 
 Among the many eulogia on the works of Lord Lyttelton, 
 Dr. Aiken has recommended them in his Letters on English
 
 420 
 
 Poetry, p. 258, to the perusal of the fair sex, from having a 
 peculiar claim to their notice — as a lover and a husband, 
 who felt the tender passion with equal ardour. 
 
 The character of Lord Lyttelton was held in universal 
 estimation during his life, as his memory has been revered. 
 One of his biographers very justly remarks that the reputa- 
 tion of his Lordship, as a judicious critic, an entertaining 
 traveller, a wise and upright statesman, and a good man, is 
 so decisively fixed, and so firmly established, that it can re- 
 ceive little additional lustre from panegyric, and is in no 
 danger of suffering from the attacks of criticism or cen- 
 sure. As a poet, Dr. Johnson, speaks of him in the fol- 
 lowing manner : — " Lord Lyttelton's poems are the works 
 of a man of literature and judgment, devoting part of his 
 time to versification ; they have nothing to be despised, and . 
 little to be admired.* Of his Progress of Love, it is suf- 
 ficient blame to say that it is pastoral. His blank verse in 
 Blenheim, has neither much force nor much elegance. His 
 little performances, whether songs or epigrams, are some- 
 times sprightly and sometimes insipid. His epistolary 
 pieces have a smooth equability which cannot tire, because 
 they are short, but which seldom elevates or surprises. 
 But from this censure ought to be excepted his advice to 
 Belinda, which, though for the most part written when he 
 was very young, contains much truth and much prudence, 
 very elegantly and very vigorously expressed, and shews a 
 mind attentive to life, and a power of poetry which cultiva- 
 tion might have raised to excellence." As far, however, as 
 this implies that Lord Lyttelton did not cultivate his pow- 
 
 * Johnson's censures of the writings of Lord Lyttelton gave great offence 
 to the friends of the latter, and cost the author the friendship of Mrs. Mon- 
 tague. Dr. Nash, in a note, says, "see a letter from Johnson to Mrs. 
 Piozzi, and published by her, in which he confesses the favour shewn by a 
 lady to his Lordship was the occasion of the slight manner in which he treats 
 the writings and character of Lord Lyttelton in his Lives of the Poets." The 
 conduct of Lyttelton was more generous ; — it is related by Sir John Haw- 
 kins, p. 60, that the instant Dr. Johnson's third Satire of Juvenal was pub- 
 lished, his Lordship carried it in rapture to Pope, who commended it highly.
 
 421 
 
 ersj I am inclined to think onr great critic in error. Lord 
 Lyttleton was very early a poet, and appears to have not; 
 only valued his talent, but acquired his first reputation from 
 the exercise of it. He was very early a critic, too, as ap- 
 pears by his account of Glover's " Lccnidas," printed in 
 1737 ; and few men were oftener consulted by young poets 
 in the subsequent part of his life. Mickle may be instanced 
 as one whose first pieces were carefully perused and correct- 
 ed by him : and although Mickle was disappointed in the 
 hopes he entertained from him as a patron, he often owned 
 his obligations to him as a critic ; Lord Lyttelton's was the 
 patronage of kindness rather than of bounty. He courted 
 the acquaintance and loved the company of men of genius 
 and learning, with whom his correspondence also was ex- 
 tensive ; but he had little of his own to give away, and was 
 so long of the party in opposition to Ministers, as to have 
 very little state interest. Candour must acknowledge that 
 our author's poetical character, as given by Dr. Johnson, 
 is sparing and invidious, and cannot be generally allowed 
 without some exceptions in favour of " The Progress of 
 Love," and " Blenheim." But the severity of this rigid 
 though generally judicious critic, is not to be wondered at, 
 when we reflect on the inveterate prejudice he so frequently 
 expresses against pastoral poetry and blank verse. His 
 Lordship's merit is generally allowed by his contemporaries, 
 whose testimonies are too numerous to be specified. Dr. 
 Warton says, " the couplet alluded to by Pope on Lyttelton, 
 at the commencement of this memoir, was a just and not 
 overcharged encomium on an excellent man, who always 
 served his friends with warmth, and his country with acti- 
 vity and zeal. His Poems, and Dialogues of the Dead, arc 
 written with elegance and ease ;* his Observations on the 
 Conversion of St. Paul, with clearness and closeness of rea- 
 soning ; and his History of Henry II. with accuracy and 
 
 * Yet Sir John Hawkins (p. 129 of his Life of Dr. Johnson) calls it the stiff 
 imitative manner of the Iloraan oratory.
 
 422 
 
 knowledge of those early times, and of the English Consti- 
 tution, and what was compiled from a laborious search into 
 am hen tic documents, and the records lodged in the Tower, 
 and at the Rolls. A little before he died, he told me that 
 he had determined to throw out of the collection of all his 
 works, which was then soon to be published, his first ju- 
 venile performance, the Persian Letters, in which he said 
 there were principles and remarks that he wished to retract 
 and alter. 1 told him that, notwithstanding his caution, 
 the booksellers, as in fact they have done, would preserve 
 and insert these letters, which, in my opinion, have been 
 too much depreciated and neglected. Another little piece, 
 written also in bis early youth, does him much honour — the 
 Observations on the Life of Cicero, in which perhaps a 
 more dispassionate and impartial character of Tullyis exhi- 
 bited than in the panegyrical volume of Middle ton. His 
 Monody, the most popular of his productions, in which he 
 commemorates the virtues and accomplishments of his ex- 
 cellent lady, cannot be read without exciting the tenderest 
 emotions in every one that has the least claim to sensibility : 
 the numbers succeed in harmonious flow, which bespeaks 
 the most exquisite feelings of a most susceptible mind. The 
 sentiments of his Progress of Love are delicate, the imagery 
 pleasing, and the versification correct and harmonious. It 
 must be admitted, however, that there are in some of those, 
 studied expressions and false ornaments, by which pastoral 
 poetry is too often fantastically disguised. His Advice to 
 Belinda is stamped with the approbation of Dr. Johnson, 
 and possesses a degree of propriety, sense, and harmony. 
 His Epistle to Pope is an encomium highly elegant and re- 
 fined. His songs aie in general easy and sprightly. In fine, 
 his poetical compositions are characterised by elegance, 
 ease, and harmony, without any extraordinary degree of ele- 
 vation, energy, or glow of colouring " Lord Orford says, 
 " Learning, eloquence, and gravity distinguished this Peer 
 above most of his rank, and breathe in aU his prose. His 
 Epistle to Mr. Pope is the best of his poetry, which was
 
 423 
 
 more elegant than striking. Originality seems never to have 
 been his aim. His most known pieces, his Persian Letters, 
 and Dialogues of the Dead, being copies of Montesquieu 
 and Fontenelle ; and his Henry II. formed on the model of 
 the ancients, was not adapted to the vivacity that is admitted 
 into modern history." 
 
 " The character of Lord Lyttelton," says Dr. Nash, " was 
 amiable and good ; he had fine parts, and a considerable 
 share of learning and political knowledge, with a few incon- 
 siderable blemishes, particularly too much inattention to 
 his private affairs. He had sound principles of religion, 
 with some credulity, and high ideas of morality, manifested 
 in his conduct and conversation, which did not hinder his 
 yielding sometimes, which have been too severely inter- 
 preted. Upon his paternal estate, of about 40001. a year, 
 he built a noble house, which, with the furniture, cost 
 34,0001.; and, before it was finished, he very inconvenient- 
 ly lost the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, an unsta- 
 ble basis, on which he too securely built." He had, espe- 
 cially in his youth, an absence which often gave occasion to 
 laughable scrapes, and of which Dr. Nash relates seve- 
 ral anecdotes ; but these fits of absence are not at all re- 
 collected by one who knew his Lordship intimately. The 
 Doctor relates someof these anecdotes, and thus continues, 
 " Many years ago, Mr. Greenwood, Rector of Solihull, in 
 Warwickshire, printed some notes on 1 Corinthians, c. xv. 
 which were sent to Lord Lyttleton for his opinion; his Lord- 
 ship returned them, with some additional notes of his own, 
 which Mr. Greenwood afterwards printed ; in one of these, 
 he strongly insinuates that ghosts appear upon earth, and at- 
 tempts to prove it from the 39th verse of the 20th of Luke, 
 where our Saviour says, " handle me, and see ; for a spirit 
 hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have ;" which, saith he, 
 would not be good sense if spirits did not walk on earth, and 
 were not the objects of sight and feeling ; see also, saith he, 
 xx John, v. 20, with the following verses." As to his other 
 prose writings, particularly his Henry II. he bestowed great
 
 424 
 
 industry, though I have reason to think that many of the 
 collections were made by his friends, or persons employed 
 by him." # There is a letter from Lord Lyttelton to Voltaire 
 in the Monthly Mag. for June, 1816, p 5, and Miss War- 
 ner has published another letter to Voltaire, and his answer, 
 in her Original Letters. 
 
 In the St. James's Chronicle for Sept. 1776, appeared a 
 character of Lord Lyttelton, drawn up apparently by one 
 who intimately knew him ; who, after drawing a panegyric on 
 his Lordship, concludes thus : " His discernment of spirits, 
 the term which Lord Bolinbroke substituted for the fami- 
 liar phrase of knowing mankind, was no less conspicuous, 
 whcu his Lordship thought proper to exert it with steadi- 
 ness and vigour ; for, unfortunately for his own domestic 
 peace, it was extremely difficult to rouse him. He trusted 
 too much to the representations of others, and was always 
 ready to leave the labour of discriminating characters to 
 those who too often found an interest in deceiving him. Ab- 
 sorbed in politics, or giving way to elegant recreation, he 
 neglected his private affairs, and in a variety of instances 
 fell a prey to private rapine and literary imposition ; this 
 was the joint effect of native indolence and a certain incur- 
 able absence of mind. To shew that his want of discri- 
 mination was not native, but that the power of knowing 
 those he communicated with was rendered to some purpose 
 useless, because it was not employed, a stronger proof 
 need not be given than his thorough knowledge of the Court, 
 as exhibited in parties, and the several individuals who com- 
 posed them. He could tell the political value of almost eve- 
 ry veteran courtier, or candidate for power : he could deve- 
 lope their latent views ; he could foretell their changes of 
 conduct : he foresaw the effect of such and such combina- 
 tions, the motives which formed them, the principles which 
 held them together, and the probabje date of their dissolu- 
 tion. Whenever he was imposed on, it was throu°h the 
 
 * Was not Dr. Nash a^i^ted in a similar way ?
 
 425 
 
 want of attention, not of parts, and from a kind of settled 
 opinion, that men of common plain understandings, and 
 good reputation, would hardly risque solid advantages in 
 pursuit of unlawful gain, which last might eventually be ac- 
 companied with loss of character, as well as the object pro- 
 posed to be obtained. Whatever plausibility there may ap- 
 pear in this mode of reasoning, experience frequently in- 
 formed his Lordship that it was not to be depended upon. 
 He was plundered by his servants, deceived by his humble 
 companions, misled by his confidants, and imposed on by 
 several of those whom he patronized : he felt the effects of 
 all this, in his family, in his finances, and even in the rank 
 he should have preserved : those who were not acquainted 
 with the solidity of his judgment, the acuteness of his wit, 
 the brilliancy and justness of his thoughts,* the depth of his 
 penetration, and with the amazing extent of his genius, were 
 apt to confound the consequences of his conduct with the 
 powers and resources of his mind. If his Lordship re- 
 mained out of place on principle, the ignorant inclined to 
 ascribe this seeming Court proscription to simplicity or 
 want of talents. If he did not support his rank with that 
 ostentatious splendour now become so fashionable, the 
 world was ready to impute it to a want of economy or a 
 want of spirit ; in all these conjectures and conclusions it 
 was much mistaken and misled. He had frequent offers, 
 some of them the most flattering, to take a part in Admi- 
 nistration, but he uniformly rejected them. 
 
 " His manner of living, at his seat at Hagley, was founded 
 on the truest principles of hospitality, politeness, and so- 
 
 * His Lordship, among other qualities, had a remarkable facility of strik- 
 ing out an extemporary compliment, which obtained for him a considerable 
 share of reputation : an instance is recorded, when Lord Cobharn, in a large 
 company, mentioned his design of putting up a bust of Lady SutTolkin his 
 beautiful gardens at Stone, he turned to his friend Lyttelton, and said, 
 *« George, you must furnish me with a motto for it." " I will," said he, and 
 instantly produced the couplet — 
 
 " Here wit and beauty for a Court were made : 
 But truth and goodness fit her for a shade." 
 3 I
 
 420 
 
 ciety ; and as to money, he knew no other use of it but to 
 answer his own immediate calls, or to enable him to pro- 
 mote the happiness of others." Much of this character 
 corresponds with the accounts which might be extracted 
 from the correspondence of his friends, who were so nu- 
 merous as perhaps to include all the eminent literary persons 
 of his time ; with such he delighted to associate, was often a 
 useful patron of rising genius, and to the last was ambitious 
 of a personal acquaintance with men whose works he ad- 
 mired. There is a remarkable instanee-ef his fondness for 
 literary society in his visiting, in 1767, old Dr. Lardner, 
 and introducing himself as one who had read his volumes 
 with pleasure and profit. Lardner was at this time so deaf, 
 that hi« visitors were obliged to carry on a conversation with 
 him by writing, to which tiresome condition Lord Lyttelton 
 sladlv submitted. The heads of a conversation between 
 Lord Lyttelton and Dr. Lardner are given in the Gent's. 
 Mag. for 1790, p. 594. 
 
 Having made use of all the matter which is to be found 
 scattered in numerous volumes, relative to the life of Lord 
 Lyttelton, I cannot but regret that there is no biographical 
 work dedicated alone to the life and to the literary pursuits 
 of this accomplished and enlightened nobleman, compiled 
 from original letters, &c. which must be numerous, and in 
 the possession of some part of his descendants. I am the 
 more anxious to see such a work, as there are many anec- 
 dotes of Lord Lyttelton, which, although not authentic, 
 bear the shadow of probability,* and which a published life 
 of him, under the sanction of his relatives, would at once 
 expose and silence. A delineation of his Lordship's life and 
 character, arranged from such documents, would be a va- 
 luable addition to English biography. 
 
 I have followed the biographers of Lord Lyttelton in mak- 
 ing him a native of this county ; what authority they may 
 
 * I have the best authority for saying, that a vvorjs, called " The Cor- 
 respondents," affecting to be the Letters of George, Lord Lyttelton, and his 
 Daughter-in-Law, is entirely fictitious
 
 427 
 
 have had for this assertion I know not : on my enquiry, to as 
 certain the fact, I was informed that the registers of Hag 
 ley parish were entirely lost, from 1631 to 1731. 
 
 Edward Talbot, 
 
 A Native of this city, Mas the second son of Talbot, 
 Bishop of Durham, at the time of his son's birth, Dean of 
 Worcester. He was bred at Oriel College, Oxford, where 
 after taking his first degree, he was chosen fellow, Oct, 30, 
 1712. He resigned his fellowship in 1715, and married 
 Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Martin. He died in 
 1720, Archdeacon of Berkshire, leaving an only daughter, 
 Catherine, of which celebrated lady see Nicholas Literary 
 Anecdotes, vol. 9, p. 766. 
 
 Right Rev. John Hornvhold, 
 
 Catholic Bishop of Philomelia, and Vicar Apostle of the 
 Midland Districts, was born in the early part of the last 
 century : he was a descendant of the ancient family of 
 the Hornyholds, of Hanley Castle, in this county ; but as 
 I am not aware that he was either a native or resident of 
 Worcestershire, I shall refer my readers to an account of 
 the life of this Prelate to Keating's Catholic Directory for 
 1818. He was the author of An Exposition of the Deca- 
 logue, the Sacraments, and the Creed, and a Catechism 
 for the Adult; and left behind him many MSS. chiefly ser- 
 mons. He died in December, 1778, and was buried in 
 Brewood church, where an humble stone records his name. 
 He left several legacies for pious and charitable purposes ; 
 among the rest, 1001. to Douay College. The reader will 
 probably find an excellent account of Bishop Hormhold, 
 the Rev. Arthur Vaughan, and other celebrated Catholics, 
 in Mr. Kirk's forthcoming Continuation of Dodd's Church 
 History. 
 
 Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 
 The great Lexicographer, &c. according to Sir John
 
 428 
 
 Hawkins, " was placed in a school at Stourbridge, in this 
 county, under the care of a master named Winkworth, but 
 who affecting to be thought allied to the Strafford family, as- 
 sumed the name of Wentworth ; this was about the year 1725. 
 Johnson, in 1735 (continues Sir John) resided at the house 
 of a person named Jarvis, at Birmingham, and here he trans- 
 lated his Vovage to Abyssinia." 
 
 Dean Swift, 
 A near relation to the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick's, 
 being grandson to Godwin Swift, the Dean's uncle, was, in 
 1739, recommended by Swift to the notice of Pope, as 
 " the most valuable of any in his family."* " He was first," 
 says the Dean, " a student in this University (Dublin), and 
 finished his studies in Oxford, where Dr. King, principal of 
 St. Mary Hall, assured me, that Mr. Swift behaved with 
 reputation and credit, he hath a very good taste for wit, 
 writes agreeable and entertaining verses, and is a perfect 
 master, equally skilled in the best Greek and Roman Au- 
 thors. He hath a true spirit for Liberty, and with all these 
 advantages is extremely decent and modest. Mr. Swift is 
 heir to a little paternal estate of our family at Goodriche, 
 in Herefordshire. He is named Dean Swift, because his 
 great grandfather, by the mother's side, was Admiral 
 Deene, who, having been one of the regicides, had the 
 good fortune to save his neck by dying a year or two before 
 the Restoration." Mr. Swift published, in 1755, " An Essay 
 upon the Life, Writings, and Character of Dr. Jonathan 
 Swift;" in 1765, the 8th quarto vol. of the Dean's Works: 
 and in 1768, two volumes of his " Letters." Mr. Swift died 
 at Worcester, July 12, 1713 : he had long meditated a com- 
 plete edition of his relation's Works, and had by him many 
 new materials for that purpose. 
 
 * There were several inscriptions on the family of Swift, mentioned by Ha- 
 bington, as being in the Church of St. Svvithin ; probably one of them who 
 died in 1688 was the father of the above. — See Nash, vol. 2, p. cxix.
 
 420 
 
 Falkner, 
 
 A Catholic Clergyman, who, some years since was Chap- 
 lain to Robert Berkeley, of Spetchley, Esq. and whose life 
 was an eventful one. He was son to a surgeon of eminence 
 in Manchester, and was brought up in his father's profession, 
 andras-a Protestant ; and having shewn a considerable wish 
 to excel as a medical man, he was sent to the metropolis to 
 complete his, professional studies at St. Thomas's Hospital. 
 Having takeU lodgings in Tooley-street, in its vicinity, he be- 
 came acquainted with the master of a Guinea slave ship, who 
 persuaded him to take a trip, on his next voyage, as his sur- 
 geon. On his return to England, he made another engage- 
 ment for the same situation on board a merchant ship, bound 
 to Cadiz, and thence to Buenos Ayres. During his stay at the 
 latter place, he fell sick, and was in such danger when the 
 ship was ready to sail, as not to be capable of being carried 
 on board, so that she sailed without him; but the Jesuits, of 
 whom there was a college then at Buenos Ayres, nursed him, 
 during his long illness, with the greatest care and kindest 
 assiduity. Perceiving the very great advantages which they 
 would derive in their missions, from possessing a brother so 
 well skilled in medicine and surgery, they spared no pains to 
 win his affection and to secure his conlidence ; in short, 
 they worked so much upon his mind, as to persuade him to 
 reside in their college, and finally to become one of their 
 order. He now entered upon his ministry, about the year 
 1742, among the Indians who inhabit the vast tract of coun- 
 try between the River La Plata, and the Streights of xMa- 
 gellan ; and his skill in the cure of diseases, and in perform- 
 ing chirurgical operations, rendered his mission successful 
 beyond example. In those countries he remained near forty 
 years, and acquired much geographical knowledge of them, 
 being one of the persons appointed by the Spanish Govern- 
 ment to take a survey of all the coasts between the Brazils 
 and Terra del Fuego, Falkland's Islands, &c. but when the 
 Society of Jesuits was dissolved, he he was sent back to
 
 4W 
 
 Spain, and shortly after proceeded to his native country. 
 He returned to Europe with a suit of Patagonian cloth, a 
 cup of horn, and a little pot made of Chilian copper, the 
 whole fruits the Spaniards had left him after the labours of 
 38 years' mission. Here, however, the long space of forty 
 years had so deprived him of friends and connexions, that 
 he cheerfully domesticated himself at Spetchley, being in- 
 duced thereto by his friendship for Mr. Berkeley, a Catho- 
 lic gentleman of distinguished knowledge, of large fortune, 
 and most respectable character. At Spetchley, he wrote 
 an account of Patagonia, which has been published, with a 
 map, corrected by his own observations. He possessed a 
 very acute mind, a general knowledge, and, above all, a 
 most retentive memory. Of his medical experience and 
 practice some of the most intelligent physicians of that day 
 have spoken in the highest terms of commendation. His 
 manners were at once singular and inoffensive, and he re- 
 tained somewhat of his Indian habits unto the very last. He 
 died some time about the year 17S1. 
 
 Mr. Pennant, in his History of his Literary Life, p. 13, 
 says, in Sept. 1771, I visited Robert Berkeley, Esq. of 
 Spetchley, to indulge my curiosity with seeing and examin- 
 ing Mr. Falkner, an aged Jesuit, who had passed 38 years 
 in Patagonia ; his account satisfied me of the existence of 
 the tall race of mankind. — See the Appendix to his Work, 
 and 51 and 64 Lit. Life. 
 
 George Wilmot, A. M. 
 Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, was the author of a 
 sermon, preached at the Lent Assizes, in the Cathedral 
 Church of Worcester, April, 1750. 
 
 John Waugh, LL.D. Dean of Worcester, 1751, 
 
 Son to the Bishop of Carlisle, of which diocese he was 
 
 Chancellor. His knowledge of the civil and common law 
 
 was extensive and of much assistance to Dr. Burn, in his 
 
 work on the Administration of Justice. During the siesre
 
 431 
 
 of Carlisle, in 1745, Dr. Waugh was eminently useful to 
 the King's forces, on which account he was preferred to 
 this Deanery. He died m 1765, and was interred in this 
 Cathedral. 
 
 — — Baker, 
 A druggist, of London, who, about the vear 1755, re- 
 vived the old project of conveying the brine in pipes from 
 Droitwich to the banks of the Severn, near Hawford. Dr. 
 Nash presumes he spent more than 12,0001. without any 
 rational prospect of success, for not having the authority of an 
 Act of Parliament to support him, his work was undone as 
 fast as he executed it, and he was obliged to retire into 
 W ales. — See Steynor. 
 
 William Smith, D. D. 
 
 A Native of St. Peter's parish, in this city, was the 
 son of the Rev. Richard Smith, Rector of All Saints, and 
 Minister of St. Andrew, both in Worcester, who died 1726. 
 He was born May 30, 1711, and educated at the Grammar 
 School, (Queen Elizabeth's,) of this city. In 1/28, he 
 was admitted of New College, Oxford, where he proceeded 
 B. A. in 1732, M. A. 1737, and D. D. in 1758. In 1735, 
 he was presented by his patron, James, Earl of Derby, in 
 whose family he was leader, to the Rectory of Trinity 
 Church, Chester, and by his son and successor's interest, 
 whose Chaplain he was, to the Deanery of Chester, in 1758. 
 He held the Mastership of Brentwood School, in Essex, 
 for one year, 1748; and in 1753 was nominated by the Cor- 
 poration of Liverpool one of th Ministers of St. George's 
 Church there, which be resigned in 170'7. With his dean- 
 ery, he held the parish churches of Handley and Trinity, 
 but in 1780, resigned the last for the Rectory of West 
 kirkley. He died Jan. 12, 1787- " He was tall and gen- 
 eel ; his voice was strong, clear, and melodious ; he spoke 
 Latin fluently, anil was a complete master not only of the 
 Greek but Hebrew Language ; his mind was so replete with
 
 432 
 
 knowledge, that he was a living library; his manner of 
 address was graceful, engaging, and delightful ; his sermons 
 were pleasing, informing, convincing ; his memory, even 
 in age, was wonderfully retentive, and his conversation was 
 polished, affable, and in the highest degree improving." He 
 is known in the learned world, chiefly by his valuable 
 translations of " Longinus on the Sublime," 1739, 8vo. 
 which went through four editions, the last of which, with 
 the frontispiece designed by Dr. Wall, of Worcester, is 
 said to be the best. " Thucydides," 1753, 2vols.4to. re- 
 printed in 1781, 8vo. " Xenophon's History of the Affairs 
 of Greece," 1770, 4to. In 1782, he published "Nine 
 Sermons on the Beatitudes," 8vo. very elegantly written. 
 In 1791 j appeared " The Poetic Works of the Rev. Willi- 
 am Smith, D.D. late Dean of Chester ; with some account 
 of the Life and Writings of the Author. By Thomas 
 Crane, Minister of the Parish Church of St. Olave, in 
 Chester, &c. and inserted in the European Mag. for Sept. 
 1788, &c. see a review of it in Gent.'s Mag. vol.lxi. 
 
 Charles Lyttelton, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, was the third son of Sir Tho- 
 mas, and brother to George, first Lord Lyttelton : he was 
 born at Hagley-Hall, according to his biographers,* in 
 1714, and was educated at Eton, and went thence first 
 to University College, Oxford, and afterwards to the 
 Inner Temple, where he became a barrister-at-law; but 
 entering into holy orders, was collated by the venerable 
 Bishop Hough, to the Rectory of Alvechurch, in this 
 county, Aug. 13, 1742. He took the degree of LL. B. 
 March 28, 1745; and LL.D. June 18, the same year; in 
 a letter to Mr. Neve, July 5, 1756, Mr. Johnson, of the 
 Gentleman's Society at Spalding, says "I request you, Sir, 
 to make my services acceptable to Dr. Charles Lyttelton. 
 That learned, ingenious, and worthy gentleman does us 
 
 * The Registers of Hagley are missing from 1631 to 1731.
 
 433 
 
 great honour in permitting us to number him amongst out 
 members, as approving of our institution, and endeavour 
 whereby we shew our love to learning at least." Again Feb. 
 11, 1746-7. "I request you to acquaint Dr. Lyttelton, 
 he was, according to our rules, proposed Sept. 18, and 
 elected upon ballot Oct. 2 last, of which I wish myself joy 
 in being of two Societies with him*" And March 30, 1750, 
 " I pray make my services acceptable to Mr. Deau of Exe- 
 ter, to whom I notified his being admitted a member of our 
 Gentleman's Society here (as he desired by you) but have 
 not been favoured with an answer, and to Dr. Ernely Bertie, 
 another of our members," &c. Dr, Lyttelton was appointed 
 King's Chaplain in December, 1747, Dean of Exeter in 
 May, 1748, and was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle, March 
 21, 1748. In 17-54, he caused the ceiling and cornices 
 of the chancel of Hagley church to be ornamented with 
 shields of arms, in their proper colours, representing the 
 paternal coats of his ancient and respectable family. About 
 the year 1765, the Bishop,, so eminent in the study of British 
 Antiquities, and for his fine taste for gothic architecture, 
 became anxious for the reparation of his cathedral, the in- 
 terior part of which had become ruinous in the extreme ; fur- 
 nished with designs by his Lordship's relative, Lord Camel- 
 ford, he employed Carlyle, the architect, and commenced 
 the repairs of the choir, and in the course of seven years, the 
 screens, altar-piece, bishop's throne, pulpit, and pews, 
 were finished in a style of such excellence as will excite the 
 pleasure of ages to come. — See No. 7 of Storer's Cathe- 
 drals. In Gutch's " Collectanea Curiosa," vol. 2, p. 354, 
 is " Dean Lyttelton's Memoir concerning the authenticity of 
 7//s (copy of) Magna Charta, from the minutes of the Anti- 
 quary Society, June 3, 1761," and in p. 357, of the same 
 work is " Mr. Blackstone's Memoir in answer to the late 
 Dean of Exeter, (Dr. Lyttelton) now Bishop of Carlisle, 
 May 29, 1762." In 1765, on the death of Hugh, Lord 
 Willoughby, of Parham, Bishop Lyttelton was unani- 
 mously elected President of the Society of Antiquaries ; a 
 
 3 K
 
 4.34 
 
 station in which his distinguished abilities were eminently 
 displayed, particularly by his assistance in obtaining their 
 < ha-rter. He died unmarried, at his house in Clifford-street, 
 London, Dec. 22, 1768, in the arms of Dean Miles, his suc- 
 cessor in his deanery, and in the Presidency of the Antiquarian 
 Society, and was buried in the family vault, at Hagley. His 
 merits und good qualities are universally acknowledged ; and 
 those parts of his character which more particularly en- 
 deared him to the learned society over which he so worthily 
 presided, I shall extract in the words of his learned succes- 
 sor: " The study of antiquity, especially that part of it which 
 relates to the history and constitution of these kingdoms, was 
 one of his earliest and most favourite pursuits; and he acquir- 
 ed great knowledge in it by constant study and application, to 
 which he was led, not only by his natural disposition, but 
 also by his state and situation in life. He took frequent op- 
 portunities of improving and enriching this knowledge by- 
 judicious observations in the course of several journies 
 which he made through every county in England, and 
 through many parts of Scotland and Wales. The Society 
 has reaped the fruits of these observations in the many valua- 
 ble papers,* which his Lordship from time to time has com- 
 municated to us ; which are more in number, and not infe- 
 rior either in merit or importance, to those conveyed to us 
 by other hands. Blessed with a retentive memory, and happy 
 both in the disposition and facility of communicating his 
 knowledge, he was enabled also to act the part of a judicious 
 commentator and candid critic r explaining, illustrating, and 
 correcting from his own observations,, many of the papers 
 which have been read at this Society. His station and con- 
 nexions in the world, which necessarily engaged a very con- 
 siderable part of his time, did not lessen his attention to the 
 business and interests of the Society. His doors were al- 
 ways open to his friends, among whom none were more 
 welcome to him than the friends of literature, which he 
 
 * See Archaelogia, vol.1, pages 9, 140,213, 228, 310.
 
 435 
 
 endeavoured to promote in all its various branches, especially 
 in those which are the more immediate objects of our atten- 
 tion. Even this circumstance proved beneficial to the Soci- 
 ety, for, if I may be allowed the expression, he was the 
 centre in which the various informations on points of anti- 
 quity from the different parts of the kingdom united, and the 
 medium through which they were conveyed to us. 
 
 " His literary merit with the Society received an additional 
 lustre from the affability of his temper, the gentleness of his 
 manners, and the benevolence of his heart, which united 
 every member of the Society in esteem to their head, and in 
 harmony and friendship with each other. A principle so 
 essentially necessary to the prosperity and even to the exist- 
 ence of all communities, especially those who have arts and 
 literature for their object, that its benelicial effects are visibly 
 to be discerned in the present flourishing state of our So- 
 ciety, which I flatter myself will be long continued under the 
 influence of the same agreeable principles. I shall i >n 
 elude this imperfect sketch of a most worthy character, by 
 observing that the warmth of his affection Co theSociety con- 
 tinued to his latest breath ; and he has given a signal proof of 
 it in the last'great act which a wise man does with resp< ct to 
 his worldly affairs; for, amongst the many charitable and 
 generous donations contained in his will, lie has made a very 
 useful and valuable bequest of MSS. among those aM! 
 history of the building of Exeter Cathedral, and printed 
 books to the Society, as a token of his affection for them, 
 and of his earnest desire to promote those laudable purpoi 
 for which they were instituted." Vide the speech of Dr. 
 Milles, Dean of Exeter, on succeeding to the Presidency, 
 Jan. 12, 1769, prefixed to the Archa&logia, vol. l.p.xli. 
 
 The Society expressed their gratitude and respect to the 
 memory of Bishop Lyttelton, by a very fine mezzotmto por- 
 trait of him, engraved by James Watson, after Cotes, at 
 their own expence, in 1770. 
 
 Bishop Lyttelton communicated the MS. Life ol Mrs. 
 Elstob, and her brother, to Mr. Pegge, for his Collections for
 
 436 
 
 Staffordshire, and Ballard's Transcript of iElfred's Orosius ; 
 he likewise very much assisted Dr. Borlase in several literary 
 productions. Dr. Borlase addressed his Observations on the 
 Scilly Islands to Bishop Lyttelton, which were enlarged at 
 the Bishop's request. Dr. Ducarel also inscribed his Anglo 
 Norman Antiquities to him, by whom he was assisted in his 
 plan respecting the endowment of vicarages. 
 
 The statements respecting the MS. Collections for the 
 History of Worcestershire differ; one of which affirming 
 that Dr. Nash (who certainly availed himself of their mat- 
 ter) became the possessor of them, and another asserting 
 that he left these Collections to the Antiquarian Society, 
 who allowed Dr. Nash the use of them : the latter account 
 is correct, and confirmed by Dr. Nash in the preface to his 
 work. See a communication relative to the building of the 
 Cathedral of Worcester, by Bishop Lyttelton, in a letter to 
 Smart Letheiullier, Esq. with notes, in the Addenda to 
 Green's Worcester. 
 
 The MSS. of Dr. Thomas, relating to the History of 
 Worcestershire, were purchased by Dr. Lyttelton, who 
 made many additions to them from the old Chapter-house, 
 Westminster, the Tower Records, and other public affairs, 
 — See Nichols's Anecdotes. 
 
 William Shenstone, 
 The poet, was a native of that part of Hales Owen which 
 is not in the county of Worcester; he is consequently not 
 entitled to further notice in this work than that he was born 
 ip 1714, and died 1763. — See some particulars of him in 
 Dr, Nash, Hull's Letters, §Cc. &c, 
 
 Thomas Phillips 
 Was descended from an ancient family ;* his father was a 
 Roman Catholic, but he became a convert to the Protestant 
 
 * His great uncle, in the last century, wrote " Observations on the Life o( 
 Cardinal Reginaldus Polus," 8yo. lGtb\
 
 437 
 
 faith. Where or when the subject of this memoir was born 
 I am not informed, but it appears that, when at school, he 
 became an enthusiastic admirer of the Lives of the Saints 
 &c. He was thence removed to St. Omer's, where he made 
 great progress in polite literature, and obtained the first aca- 
 demical prizes. At one time he felt an inclination to become 
 a member of the Society of the Jesuits, but changed his 
 mind ; and, after a course of study at St. Omer's, travelled 
 through the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Italy, dur- 
 ing the course of which he visited persons eminent for learn- 
 ing, assisted at various academical exercises, looked over the 
 principal libraries, and considered the productions of the po- 
 lite arts, and those magnificent structures which ancient and 
 modern piety had raised and dedicated to public worship. He 
 did not trust his remarks to memory alone, but committed 
 them briefly to wrijting ; but whether they are now existing, 
 we are not, say his biographers, able to ascertain. Having 
 finished his travels, he determined to devote himself to the 
 ministry, and accordingly was admitted into orders. Soon 
 after, his father died, but his perseverance in his religious 
 sentiments* deprived him of the estates he would have other- 
 wise enjoyed : thus, though an eldest son, he had no other 
 provision but what the frugality of his parents had made for 
 him ; this, however, was something more than mediocritv, 
 and placed him above dependence. 
 
 The preceding account is extracted from our author's 
 pamphlet, printed in 1761, and entitled " Philemon," of 
 which a few copies only were given to his friends. The 
 other circumstances collected by his biographer, relate chief- 
 ly to his publications. In 17-56 he published " The Study 
 of Sacred Literature fully stated and considered, in a Dis- 
 course to a Student in Divinity/' (the Rev. John Jemson, 
 who died at Liege, December 27, 1790,) a second edition 
 of which appeared in 1758, and a third in 1765; this work 
 is entitled to considerable praise ; but his principal per- 
 formance was " The History of the Life of Reginald 
 
 * A Catholic priest, on being ordained, takes a vow of poverty.
 
 438 
 
 Pole,"* 1764, 2 vols. 4to. re-printed in 1767, 2 vols. Svo. 
 In this work he was assisted, says Mr. Nichols, by Mr. 
 Cole. It cannot be denied, says Mr. Chalmers, that this 
 work, though penned with no small degree of spirit and ele- 
 gance, contains much matter of an exceptionable nature ; 
 many of the facts distorted, and many of the characters in 
 troduced in it virulently abused. It excited, therefore, on 
 the Protestant side, a general alarm, and met, as might be 
 expected, with a firm opposition; many answers soon made 
 their appearance from several eminent hands, and the mis- 
 takes and improprieties of our author's performance were 
 pointed out and exposed. The follow ing, I believe, is an 
 exact list of his answerers: — 1. "A Letter to Mr. Phillips, 
 containing some Observations on his History and Life of 
 Reginald Pole, by Richard Tillard, M.A." 1765, 8vo. : 
 
 2. "A Review of Mr. Phillips's History of the Life of Re- 
 ginald Pole, by Gloucester Ridley, LL. IL" 1766, f Svo. ; 
 
 3. " Animadversions upon Mr. Phillips's History of the Life 
 of Reginald Pole, by Timothy Neve, D. D. (see his ar- 
 ticle) Rector of Middleton Stoney, Oxfordshire," 1766, 8vo. ; 
 to these are added some Remarks bv Dr. Jortin, sent to 
 Dr. Neve ; 4. " Remarks upon the History of the Life 
 of Reginald Pole, by Edward Stone, Clerk, A. M. and 
 late Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford," 1766, Svo. : 
 these Remarks were first printed in the Public Ledger ; 
 5. "The Life of Cardinal Reginald Pole, originally written 
 in Italian, by Lodovico Beccatelli, Archbishop of Ragusa, 
 and now first translated into English, with notes, critical 
 
 * " Tf the Life of Pole was printed (as it is said) at Oxford, it was done 
 within the jurisdiction of the Vice Chancellor. — With hi* knowledge, per- 
 mission, or. approbation, I cannot suppose." — Nichols'sAnee. article Jones. Mr. 
 Jones thought it was too publicly regarded. — Increase of Papistical Sentiments. 
 
 i " Yet in the midst of this death am 1 engaged in writing, and in a 
 
 kind from which my nature is most averse, religious controversy with an 
 artful Jesuit, (here he was misinformed, Mr. Phillips was Chaplain to the 
 Earl of Shrewsbury, and Canon of Liege, but not a disciple of Loyola,) 
 the author of the Life of Cardinal Pole."*— See Letter in Nichols's Literary 
 Anecdotes.
 
 439 
 
 and historical ; to which is added an Appendix, setting forth 
 the plagiarism, false translation, and false grammar, in Tho- 
 mas Phillips's Life of Reginald Pole, by the Rev. Benja- 
 min Pye, LL. B." 1766, 8vo.; 6. " Catholic Faith and 
 Practice, addressed to the ingenious Author of the Life of 
 Cardinal Pole, Anonymous," 1/65 ; the author of which 
 was Mr. John Jones, of Wellwyn (see his article in the 
 Biog. Dictionary.) In vindication of himself, he pub- 
 lished, in 1767, "An Appendix to the Life," with some 
 remarks on the chief objections which had been made to it; 
 and at the end of the 3d edition of his " Essay on the Stu- 
 dy of Sacred Literature," he added some strictures on his 
 opponents, and some corrections of mistakes. Speaking 
 of this pamphlet in a letter to Mr. Cole, he says, "I am 
 about to give another edition, with considerable changes; 
 especially as I have been informed that a seeming partiality 
 to the Order of the Jesuits is the chiefest objection to the 
 performance, which may be avoided in a future edition, 
 and the instruction be as complete as in the present." This 
 seems to shew that his object was the general usefulness of 
 the work, independent of party considerations. Mr. Phil- 
 lips, after he entered into holy orders, obtained a dispen- 
 sation to quit the Jesuits ; and this step is said to have been 
 taken in consequence of some dissatisfaction and difference 
 with his superiors and professors, by whom he would not 
 submit to be guided and controlled in his theological stu* 
 dies. From Liege, where he took his dismission, he went 
 to Rome, and there obtained, by the interest of the Pre- 
 tender, a Prebend in the collegiate church of Tongress, 
 but was dispensed from residence on condition of serving the 
 English mission, and for many years lived in the family of 
 the late Earl of Shrewsbury, and afterwards in that of Mrs. 
 Berkeley, of Spetchley, in this county. In the decline of 
 life he retired to the English College at Liege, with the de- 
 sign, which he could not effect, of re-entering into the So- 
 ciety he had withdrawn himself from, for which he retained a 
 tender regard and affection. During the last four or live
 
 440 
 
 years of his life, he was afflicted with epileptic fits, and, its' 
 his temper was naturally eager, his friends were cautious not 
 to engage him on conversation upon his past studies, or 
 literary subjects, by which they observed his infirmity was 
 increased. He was, I am told, a man of eminent piety, 
 and always appeared strongly affected with the idea of the 
 presence of God, particularly in his last illness, which hap- 
 pened at Liege in 1774. He had a sister, Elizabeth, who 
 became Abbess of the Benedictine Nuns at Ghent, to 
 whom he addressed some elegant and spirited poetry. Be- 
 sides the pieces already mentioned, Mr. Cole attributes to 
 him, " Reasons for the Repeal of the Laws against the Pa- 
 pists ;" and his biographer adds, that he was the author of 
 an elegant translation, in metre, of the beautiful prose, 
 " Lauda Sion Salvatorem ;" and an equally elegant " Cen- 
 sura Commentariorum Cornelii a Lapide/' in Latin, printed 
 on a single sheet.* 
 
 It is related that some courtier ventured to suggest to 
 our venerable Sovereign the danger which the Life of Pole 
 might prove to the Established Church, and that the book 
 ought to be burnt. — " No, no," said his Majesty, with his 
 usual quickness, " refute, refute it." The reader will find 
 a circumstantial life of Mr. Phillips in the European Mag. 
 for Sept. 1796. 
 
 Thomas Padmore, 
 By profession a French Master, translated " The Art of 
 Living at Court," 1755. 
 
 Samuel Garbet, M.A. 
 Resided in Worcester several years, and materially as- 
 sisted Mr. Green in his History of this city. He was born 
 at Wem, in Shropshire, where his father Mas Minister, and 
 also an industrious and learned schoolmaster. He was 
 
 * " Thomas Aquinas's Hymn on tlie Eucharist, which is said to be weli 
 translated by Tom Phillips, author of the Life of Cardinal Pole, and Senior 
 Canon o/Tongress, which is meant by T. P. S. C. TV'-— Nicholas Lit. Ante.
 
 441 
 
 educated at Christ's Church College, Oxford. Having ari 
 easy fortune, he sought for no preferment in the Church, 
 but, pursuing the bent of his highly cultivated talents, he 
 was unremitting and incessant in his studies. Mr. Green 
 acknowledges that he owed to Mr. Garbet the revisal of his 
 MS. History of Worcester, and that he furnished him with 
 the two first sections of it, and which, with very slight 
 variation, now forms, as it did of the first edition of his 
 history, the same portions of his last work, under the titles of 
 u Worcester, under the Romans and Saxons ;" the notes 
 and illustrations which accompany them were then first 
 added. The accounts of the ancient castle, and of the Bi- 
 shops of Worcester, from the Reformation to the year 
 1759, were also contributed by him. Mr. Garbet died at 
 Worcester, Monday, January 11, 1768, in the 52d year of 
 his age, and lies buried in the church of Stoulton, about 
 four miles east of this city. — See a panegyric on him in 
 Green's Worcester, vol. 2, p. 105. 
 
 Dr. Nash says, that his modesty was so great that he ne- 
 ver could be persuaded to publish any thing in his own 
 name, although always ready to assist his friends ; and if 
 death had spared him, the Collections for his (Dr. Nash's) 
 Worcestershire would have been much more perfect. 
 
 Job Orton, 
 An eminent divine among the dissenters, was born at 
 Shrewsbury, 1717. A schism arising among the congre- 
 gation respecting electing a successor, after he had taken 
 leave of them, considerably affected his health : he fixed on 
 Kidderminster as a residence, principally that he might 
 have the advice of Dr. Johnstone, of this city, who always 
 proved himself a faithful and tender friend. He continued 
 at Kidderminster the remainder of his days, and died July 
 19, 1783.— See a Life of Orton in Chalmers's Biog, Diet, 
 in a note on Doddridge. 
 
 3 l
 
 442 
 
 Jonx Warren, LL. D. Archdeacon of Worcester, 1773, 
 Was the nephew of Bishop Johnson, of this See. He 
 -was also a Prebendary of Gloucester Cathedral, and died 
 March 9, 1737.— See Gent.'s Mag. 1814. 
 
 Richard IIurd, Bishop of Worcester, June 30, 1781, 
 Was born at Congreve, in the parish of Penkridge, in 
 the county of Stafford, Jan. 13, 1719-20. He was the 
 second son of three children, all males.* His parents rent- 
 ed a considerable farm at Congreve, but soon after removed 
 to a larger at Penford, in the same county. He was edu- 
 cated at the grammar school at Brewood, under the Rev. 
 Mr. Ilillman, and, upon his death, under Mr. Budworth, 
 whose memory Mr. Hurd affectionately embalmed, so early 
 as 17.57, in a dedication to Sir Edward Littelton, a gentle- 
 man who had also been educated at Brewood school. Mr. 
 Budworth would sometimes observe that young Hurd did 
 not apply himself much to his book when he first came to 
 school, and that he continued in an unpromising state till 
 the last year before he went to the University, when he began 
 to study in earnest, and soon made such an astonishing 
 progress, that with rapture Mr. Budworth was heard to 
 say, " he never knew so surprising an alteration, and so 
 great an improvement, in such a short time." The Rev. 
 Stebbing Shaw, contradicting this assertion, says, " he was 
 assured by a schoolfellow of Mr. Hurd's, that his Lordship 
 had no indifference to learning till the last year of his being 
 at school, on the contrary, he was always assiduous." He 
 
 * — — " Tli? truth is, I go to pass some time with two of the best persona 
 in the world, to whom I owe the highest duty; their generosity was such, 
 that they never regretted any expenee that was in their power, and almost 
 out of it, in whatever concerned the welfare of their children. For myself, 
 a poor scholar, as you know, I am almost ashamed to own to you how so- 
 licitous they were to furnish me with all the opportunities of the best and 
 most libera] education. We are three brothers of us — the eldest settled very 
 respectably in their own way, and the youngest in the Birmingham trade." 
 — Extract from a letter of the Bishop's to Warburton, July 2, 1754.
 
 443 
 
 continued with Mr. Budworth until he was admitted of 
 Emanuel College, Cambridge, October 3, 1733, but did 
 not reside in the University until a year or two afterwards ; 
 and was ordained Priest May '20, 1744. His Commentary 
 on Horace's " Ars Poetica," in the preface of which, taking 
 occasion to compliment Mr. Warburton, it procured him the 
 friendship of that author, by whose recommendation he was 
 afterwards, in May, 1750, appointed one of the Whitehall 
 Preachers. In 17-33, he was presented to the donative 
 curacy of St. Andrew the Little, in Cambridge, where, as 
 is customary, he preached in the open air on the two chief 
 Sundays during Stirbridge fair ; the place is commonly called 
 Duddery. On the 27th of November, 1755, Mr. Hurd 
 lost his father; the reader will see a very affecting letter on 
 this occasion, written to his friend Warburton in " The 
 Correspondence ;" and in the same year he published " The 
 Delicacy of Friendship," occasioned by Dr. Jortin having 
 spoken with less deference of Warburton than the friendship 
 of Hurd was inclined to allow. In December, 1750, he 
 became entitled to the rectory of Thurcaston, to which he 
 was instituted in February, 1757- In this year both Dr. 
 Warburton and Mr. Yorke took considerable pains in en- 
 deavouring to obtain for him the preachership at the Kolls, 
 then vacant, but in which they failed. Mr. Green has 
 stated that he was preacher assistant at the ltolls Chapel 
 with Bishop Warburton, whereas neither of these pi elates 
 were ever preachers at the ltolls at all. In November, 
 1762, Mr. Hurd had the sinecure rectory of Folkton, near 
 Bridlington, Yorkshire, given him by the Lord Chancellor 
 Northington, on the recommendation of Mr. Allen ; and in 
 1765 was made a preacher of Lincoln's Inn,* on the re- 
 commendation of Bishop Warburton and Mr. Charles 
 Yorke ; and was collated by the former friend to the Arch- 
 deaconry of Gloucester, August 27, 1 767. On Commence- 
 ment, Tuesday, July 5, 1768, he was admitted D.D. at 
 
 * 1775, according to Dyer's Camb.
 
 444 
 
 Cambridge, and an the same day appointed to open the lec- 
 tures established by Bishop Warburton for the illustration 
 of the Prophecies, in which he is said to have exhibited a 
 model truly worthy the imitation of his successors. It wa» 
 soon after Dr. Hurd published his Sermons on the Pro- 
 phecies that he received an anonymous letter, which, after 
 the secret had been kept for four-and-twenty years, the Bi- 
 shop, in a new edition of his works, in 1811, told the pub- 
 lisher that the author of it was Edward Gibbon, on whose 
 writing the Bishop has thus spoken (vide Appendix to 
 Hind's Works): — "The talents of Gibbon are disgraced, 
 and the fruit of them blasted, by a false taste of composition ; 
 that is, by a raised, laborious, ostentatious style ; effort in 
 writing being mistaken, as it commonly is, for energy ; by a 
 perpetual affectation of wit, irony, and satire, generally 
 misapplied, and often out of place, being wholly unsuited 
 to the historic character, and what is worse, by afree-think- 
 ing libertine spirit, which spares neither morals nor reli-r 
 gion. These miscarriages may all of them be traced up 
 to the one common cause, an excessive vanity," Sec. 
 In 1773, Dr. Hurd had to lament the loss of an affectionate 
 mother, who died at the advanced age of 88. It is well known 
 that his noble friend and patron, Mr, Yorke, only enjoyed 
 the Great Seal a few days ; but a man of such merit and ge- 
 nius could not be suffered to follow his own resolution of 
 returning to a college life. Lord Mansfield siezed the first 
 occasion of cultivating his acquaintance; and soon after, 
 entirely unsolicited on his part, he was consecrated Bi- 
 shop of Lichfield and Coventry, February 12, 1775; and 
 in 1776, was appointed tutor to the Prince of Wales, 
 and his brother, Prince Frederick. The Bishop of Win- 
 chester, Dr. Thomas, dying May 1, 1781, Bishop Hurd 
 received a gracious letter from his Majesty, by a special 
 messenger from Windsor, offering him the See of Wor- 
 cester, on the presentation of Bishop North to that of Win- 
 chester, and of the Clerkship of the Closet, in the room of 
 Dr. Thomas. On his arrival at Hartlebury, in July, that year.
 
 445 
 
 he resolved to put the castle into complete order, and to build 
 a library ; this library was finished in 1782, and furnished 
 with a collection of books, late Dr. Warburton's, and or- 
 dered by his will to be sold, and the value given to the 
 Gloucester Infirmary. To these, other consideiable ad- 
 ditions have since been made. Archbishop Cornv\ailis died 
 in 1783, and Bishop Hurd had the offer of the Auh- 
 bishoprie from his Majesty, with many gracious expres- 
 sions, and was pressed to accept it, but humbly begged 
 leave to decline it, as a charge not suited to his timpei and 
 talents, and much too heavy for him to sustain, especially 
 in these times. "I took the liberty (said the Bishop) of 
 telling his Majesty that several much greater men than my- 
 self had been contented to die Bishops of Worcester, and 
 that I wished for no higher preferment." The King was 
 pleased not to take offence at this freedom, and then to in- 
 ter with him into some confidential conversation on the sub- 
 ject. In 1784 he added a considerable number of books 
 to the new library at Hartlebury. In 1785 he also added 
 more, and put the last hand to his Life of the Bishop of 
 Gloucester. Bishop Hurd had the honour of confirming 
 Prince Edward (now Duke of t Kent) and Princess 
 Augusta; and, in 1788, of entertaining then Majesties at 
 his palace, a particular account of which mav be seen in 
 Chambers's Worcester, p. 395, extracted from a more de- 
 tailed account in Green's History, and Nichols's Literary 
 Anecdotes, vol. 6, p. 493. So late as the first Sunday m 
 February, before his death, though then declining in health 
 and strength, Bishop Hurd was able to attend his parish 
 church, and to receive the sacrament. Free iiom any pain- 
 ful or acute disorder, he gradually became weaker, buihis 
 faculties remained perfect. Altera lew dajs ciiiineiiicnt 
 to his bed, he expired, in his sleep, on Sahudav morning, 
 May 28, 180S, having completed lour months be\ond his 
 S8th year, and after holding this £ee for almos! £7 years.— 
 He was buried in Haillebury church-yard, according to his 
 own direction. The reader will find an excellent account
 
 446 
 
 of Bishop Hurd, and his literary productions, from which 
 this sketch is partly compiled, in Nichols's Literati/ Anec- 
 dotes, with the following remark, by their venerable editor : 
 "This article of biography was originally printed in Ni- 
 chols's History of Leicestershire, in which, but not before 
 it had been published, it was seen and sanctioned by the 
 Bishop ; it is now enlarged and corrected from some parti- 
 culars in his own hand-writing, which were found after his 
 decease, and endorsed by him, ' Some Occurrences in my 
 Life.— R. W.'" 
 
 The following faint praise of Dr. Johnson, will not de- 
 tract from the general commendation awarded to the cha- 
 racter of Bishop Hurd : — Dr. Johnson said to a friend, 
 " Hurd, Sir, is one of those set of men who account for 
 every thing systematically ; for instance, it had been a fa- 
 shion to wear scarlet breeches ; these men would tell you, 
 according to causes and effects, no other wear could at that 
 time have been chosen." He, however, said of him, at 
 another time, to the same gentleman, " Hurd, Sir, is a 
 man whose acquaintance is a valuable acquisition." 
 
 This learned prelate, it is well known, at one period of 
 his life, published " Moral and Political Dialogues," with 
 a woefully W higgish cast. Afterwards, his Lordship, hav- 
 ing thought better, came to see his error, and republished 
 the work with a more constitutional spirit ; Johnson, how- 
 ever, was unwilling to allow him full credit fur his political 
 conversion. I remember, when his Lordship declined the 
 honour of being Archbishop of Canterbury, Johnson said, 
 " I am glad he did not go to Lambeth; for, after all, I 
 fear he is a Whig in his heart." — Letters to Boswell. 
 
 I shall insert the following anecdote, without vouching 
 for its authenticity : — "A short time alter the late Dr. Hurd 
 had been translated into the See of Worcester, it was re- 
 ported to him that a clergyman in his diocsse, the rector of 
 a parish near W orcester, had turned his own wife out of 
 doors, <x. d received in her stead a woman of loose character, 
 who presided at his table as the lawful mistress of his house,
 
 447 
 
 The Bishop, a man of great delicacy arid strict morality, 
 was exceedingly shocked at the information ; and deter- 
 mined to remove so foul a stain on the character of the 
 cloth, and the credit of his diocese. He accordingly or- 
 dered his horses one morning, and rode to the rectory in 
 question. The servant rang at the gate, and delivered in 
 his master's name. A moment afterwards the Rev. Mr. 
 
 appeared, paid his respects to the Bishop, expressed 
 
 himself as highly honoured by the visit, and requested his 
 Lordship to alight, and walk in. Being seated in the par- 
 lour, after a short pause, the Bishop observed, that it gave 
 him the greatest pain to be under the necessity of remon- 
 strating with a gentleman and a clergyman, on such a sub- 
 ject as had occasioned his present call. " May I crave 
 
 your Lordship's pardon," said Mr. , interrupting him, 
 
 " for a single moment ?•' and immediately rang the bell. 
 
 The servant appeared, — " John," said Mr. , " The 
 
 Bishop of Worcester has something to communicate to 
 me; stand there, and attend carefully to what is said." The 
 Bishop perceived in a moment the drift of this manoeuvre ; 
 took his hat, ordered his horses, and returned. " And 
 
 pray," said a friend of Mr. ■ to him afterwards, " what 
 
 could be your meaning in such extraordinary behaviour r" 
 " Why," replied he, " had the Bishop charged me with 
 looseness of living, I should have had a witness, and would 
 have prosecuted him for defamation." 
 
 The above anecdote will be an apology for those charges 
 which have sometimes (though for the honour of the es- 
 tablished priesthood but rarely) been alledged against our 
 prelates, of unjustifiable lenity towards beneficed ministers 
 in their dioceses, who have degraded themselves, and pol- 
 luted their cloth, by an impure and scandalous life. The 
 law of the land, which can alone deprive a man of his free- 
 hold, (of the nature of which a living partakes) requires, 
 with equal wisdom and mercy, full proof of the specijic 
 crime, previous to the infliction of the appropriate punish- 
 ment; the difficulty of obtaining which, in cases like the
 
 448 
 
 above, is sufficiently obvious. While, on the other hand, 
 the same law, by its jealous provisions against injury from 
 libel and defamation, renders it highly dangerous to make a 
 charge, in any way, against an individual, that might af- 
 fect his life or his property, his fair fame, or probable suc- 
 cess in the world. In instances, however, similar to that 
 in question, where presumption of guilt amounts to moral 
 certainty, though not to legal evidence, a moral means of 
 punishment may still be resorted to. Let every good, and 
 wise and virtuous man, discountenance and avoid the fla- 
 gitious incumbent, out of his ministry; and he will soon be 
 stripped, if not of his living, at least of his character, hi9 
 influence, and power ef injuring by his example ; the ob- 
 duracy of guilt will be melted by the sense of degradation ; 
 and, cut off from intercourse with all that is worthy, ho- 
 nourable, and respectable, he will be at length compelled 
 (if not to repent and reform) to hide his dishonoured head, 
 and acknowledge, in cheerless solitude, with Cain, " my 
 punishment is greater than 1 can bear." 
 
 P. Cardale 
 Published, at Evesham, in 1758, "A New Office of 
 Devotion," tkc. 
 
 William Baylies, M.D. 
 Formerly of Evesham, was the author of several tracts 
 *on medical subjects. He died at Berlin in the year 1787. 
 A professional gentleman of this city has a finely engraved 
 head of this person, by D. Berger, 1783, after a picture by 
 H. Schmid, 1779, and inscribed " Conseiller prive et 
 Medecin du Roi de Prusse, et Membre des Colleges Roy- 
 aux de Medicin de Londres et de Edinbourg." 
 
 William Russell, 
 A highly celebrated surgeon, of this city, was the eldest 
 child of Thos. Russell, Esq. of Chalmick, in the parish of 
 Hope Bowdler, near Church Stretton, Salop, and was born
 
 449 
 
 i» the year 1719- His father lived upon his own estate, 
 which was a manorial one, and it devolved to his son, 
 who was in fact a younger branch of the family of Russell, 
 of Ladlow Hays, Salop ; which family it is believed is now 
 extinct 5 the last male heir of it was a clergyman, who left 
 two daughters only. The subject of this sketch sold the 
 estate to Mr. Moore, of Millichap, and the gentleman who 
 now owns the estate at Chalmick is the Rev. Mr. Colcot, 
 the heir of Mr. Moore. 
 
 Mr. Russell was elected a Surgeon to the Worcester In- 
 firmary on its establishment in 1745, and on the resignation 
 of his office in 1793, he presented the Institution with 
 twenty guineas, at which time thanks were unanimously 
 voted him for the valuable services of eight and forty years, 
 and he was elected a Surgeon Extraordinary. He died at 
 his house in New-street, without a groan or a struggle, Dec. 
 3, 1801, and was buried, according to his desire, in the 
 church of St. Martin, in this city, in which parish he had 
 for a great number of years resided. His portrait (a copy) 
 was presented by his son in 1802, to the Worcester Infir- 
 mary, and now hangs in the board-room of that Institution. 
 It was given at the earnest request of the Medical gentle- 
 men of the Infirmary. For the following professional cha- 
 racter of Mr. Russell, I am obliged to an eminent Medi- 
 cal Practitioner residing in this city. 
 
 Mr. Russell, as a surgeon, was generally esteemed for 
 the correctness of his prognostics, to form which requires 
 such a degree of sagacity and penetration as does not fall to 
 the lot of every practitioner, and his opinions were at all 
 times founded on facts developed in similar cases, whose 
 progress he had marked and treasured up in his mind. He 
 could at any time apply to his memory for the number, 
 treatment, and event of most of the important cases in 
 which he had heen consulted, and never failed to give a 
 faithful account of the particular circumstances of each case. 
 His mind was devoted to, and admirably fitted for, the in- 
 vestigation of practical knowledge • he had an aversion to all 
 
 3 M
 
 450 
 
 hypothetical reasoning; and in professional statements, the 
 only parts which interested him were the authenticated facts. 
 He watched the operations, of the animal economy, as it is 
 called, with unremitting i dustry, and never superseded by 
 art, what nature appeared able to effect by her own powers ; 
 his practice was therefore always in conformity with these 
 principles. This may in a great degree account for his in- 
 superable rooted dislike to the practice of medicine, justly 
 considering that science was more difficult to attain, more 
 liable to mislead, and much less capable of demonstrative 
 evidence, than the established and more direct principles of 
 surgery. From disliking the study, he, at last, as age and 
 prejudice advanced, became averse to the use of medicine, 
 and may perhaps in some degree be said to have suffered 
 from his incredulity. His natural perseverance, added to 
 his love of surgery, together with the wealth he had began to 
 acquire by the exercise of his professional talents, made him 
 unwearied in his labours, and zealous in his pursuit after 
 knowledge in his art. These circumstances, I have often 
 heard him remark, encouraged him in the early part of his 
 life to encounter the difficulties and disappointments to 
 which all medical men are liable. Of his professional me- 
 rit, those of his own profession must undoubtedly supply 
 the most adequate judges, but the public at large may per- 
 haps form as true an estimate from the long popularity 
 which, as a surgeon, he possessed, not merely in Worcester, 
 but, also, in all the adjoining counties. When Mr. Russell 
 first commenced practice in this city, surgery was at a very 
 low ebb, but by the success and extent of his practice, he 
 was enabled to overcome many difficulties which were 
 thrown in his way by the ilhberality and malice of his pro- 
 fessional enemies, and in a few years, he acquired more 
 wealth than had been gained by the practice of surgery for 
 many years before. His reputation was not acquired or 
 supported by any unfair, illiberal, or sinister means, but 
 was the deserved reward of superior acquirements. His suc- 
 cessful and extensive practice was the natural and necessary
 
 451 
 
 result of a shrewd and sagacious intellect, which was kept 
 iu constant action by an inquisitive disposition, and which 
 never permitted him to reject any means, that promised to 
 improve the art of surgery, under the too frequent and invi- 
 dious title of innovations, yet his incredulity on many pro- 
 fessional subjects, he sometimes imagined to have been of 
 great service to him, inasmuch as it prevented him from 
 being liable to impertinence from empirics both in an out of 
 the profession, and as it also tended to produce that degree 
 of caution in his prognostics and practice which proved so 
 highly honourable to himself and so profitable to his patients. 
 As an operator, he was justly deemed neat and expert, and 
 his name has been often mentioned as such by the late Mr. 
 Hunter, Messrs. Pott, Cruikshanks, and other lecturers on 
 anatomy and surgery. A collection of cases, stated and ar- 
 ranged by Mr. Russell, would have proved of infinite bene- 
 fit to the profession, and might have instructed future prac- 
 titioners in the treatment of similar affections, independent 
 of any theory, which the progressive improvement of the 
 art might have deduced from them. To say thus much is 
 merely doing justice to his talents and abilities, which 
 though unquestionably thought highly of by many, were yet 
 perhaps not sufficiently appreciated, for it may with truth be 
 said, that in probity, in assiduity, in genuine compassion, 
 and in natural and acquired abilities, few, very few, have 
 better sustained or merited the character of a good and up- 
 right surgeon. Mr. Russell was a warm admirer of the 
 works of the late Mr. Hunter, he approved his general 
 principles, and frequently adopted his practice, justly es- 
 teeming him one of the first physiologists of the age. The 
 following sketch of part of the character of Mr. Hunter, 
 by Mr. (now Sir Everard) Home, is not an unapt delineation 
 of that of Mr. Russell, between whom and Mr. H. there 
 was much similarity of character. " His temper was very 
 warm and impatient, readily provoked, and, when irritated, 
 not easily soothed. His disposition in professional concerns 
 was candid and free from reserve. He hated deceit, and as
 
 452 
 
 he was above artifice himself, he detested it in others, and 
 sometimes too openly avowed his sentiments upon such 
 conduct."* 
 
 Henry Sanders, B. A. 
 A, Native of this county, was born at Dudley ; he was, 
 maternally, fourth in descent from a refugee family in Lor- 
 rain ; his lather has long been known and respected in the 
 counties of Worcester and Stafford. Henry Sanders, of 
 Stourbridge, who married a daughter of Thomas Rogers, 
 an eminent dealer in glass at Stourbridge, had four sons and 
 ivvo daughters ; of these, Thomas, the eldest, was a very 
 learned and ingenious surgeon and apothecary, much 
 esteemed by the celebrated George Lord JLyttelton, as also 
 by a very populous neighbourhood, for his great success in 
 inoculation, his personal character, and his ability in his 
 profession; Sarah, wife of William Grosvenor, of Kidder- 
 minster, apothecary ; Henry, Anne, Susannah, Daniel, and 
 John. As their father died during the minority of the 
 younger children, they came under the care of their brother 
 Thomas, who disposed of each as circumstances and oppor- 
 tunities served. Henry seemed to be rather more favoured 
 than his brothers Daniel and John, being by education, 
 good abilities, and the particular notice of the family of Ro- 
 gers, well fitted for a somewhat superior rank in life. 
 Though designed for the clothing business, his genius and 
 inclination led him to the study of medicine. He was a 
 
 * Well aware of the propensity of the lower order of persons to apply to 
 quacks for relief, Mr. Russell would frequently dismiss an incurable patient 
 from the Infirmary, with this injunction — "Now, I know you'll apply to 
 some old woman, or some possessor of a charm, to relieve you ; in that case, 
 promise them no money until they have cured you ; and then, send 
 them to me, and I will cheerfully pay them." It is needless to say these 
 applications to the worthy Surgeon were never made. In Mr. Chalmer's 
 Biographical Dictionary, it is related that Charles Brandon Trye, a late 
 surgeon of very superior abilities, was educated under Mr. Russell, of Wor- 
 cester. Mr. Trye was in fact a pupil of the Infirmary there, consequently 
 >vas equally a pupil of Mr, Jeffries, and the other surgeons of that Institution.
 
 453 
 
 noted and valuable apothecary and chemist at Dudley, in 
 this county, and was the inventor of a very useful medical 
 composition, which, in that part of the world, is exceed- 
 ingly admired, and for which receipt a considerable pre- 
 mium was offered by a learned physician. This Henry mar- 
 ried Miss Rebecca Kawkes, of a respectable family, the 
 descendants of whose brother live in great credit, and one, 
 if not two of them, in opulence, at Dudley. Henry Sanders 
 had, by his wife Rebecca, eleven children living at one 
 time, and at least nine at his decease, the eldest of whom, 
 the subject of this article, was Henry, author of the " His- 
 tory of Shenstone." Their father, with all his care and in- 
 dustry, was unable to provide them any pecuniary advan- 
 tages worth mentioning, having barely e competency to 
 support himself and daughters in the decline of life. A cir- 
 cumstance particularly favourable, however, attended his 
 three eldest sons, the benefit of a grammar school, which 
 was highly benefited by two succeeding grammar masters, 
 the former a relation, the Rev. Pynson Wihnott, M.A. af- 
 terwards Vicar of Hales Owen, Salop ; and the latter the 
 Rev. Benjamin Clements, B.A. afterwards Prebendary of 
 the Collegiate Church, Minster of St. John, and Head 
 Master of the Grammar School in Wolverhampton. Hen- 
 ry, having obtained an excellent classical education, was 
 well qualified for either of the three learned professions, 
 and the clerical suited more the disposition of his mind, 
 while his two brothers decidedly chose the medical. At 
 length a great difficulty arose how he could be supported 
 at the University, even in the most frugal manner, since his 
 father could spare but little from so large a family. A cir- 
 cumstance indeed occurred, which by many persons would 
 have been eagerly embraced : there was a contest between 
 two distinguished houses for the representation of the county 
 in Parliament, and it was confidently said that a nobleman 
 made an offer to assist the education of Henry, and advance 
 him in future life, if Ins father would consent. Such a 
 friendship might be perhaps owing to his Lordship's esteem
 
 454 
 
 for a near relation ; but the father would by no means ao 
 cept the offer, his interest and regard being entirely devoted 
 to the service of the noble family at Himley. By dint of 
 industry and ability, however, Henry procured an exhibition, 
 or clerkship in Oriel College, and was appointed by that So- 
 ciety to perform duty in King Edward's Hospital, a small dis- 
 tance from Oxford, before he was in orders. J3y great pru- 
 dence, many friends, and the favour of the College, he com- 
 bated every pecuniary difficulty, and tookthe degree of B. A. ; 
 which when he had determined, he left the University, being 
 desirous of encountering no farther trouble in the pursuit of 
 academical degrees. But, although he had abandoned such 
 inconveniences in the University, he had another still to 
 struggle with immediately, and that was how to be admitted 
 into holy orders. Notwithstanding all his literary merit, 
 he found it no easy matter to obtain a title, as curacies 
 were at that time scarce, and Dr. Maddox, then Bishop 
 of Worcester, treated him rather ungraciously ; so that, 
 between his disappointments with the beneficed clergy, his 
 numerous journies, many expences, and an almost empty 
 purse, the whole story, as he related it, would incline the 
 reader to laugh, although it would be impossible not to 
 pity his situation. Some time after, having been regularly 
 ordained, he resided upon a curacy at Wednesbury, about 
 four miles distant from his native town, the annual income 
 of which did not exceed 361. While he officiated at that 
 place, a respectable and rather wealthy family attracted his 
 esteem, which soon terminated in his marriage with the 
 elder daughter, Elizabeth Butler; but her family was not 
 satisfied with her choice of a husband possessed of so small 
 an income ; and they were compelled to support themselves, 
 and afterwards their infant, more than two years, upon 301. 
 stipend, and the vicarage-house in an adjoining parish, 
 West Bromwich. Providence at length, after such a com- 
 tented struggle with adversity, interposed in their behalf, 
 and they were removed to Shenstoue, a place not only de- 
 lightful ill its situation, but abounding with a number of
 
 455 
 
 worthy inhabitants. The author was no sooner appointed 
 to this comfortable curacy, than he was invited to be 
 one of the reading and domestic clergymen to Samuel Hill, 
 Esq. in whom he not only obtained a friend, but a consi- 
 derable increase of income, insomuch that the disobliged 
 father above-mentioned became so reconciled to his daushter 
 as to settle upon her the portion of a child. But this fe- 
 licity was of short duration ; he not only lost by deadi his 
 benefactor, Mr. Hill, but his wife did not survive her goino- 
 to Shenstone more than four vears. The eveniuof before 
 she departed, she desired to see her only child, then not 
 five years old : after giving some important instructions for 
 his future life, she enjoined him " to choose no other than 
 the clerical profession ; that, be his fortune ever so small, 
 he should disregard lucre, care of preferments, &c. ; for 
 that employment, properly discharged, was superior to any 
 other in the world." The next morning, about seven 
 o'clock, she sang an hymn, and instantly expired. Mr. 
 Sanders still continued his curacy of Shenstone, in his own 
 words, " loving and loved by his parishioners," till about 
 the end of thirteen years, when, unhappily for himself, and 
 disagreeably to all his flock, he accepted a station in Kinc 
 Edward the Sixth's School, at Birmingham, with a design to 
 superintend the education of his son, and obtain for him an 
 exhibition to College. Within two vears of his leaving: the 
 curacy of Shenstone he was engaged by Humphrey Minchin, 
 Esq. afterwards M. P. for Bossiuey, as private tutor to his 
 two eldest sons, who, removing to Birmingham for edu- 
 cation in that school, represented their former instructor in 
 such a favourable view to the Rev. Mr. Brailsford, head 
 master, that the then vacant place of assistant teacher to the 
 upper boys proved an allurement, with a curacy, and the 
 idea of superintending his son's education, to withdraw Mr. 
 Sanders from Shenstone. His heart, however, being with 
 his beloved people, and uneasy from the place he so much 
 delighted in, he was frequently occupied in preparing the 
 history of the parish where he had spent the happiest part of
 
 456 
 
 his life. Though he afterwards gained a comfortable settle- 
 ment as master of the free grammar school at Hales Owen, 
 Salop, by the favour of George Lord Lyttelton, and through 
 the recommendation of some friends, and also the perpetual 
 curacy of Oldbury Chapel, to which he was presented by 
 the Rev. Penson Wilmott ; yet no place afforded him con- 
 solation like Shenstone, where, though he had it not in his 
 power to end his days, agreeably to his wishes, his will ex- 
 pressly charged that his remains should be deposited in the 
 church where his pastoral duties had been so particularly 
 acceptable. From the time of his appointment at Hales 
 Owen, which was in 1771, till his decease in 1785, he had 
 lain aside all thoughts of preferment, seemed little anxious 
 about popular esteem, and devoted himself to retirement 
 and study. He was tolerably conversant in almost every 
 branch of literature, more especially theology, history, 
 and the classics ; and, had his abilities met with due en- 
 couragement in the early part of his life, he would have 
 made a conspicuous character in the learned world. The 
 " History of Shenstone," drawn up with great care and at- 
 tention, after a long and painful discharge of the important 
 duties of his sacred office, was prepared for the press during 
 his residence at Birmingham, where he had an inclination 
 to have printed it ; and was afterwards, from time to time, 
 improved during his residence at Hales Owen. At the dis- 
 tance of twenty years, it was submitted to public inspection, 
 as left by the author, except with the addition in a very few 
 places of a date, and occasionally a supplementary link in 
 the connection of a pedigree. His only son, the Rev. John 
 Butler Sanders, Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, 
 M. A. 1780, sometime chaplain to the British Factory at 
 Gottenburgh, well known and respected as a worthy di- 
 vine, was, in 1814, curate of St. Augustin and St. Faith, 
 and lecturer of St. Olave, Jewry, and St. Martin, Iron- 
 monger-lane, and second grammar master of St. Olave's 
 School, in Tooley-street. The full title of Mr. Sanders's 
 work is as follows : — " The History and Antiquities of
 
 457 
 
 Shenstone, in the county of Stafford, illustrated : together 
 with the Pedigrees of all the Families and Gentry, both an- 
 cient and modern, of that Parish. By the late Rev. Henry 
 Sanders, B. A. of Oriel College, Oxford, and thirteen 
 years Curate of Shenstone." 4to. 
 
 " The village of Shenstone, situate in a pleasant part of 
 the county of Stafford, and by all travellers admired as a 
 beautifnl and well-watered spot, has furnished copious ma- 
 terials for a description, by the esteem and affection borne to 
 its inhabitants by that faithful pastor, whose son has done 
 ample justice to his memory in his account of him prefixed, 
 and to the attachment of his parishioners, by a feeling dedica- 
 tion to them. It is believed there were more posthumous 
 works than the present, which would have been serviceable 
 to the public, and transmitted to the press, but as he had 
 bequeathed one to a noble Lord, in hopes that he would 
 have condescended to have published it ; there were, toge- 
 ther with it, carried away very many manuscripts, which, 
 we fear, are removed beyond the reach of recovery." 
 
 John Ash, LL. D. 
 A celebrated grammarian and lexicographer, was the au- 
 thor of a Complete Dictionary of the English Language, 
 2 vols. 8vo. 1775, and other works. He was born 1720, 
 and was a dissenting minister at Pershore, in this county, 
 where he died in March, 177.5. — See his memoirs in all 
 the Biographical Dictionaries ; also particulars of him in 
 the Gent leman's and London Magazines, 1779>andthe Wor- 
 cester Paper, 1775. 
 
 Henry Vaughan Jeffreys, 
 Whose very eminent abilities as a surgeon entitle him to a 
 place among the celebrated men of Worcester, was the son of 
 Herbert Jeffreys, Esq. of Old Kington House, in the 
 county of Hereford ; but it is believed the subject of this 
 sketch was born at Argos, in Radnorshire, certainly on the 
 20th June, 1722. He was an apprentice to Mr. Stephen 
 
 3n
 
 458 
 
 Edwards, of Worcester, afterwards surgeon to the Worcester 
 Infirmary, to which place, after having pursued his medical 
 education in London, he returned as a practitioner. In 
 1747 Mr. Jeffreys was appointed one of the surgeons of the 
 Worcester Infirmary; and he is highly eulogised in the 
 Histories of Worcester for the share which he took in pro- 
 moting the establishment of this institution, and for the in- 
 dustry and skill with which he performed its duties. He 
 died at his house in Foregate-street, Jan. 6, 1803. 
 
 Sir Richard Wrottesley, Bart. LL. D. Dean of 
 Worcester, 1765, 
 
 Was installed May 30. This gentleman went late into the 
 clerical order, having been a Member of the House of Com- 
 mons, and held a place at the Board of Green Cloth. He 
 died 1769. 
 
 Samuel Foote 
 Was born in the year 1 722, and was educated at Wor- 
 cester King's College School, at the same period with Dr. 
 Nash. " His turn for mimicry," says the Doctor, " was 
 perfectly natural, for, when a boy of ten years old, he ex- 
 celled 111 it. Being acquainted and related to many of the 
 principal families of Worcester, he was frequently invited 
 to their houses on Sundays and holidays ; the next day the 
 whole school was made idle by attending to Foote's taking 
 off, and ridiculing all the parties he had seen the preceding 
 day. He was entered of Worcester College, Oxford, where 
 he was chosen scholar, being nearly related to the founder ; 
 here he continued about two years, but the trammels of a 
 college did not suit his genius. When a scholar, he went to 
 Bath, played high, kept several footmen, and a good house. 
 I remember one anecdote of him (continues Dr. Nash) 
 which shews that his humour still continued with him. It 
 was a college exercise to repeat in the hall some part of a 
 classic, Foote chose the 9th satire of the 1st book of Ho- 
 race, which begins " Ibam forte via sacra," which he re-
 
 459 
 
 cited with such infinite humour that the whole college, even 
 the gravest of them, could not refrain from loud laughter. 
 When he had acquired a large fortune, by various means, he 
 came down and lived at Charlton, about a year, in very 
 great splendor, with a coach and six, and a great retinue : 
 his old school-master went to see him, to whom he gave a 
 very handsome piece of plate from his sideboard ; at this 
 magnificence the old gentleman expressed some surprise, 
 saying, ' Pray, Sir, what may all these fine things have 
 cost r' ' Indeed,' said Foote, ' I know not what they cost, 
 but I shall very soon know what they will sell for.'" He 
 was born at Truro, in Cornwall ; and died Oct. 21, 1777- 
 
 Timothy Neve, D. D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1783, 
 
 Was born at Spalding October 12, 1724, and died at 
 Oxford January 1, 1793. He had accumulated a very con- 
 siderable collection of books and curious pamphlets, which 
 were dispersed after his death, most of which contained 
 MS. notes of great value. He was the author of " Ser- 
 mons," and " Animadversions on Phillips's Life of Cardi- 
 nal Pole." In the Transactions of the Royal Society are 
 some papers by a Rev. Tim. Neve, (perhaps his father) 
 viz. — Observations of two Parhelia, or Mock Suns, seen 
 December 30, 1735; and of an Aurora Borealis, Decem- 
 ber 11, 1735; and another on the Aurora Borealis seen 
 near Chelsea, London, 1738. Seventeen sermons, by 
 the subject of this article, were published by subscription 
 for the benefit of his family. — See Chalmers's Biographical 
 Dictionary, and Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes. 
 
 Treadway Russell Nash, D. D. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Clerkenleap, in 
 the parish of Kempsey, June 24, 1725; he was descended 
 from an ancient gentleman's family in this county ; his an- 
 cestors, about the Reformation, purchased shares of the 
 manor and lands of St. Peter's, near Droitwich ; before that 
 time they possessed lauds in Gaines, and at Ombersley,
 
 460 
 
 where they resided, and where the family continued to live for 
 many generations. About the year 1630, James Nash, of 
 St. Peter's, divided his property among his relatives, giving 
 his estate at Martley to his son by a second wife, named 
 Richard, who was a Member of Parliament for the city of 
 Worcester the 27th of Elizabeth ; and John Nash, (see his 
 article, p. 117,) Member also for the said city, who com- 
 manded a troop of horse, and was an active Justice of the 
 Peace in the time of Oliver Cromwell, &c. ; he was also an 
 eminent clothier, and an Alderman of Worcester, where he 
 founded an hospital, and left many charitable legacies to the 
 citizens for clothing apprentices, and setting up young trades- 
 men in business. (Vide Chambers's Worcester, p. 286.) — 
 He purchased several considerable estates at Martley, Shels- 
 ley, &c. which he afterwards exchanged for lands at Dod- 
 derhill, near Droitwich ; and also left to his family an estate 
 in the parish of Kempsey, called Clerkenleap, which conti- 
 nued for some generations to be the family seat. The Al- 
 derman and his brothers were much at variance during the 
 civil wars of Charles I. as the latter were very active in their 
 exertions in favour of the King.* 
 
 • In a note upon a note in Dr. Nash's Hudibras, occasioned by the in- 
 sertion of the name of Tom Nash, a writer of farces in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, and who died before 1606, the Doctor says, " This Tom Nash should 
 not be confounded with Thomas Nash, barrister, of the Inner Temple, who 
 is buried in that church, and has the following inscription : — ' Depositura 
 Thomas Nash, generosi honesta orti familia in agro Vigorniensi, viri, chari- 
 tate, humilitate eximii et mire mansueti ; Graece, Latine, Gallice et Italici, 
 apprimedocti, pliirium (quos scripsit, transtulit, elucidavitedidit) librorum 
 authoris jure amplectandi, Interioris Templi annos circiter 30 repagularis, 
 nonsolidi minus quam synceri. Tho. Nash obiit 2$° Augusti, 1648.' I 
 have never seen any of his works, but am informed that the "School of Po- 
 tentates, translated from the Latin, with Observations," in 8vo. 1648, was 
 his, and that he probably wrote the " Four-fold Discourse," in 4to. 1632; 
 he was a zealous loyalist, contrary to the sentiments of his two brothers, the 
 ejdest a country gentleman in Worcestershire, of considerable estate, from 
 whom the editor is descended, was very active in supporting the public cause, 
 and the government of Cromwell : the younger brother commanded a troop of 
 horse in the Parliament service, was a Member of Parliament for the city of 
 V)'oreestcr, and an active Justice of the Peace under the Protector. The fa-
 
 461 
 
 Richard Nash, Esq. the father of the subject of this me- 
 moir, was married to Elizabeth, daughter of George Tread- 
 way, Esq. by whom he had many children ; he dying, was 
 succeeded, in 1740, by his eldest son Richard, who, in 
 1753, married Frances Ravenhill, heiress of the ancient fa- 
 mily of the Russells, of Strensham, in this county, in con- 
 sequence of which he took the name of Russell, in addition 
 to that of his own, but dying suddenly, in 1757, and leaving 
 no issue, his paternal property devolved to his brother 
 Treadway, who also became heir of the Strensham estate 
 on the death of his late brother's widow in 1794, when he 
 likewise took the name of Russell. Treadway Russell Nash 
 was born at Clerkenleap, June 24, 1725, and at the age 
 of 12 years was sent to the King's School at Worcester, 
 where he was placed under the care of Mr. Miles, and leav- 
 ing Worcester, forOxon, was, before he had arrived at the 
 age of 15, elected a scholar of Worcester College. In 
 March, 1749, he accompanied his brother Richard on a tour 
 for the recovery of his health, to the Continent, where, after 
 remaining in Paris about six weeks, they spent the remainder 
 of the summer on the banks of the Loire; in the month of 
 October and the following year, they visited Bourdeaux, 
 Thoulouse, Montpelier, Marseilles, Leghorn, Florence, 
 Rome, Naples, Bologna, Venice, Padua, Verona, Milan, 
 Lyons, and again Paris, from whence Mr. Nash returned 
 to Oxford the latter end of the summer of 1751.* About 
 this time, he was presented by his friend, Mr. Martin, who 
 was afterwards his brother-in-law, to the vicarage of Ens- 
 ham, in Oxfordshire, he also undertook the office of tutor 
 at Worcester College, which he continued till the death of 
 
 mtly quarrel, (on political accounts) which was carried on with the greatest 
 animosity, and most earnest desire to ruin each other, together with the decline 
 of the King's affairs, and particularly the execution of his person, so affected 
 the spirits of Mr, Thos. Nash that he determined not long to survive it." 
 
 * Nichols, in his Literary Anecdotes, says, he proceeded M. A. 1746 ; and 
 B. aud D. D. 1753. A.t Worcester College he was tutor to one of the Win- 
 nington family.
 
 462 
 
 his brother, in 1757, when he resigned the living of Ens- 
 ham, and left Oxford, having taken the degree of D. D. 
 and gone ont grand compounder. During his residence at 
 Oxford and Ensharn, he not only discharged his duty to the 
 utmost of his power, as a tutor and fellow of a college, but 
 endeavoured to promote the interest of the neighbourhood 
 by every possible means ; he was the first who projected a 
 carriage road from Oxford to Witney, and was very active 
 on many other occasions during that period of his life, parti- 
 cularly at the contested election for the county of Oxford, 
 though his name was not reflected on in the prints and pas- 
 quinades of those times. 
 
 In October, 1758, he married Margaret, youngest daugh- 
 ter of John Martin, Esq. of Overbury, near Tewkesbury, 
 for which borough Mr. Martin was many years Member of 
 Parliament. Immediately on his marriage, Dr. Nash pur- 
 chased an estate, and the lease of a house at Bevere, in the 
 parish of Claines, in this county, where he for some time 
 resided. At the expiration of his lease, he made large addi- 
 tions to a neighbouring house, which he had subsequently 
 purchased, and to which the walks and pleasure grounds he had 
 before made were equally convenient. In the year 1759, as 
 the furniture, &c. of Dr. Nash were being conveyed from 
 London, an accident, as extraordinary as it was unfortunate, 
 occurred. A bottle of aqua-fortis, which was in the waggon, 
 being ill corked, opened, and the spirit running over some 
 deal boxes which took lire and set the whole in a flame, 
 property to the amount of 20001. belonging to Dr. Nash, 
 was unfortunately burnt, besides a good collection of books, 
 and a very curious and valuable selection of drawings and 
 prints, which he and his brother had purchased in France 
 and Italy. In 1773, Dr. Nash first conceived the idea of 
 some persons writing the History of Worcestershire, little 
 imagining he should himself ever undertake so laborious a 
 work ; he proposed the plan to several persons, and offered 
 to subscribe 200 or 3001. to encourage the work : 
 finding, however, that no eligible persons applied, he set
 
 463 
 
 earnestly about it himself, and in June, 1774, published his 
 intentions, requesting all persons who had in their posses- 
 sion any papers that might tend to promote the work, to 
 communicate them either to him, or to Mr. Clarke, the de- 
 puty Registrar, at Worcester. In the following year he 
 printed enquiries, which were sent to every clergyman in 
 the diocese, and to many gentlemen, but from those he re- 
 ceived little information; he, however, persevered steadily 
 and industriously in his plan, and after the labour of several 
 years, sent the first volume to the press, which was published 
 in the year 1781, (April) folio, and the second volume 
 in the year after,* 700 copies of which were printed on 
 demy, and 50 on royal paper. In 1799, he closed his labours 
 by a thin folio volume of 104 pages, under the title of Supple- 
 ment to the Collections for the History of Worcester. A 
 second edition of Dr. Nash's Worcestershire was published 
 in 1800. In August, 1802, Dr. Nash was appointed 
 Proctor to represent the Clergy of the Diocese, he was also 
 a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His connexion with 
 Strensham, to the rectory of which parish he had been insti- 
 tuted in December, 1797, made him anxious to see such an 
 edition of the works of Butler, a native of that place, as 
 might do honour to his name, and to the county which pro- 
 duced him; accordingly, in 1793, he published a splendid 
 edition of Hudibras,f in 2 vols. 4to. with a third of notes, it 
 was embellished with many engravings after Hogarth, and 
 
 * Dr. Nash's Worcestershire is very incomplete in the botanic part ; if he 
 had used Hudson's Flora for his work, he would have escaped the censure he 
 had on that score, because that work lay before him. We must not expect 
 Dr. Nash to be a botanist, but he might have applied to friends. 
 
 Daniel Prince, 1780, in NichoVs Anecdotes. 
 
 Dr. Nash has just published the first volume of his Worcestershire ; u is a 
 folio of prodigious corpulence, and yet dry enough, but then it is finely 
 dressed, and has many heads and views. — Walpole to Cole, 229, 1781. 
 
 + Isaac Reed presented Dr. Nash with some original notes on iludibras, 
 written principally by Mr. Montague Brown, and afterwards published by 
 Nichols.
 
 464 
 
 John Skipp, Esq. * 8tc. — See a high character of this work, 
 hi the Monthly Revieio, New Series, vol. xv. p.p. 172-177. 
 Dr.Nash died at his house at Bevere, Jan. 26, 1811, aged 
 86, after a long and painful illness, and on the 4th of Fe- 
 bruary, his remains were interred in the family vault at St. 
 Peter's, Droitwich, where he himself had, before his death, 
 put up an inscription to his memory, of which rectory he and 
 his ancestors had been patrons for a long series of years ; his 
 wife survived him only four months, and died at the age of 77, 
 Dr. Nash left only one daughter, married to the present Right 
 Honourable Lord Somers. "This respectable and learned 
 divine, (says Mr, Nichols of Dr. Nash, in his Literary 
 Anecdotes,) was the venerable father of the magistracy^ of the 
 county of Worcester. If the good Doctor (as I know to 
 have been the case) grew tired at last both of the labour 
 and the expence of editing a county history, his own ac- 
 count of his motives for undertaking it will in some decree 
 plead his excuse :" — " Above twenty years ago, coming into 
 possession of a considerable real estate in this my native 
 county, I determined, as far as was consistent with a proper 
 
 * John Skipp, of Upper Ledbury, Herefordshire, Esq. was an amateur of 
 the polite arts, of which he possessed a critical knowledge ; he gave a picture 
 of the Crucifixion, by Tintore!, to Merton College, Oxford, of which he had 
 been gentleman commoner, and died in his 84th year, in April, 1790. Many 
 of his drawings for Dr. Nash's Hudibras, head and tail pieces chiefly, are in 
 the possession of the Right Hon. Lady Somers. I have seen 40 duplicate 
 impressions of subjects from the Old Masters, executed by this gentleman in 
 a bold free style, they are executed in neutral tints from blocks, in the style 
 of Jackson, of Battersea, who, in 1754, published a pamphlet, " An Essay 
 on the Invention of Engraving and Printing, in chiaro oscuro, as practised 
 by Albert Durer, &c. and the application of it to the making paper hangings 
 of taste, duration, and elegance ; illustrated with prints in their proper co- 
 lours :"the pamphlet is in my possession,and the copies alluded to byMr.Skipp, 
 are the property of gentlemen of this county. 
 
 i Dr. Barton being in company with Dr. Nash after the publication of his 
 Collections, the Warden humorously observed to the Doctor, that his publica- 
 tion was deficient in many respects. Dr. N. as was but natural, endeavoured 
 to defend his volume in the best manner he was able. " Pray Doctor," said 
 the Warden, " Are you not a Justice of the Peace ?" " I am," replied the 
 Doctor; then said Barton, " I advise you to send your work to the House 
 of Correction."
 
 4G5 
 
 attention to my own affairs, to serve my countrymen and 
 neighbours by every means in my power. Thus I became a 
 mere provincial man, confining my ambition within the an- 
 cient province of VViccia, now commonly known by the name 
 of Worcestershire. I had oftentimes wished that some one 
 would write the history and antiquities of the county. 1 
 proposed the undertaking to several persons, offering them 
 all the assistance in my power. I invited the Society of 
 Antiquaries to choose a proper person, promising to open 
 a subscription with three or four hundred pounds. Failing 
 in success in all my applications, I offered my own shoul- 
 ders, however unequal to the burthen, reflecting that though 
 very little had been published, yet this work was in some 
 degree made easv, because materials had been collecting 
 for near 200 years." The original collectors (of whom Dr. 
 Nash gives several particulars) were Thomas Habingdon 
 and his son William, and the MSS. of both augmented by 
 those of Dr. Thomas, and of Bishop Lyttelton, &c. hav- 
 ing been bequeathed to the Society of Antiquaries, Dr. Nash 
 was indulged, in 1774, with the unreserved use of them, 
 for the purpose of publication. " " When I first undertook 
 this work," he says, " it did not appear so troublesome or 
 expensive as I afterwards found it, but having once begun, 
 I determined to persevere : it has been my amusement, and 
 I hope the reader's expectation will not be absolutely disap- 
 pointed. I was the better enabled to go through with it, as 
 1 lived within my income, and by inclination as well as pro- 
 fession, was restrained from elections, gaming, horse-rac- 
 ing, fox-hunting, and such other pleasures as are too fre- 
 quently the ruin of country gentlemen. Many alterations 
 were to be made, and much was to be added to the mate- 
 rials already collected, as well to supply defects as to bring 
 the work down to the present time. Many errors must in- 
 evitably occur in a book of this kind, which the editor wishes 
 earnestly to correct : if, therefore, any gentleman more in- 
 timately acquainted than himself with any parish here de- 
 scribed, would be so obliging as to communicate his cor- 
 
 3 o
 
 466 
 
 rections or additions either to himself, at Bever6, near 
 Worcester, or inclosed, to any of the booksellers mentioned 
 in the title page, they shall be printed on separate sheets, 
 and given to the purchasers of this work, as it is not pro- 
 bable a book of this kind should ever require a 2d edition. 
 1 should be very ungrateful if I did not acknowledge the 
 favours already received from many learned friends, Mr. 
 Gough,* Mr. Manning, Mr. Rose,f Mr. Pennant, Dr. 
 Percy, Dean of Carlisle, Mr. Farley, Mr. Brooke, Mr. 
 Astle, Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Lightfoot, &c. not to mention 
 the communications of many gentlemen of this county. 
 Some may be displeased with the manner in which these 
 collections are disposed, and may think they should have 
 been arranged in hundreds, or according to the course of 
 rivers ; but whoever is acquainted with the irregular shape 
 of the county, with the disjointed manner in which the pa- 
 rishes lie that compose the several hundreds, must know 
 that it is almost impossible to throw them into any other 
 form, especially as I do not presume to call this account 
 an history, but only Parochial Collections for an history; 
 and it is hoped that in some future day an able hand will se- 
 lect from all the provincial histories what is really useful or 
 curious, and add it by way of notes to a new edition of 
 
 * " I have at present undertaken to assist our brother Nash in pub- 
 lishing his Worcestershire Collections. Abingdon's are his ground-work, on 
 which he builds a later superstructure. The pursuit is new to the editor, 
 but he spares no expence of original record and plates, and adopts the mo- 
 de^ title of " Parochial Collections." — Extract from a letter of Gough's f 
 {June 6, 1780,) who superintended the printing of Dr. Nash's Collections. 
 
 " I am g!ad to hear Worcestershire is likely to appear by the means of your 
 fostering auspices. I did not know it was in such forwardness. If it is a 
 subscription work, I should like to subscribe my mite to it. Last year Mr. 
 Bromley, of Worcester, mentioned it to me, and it was an argument he 
 made use of to get from me, by permission of Lord Montford, a fine pedigree 
 of his family, which he has never yet returned to me ; he said it was to lend 
 to Dr. Nash, to correct or add to that pedigree meant to be printed in the 
 book. I hope it does not, like Morant, exclude church uotes, arms, and 
 epitaphs." — Letter from Cole to Gough, June 18, 1780. 
 
 + Mr. Rose translated the Doomsday Book for him.
 
 467 
 
 * Camden'' s Britannia.' Much of what is here written ma)', 
 to indifferent persons, appear trifling and uninteresting ; but 
 to such as have property or connections in the county, the 
 same things may be amusing, if not useful and instructive ; 
 and it must be always remembered, that a county historian 
 is by profession a dealer in small ware." The second vo- 
 lume appeared in 1782, without a preface, but inscribed 
 " To the Rising Generation of his Countrymen." It hav- 
 ing been hinted, in the Gent's Mag. that perhaps an 8vo. 
 edition of Dr. Nash's Hudibras might be acceptable to the 
 public, a note appeared in that publication, thanking Mr. 
 Nichols " for the civil things he had said of him in his Ma- 
 gazine : to an 8vo. edition of the Hudibras wished for, be 
 pleased to let him know by a line. — Bever6, Aug. 16, 1802." 
 This edition, however, was never published. Besides the 
 works mentioned in this account, Dr. Nash published seve- 
 ral smaller works, chiefly upon subjects relative to pro- 
 vincial business, to which he did not put his name. His 
 " Observations on the Time of the Death and Place of 
 Burial of Queen Catherine Parr," were read at the Society 
 of Antiquaries, June 14, 1787. — See two letters to Mr. 
 Granger from Dr. Nash, asking his advice, in Mr. Gran- 
 ger's Letters. 
 
 It seems uniformly the custom with the topographers of 
 Worcester to abuse each preceding collector, from whose 
 materials they have gained their earlier information ; this ap- 
 plies to Habingdon, Thomas Hopkins, and Lyttelton ; 
 Dr. Nash must, however, be omitted in this charge ; and his 
 work will be found, by those who have perused it through- 
 out, to be as correct, and to contain as much valuable mat- 
 ter, as any similar work of such magnitude, the production 
 of an individual. 
 
 There is a gentleman in this county every way fitted for 
 the task of writing its history, who has for many years been 
 making a collection which shall supersede Dr. Nash's 
 book. I trust it will be published, and in such a style as 
 the present public encouragement of such works, and the
 
 4(58 
 
 great perfection of English art, will allow. Perhaps I may- 
 be permitted to hint, that the manner in which Omerad'S 
 Cheshire is given to the public, particularly in the deco- 
 rative part, reflects as high credit on the author and on the 
 subscribers, as it does on the period and country that [pro- 
 duced it. 
 
 Charles Clarke, 
 Whose concerts, about the year l?CO, were frequent in 
 the city of Worcester, was a lay clerk of the Cathedral. In 
 1764 he published a book of songs. He died in the year 
 1789, and, it is believed, at Burton-upon-Trent. 
 
 Jeremiah Clarke, 
 A presumed Native of this city, was the son of the above, 
 and was also a chorister and lay clerk of the Cathedral ; he 
 was a pupil of Mr. Isaac, the organist, and conductor or the 
 Music-Meetings. J. Clarke was for a short time organist 
 at this Cathedral, to which situation he was appointed in 
 1806, on the death of Mr. Pitt. In 1791 he published ten 
 songs, in score, dedicated to the Marquis of Donncgal, 
 and in 1797, eight songs and four canzonets, and instruc- 
 tions for singers. He was also patronised by Lord Dudley 
 and Ward, at whose house he was a frequent visitant. He 
 went to settle in Birmingham, where he resided for some 
 time, and died at Bromsgrove in May, 1809- These 
 Clarkes must not be confounded with a Dr. John Clarke, 
 who some time since resided for about half a year in this 
 city, and now lives at Cambridge : he was the pupil of Phi- 
 lip Hayes, Mus. Doc. 
 
 John Tottie, D.D. Archdeacon of Worcester, 1774, 
 Whose father was Chaplain to Lloyd, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, was educated at Worcester College, of which he 
 became afterwards fellow ; he was also a Canon of Christ's 
 Church, Oxford, Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty, 
 and Rector of the parish of St. Martin, in this city, and
 
 469 
 
 preached a sermon in 1772, when that chinch had been re- 
 paired, from Acts vii. v. 48, printed at Oxford. lie in- 
 formed Mr. Jones, of Welwyn, that the Remarks on the 
 Bible, collected by Bishop Lloyd, (see his article) he re- 
 turned very faithfully to his Lordship's grandson, as also the 
 letter from Queen Mary. Dr. Tottie was the author of a 
 volume of sermons, preached before the University of Ox- 
 ford, " designed as preservatives against the sophistical arts 
 of the Papists, and the delusions of the Methodists," 1765 ; 
 and three Charges to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of 
 Worcester, 1775. In one of his sermons he endeavoured 
 to shew the sinfulness and folly of the matter contained in 
 one of the papers of the North Briton, of which Charles 
 Churchill was the author. The inscription on the tomb of 
 Bishop Hough, in Worcester Cathedral, has been generally 
 ascribed to Dr. Tottie ; but in the Gcnt.'s Mag. 1807, is a 
 communication, presuming it to have been written by Dr. 
 Smallridge. Dr. Tottie died November 21, 1774, a few 
 days before Bishop Johnson, who not having collated to it, 
 the vacant turn devolved to the Crown. 
 
 Thomas Johnson, 
 Architect, of this city, was the builder of the new west 
 window of this Cathedral in 1789, and the new east win- 
 dow in 1792. He died in 18°0- His wife painted some 
 of the subjects on the glass of these windows, many of which 
 are now gone ; they were inappropriate and trifling designs, 
 and not vitrified. Johnson has been accused of cutting 
 away much of the beautiful enrichment of the tower of this 
 Cathedral, and also of beautifying it. A person of a si- 
 milar name and profession died in Sidbury, near this city, in 
 1786. 
 
 William Hughes, M.A. 
 Upwards of 50 years a minor canon of this Cathedral, and 
 Vicar of St. Peter the Great, in this city, in 17^3. In 1763 
 he wrote " Remarks upon Church Music," and " Observ-
 
 470 
 
 ations on Handel's Oratorios ;" and died B. D. at Leomin- 
 ster, aged 70, August 13, 1798. The following epitaph 
 was written on this gentleman, en badinage, at Tom's Cof- 
 fee House, Worcester, (nearly facing the Star and Garter) 
 by a gentleman now living, and one of a number of wits 
 who at that time resorted to this city : 
 
 Let this stone 
 Perpetuate the memory of 
 
 William Hughes. 
 
 Great was his genius, 
 
 Small his preferment : 
 
 The oracle of a coffee-house, 
 
 He wished not to shine in a more exalted sphere, 
 
 He laughed through life, 
 
 And his face made others laugh too ; 
 
 Not that it was peculiarly comic, 
 
 But ludicrously serious. 
 
 Not remarkable for preaching, 
 
 He was distinguished 
 
 By his Musical Talents ; 
 
 And tho' not in unison with any one, 
 
 Died 
 
 In harmony with 
 
 All. 
 
 A Dean of the College, complaining to Mr. Hughes that 
 he was much annoyed by rats, Mr. Hughes replied, "Make 
 Prebendaries of them, Mr. Dean, you will then only see 
 them once a year." 
 
 Rev. Arthur Vaughan, 
 Was one of the successors of Mr. Charles Dodd, (see 
 Addenda) at Harvington, in this county. He was a native 
 of Wales, and studied at Douay College ; ordained about 
 the year 1750-1, and remained at Harvington until his 
 death, July 17, 1792, at the age of about 66 years. He 
 was the author of — 1 . The Triumphs of the Cross, a Life of 
 St. Mary of Egypt, in verse; 2. The Ghost of Sansom- 
 fields, on occasion of Mr. Wharton's* abandoning his flock 
 
 * A Roman Catholic clergyman of Worcester, a native of America, and 
 a member of the Order of Ignatius Loyola, became a Protestant about the
 
 471 
 
 at Worcester; 3. Dr. Madan's Thelypthora burlesqued; 
 which the contributor of this article has seen in MS. but 
 never heard of its being printed. 
 
 ThomasRandolph, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 
 
 1768, 
 
 President of Corpus Christi College in 1748, afterwards 
 Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, and Archdeacon of 
 Oxford, died March 24, 1783 ; he was the father of Ran- 
 dolph, Bishop of London, and author of a Sermon on Faith 
 and Works. — See Nichols's Anecdotes. 
 
 Robert Foley, D.D. Dean of Worcester, 1778, 
 Was educated at Westminster, and probably of Brazen 
 Nose College, Oxford, enjoyed this dignity but little more 
 than four years, dying in 1783. He had the living of New- 
 ent, Gloucestershire, and was also Rector of Kingham, near 
 Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Mr. Foley was a distin- 
 guished scholar, of social habits, and, above all, a good man. 
 About the time he held theDeanry, the custom was first abo- 
 lished of inviting the Members of the Corporation to the 
 Audit dinner. 
 
 James Stillingfleet, A.M. Prebendary of Worcester, 
 
 1772, 
 Was born September 14th, 1729, and was the son of 
 James Stillingfleet, of Doctor's Commons, Registrar of the 
 Diocese of this See, grandson of James Stillingfleet, Dean 
 of Worcester, and great grandson of Bishop Stillingfleet. 
 He received his education at Westminster School, under 
 Dr. Nichol, and being removed to Oxford, obtained a 
 Hebrew Fellowship at Wadham College, and was afterwards 
 
 same time with Mr. Hawkins, (see his article) and resided, until about the 
 year 1784, in the house attached to the Catholic Chapel, in Sansom-fields. 
 He left this country for America, where, on his arrival, he published a 
 Letter to the Catholics of Worcester, which gave rise to one of the produc- 
 tions by Mr. Hawkins.
 
 472 
 
 elected Fellow of Merton. Here he became a proficient 
 in the Hebrew language, which he read without the points. 
 His associates were eminent for piety and learning, and un- 
 der the influence of some of them, he imbibed the principles 
 of the Hutchinsonian system of philosophy. He held the 
 living of Shawbury, Shropshire, for some years. Under 
 the patronage of the Earl of Dartmouth, he was promoted 
 to a Prebend in this Church, which he continued to oc- 
 cupy till his decease ; he also held, at different times, the 
 livings of St. Martin, in this city, and of St. John, in its 
 vicinity, and was many years Rector of Knightwick and Dod- 
 denham. He published three single sermons, viz. l."The 
 Christian Ministry and Stewardship," preached before the 
 University of Oxford, June 8, 1760 ; 2. " Unity of Faith, 
 Righteousness of Life, and Obedience to the Civil Powers 
 commended," preached in the Cathedral Church of Wor- 
 cester on a general fast, Feb. 21, 1781 ; 3. "National Gra- 
 titude," a thanksgiving sermon, preached November 29> 
 1798, on occasion of the victory obtained over the French 
 fleet, off the Nile, by Lord Nelson. He also wrote, in 
 1763, "An Account of the Life and Ministry of the Rev. 
 Samuel Walker, Curate of Truro, in Cornwall," prefixed to 
 that author's Lectures on the Church Catechism, to which 
 he only attached the signature of his initials. He died at 
 at his house at Malvern, July 6, 1817, in the 88th year of 
 his age, after being for five-and-forty years Prebendary of 
 this Cathedral, leaving three sons by his first wife, Kathe- 
 rine, daughter of Herbert Maekworth, Esq. of Gnoll Cas- 
 tle, Glamorganshire; and two daughters by his second 
 wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Win, Hale, Esq. of King's 
 Waldon Park, Herts; and was buried in this Cathedral, 
 where is a mural slab to his memory, close to the monu- 
 ment of Bishop Hough. In November, 1819, were pub- 
 lished, by W. Walcott, " Sermons, preached in the Cathedral 
 Church of Worcester," by the subject of this article, in 
 1 vol. 8vo.
 
 473 
 
 James Johnstone, M.D. 
 A Physician to the Worcester Infirmary, who practised 
 both at Kidderminster, and afterwards in this city, for more 
 than half a century, was the fourth son of John Johnstone, 
 Esq. of Galabank, an ancient branch of the Johnstones, 
 of Johnstone ; he was born at Anandale,* in Scotland, 
 April 14, 1730, in which town he received the rudiments 
 of his education, under the Rev. Dr. Henry, afterwards 
 celebrated for his History of England. He continued at 
 Annan, or at Moffatt, assisted in his studies by his bro- 
 ther, the Rev. Edward Johnstone, heir of Moffatt, till he 
 had attained his 15th year, at which period his progress in 
 classical learning was such as to induce his friends to remove 
 him to the University of Edinburgh. He very early deter- 
 mined on medicine as the profession of his future life, and 
 pursued the study of it, for the space of three years, under 
 the auspices of the elder Munro, and Professors Whytt, 
 St. Clair, Rutherford, and Plummer, spending his vaca- 
 tions with his brother, the minister of Moffatt, and reced- 
 ing from this pious source the most valuable instruction. 
 As he was thought at this time too young for practice, the 
 fourth year of his professional studies was devoted to foreign 
 travel. He went to Paris, where he perfected himself in 
 anatomy under Ferriere, and in chemistry under Rouelle. 
 In June, 1750, he received the degree of M.D. in the 
 University of Edinburgh, publishing for his thesis, " De 
 Aeris factitii imperio in primis corporis humani viis*" In 
 this dissertation he availed himself largely of the experiments 
 of Hales and Boyle ; and it is no trifling praise to a young 
 man of 20 years of age, that Dr. Priestley should say of his 
 dissertation, that, for the time, it contained a great deal of 
 important information. 
 
 * The subject of this article was the representative of the ancient branch 
 of the Johnstoues, of Johnstoune, in Annandale. The family, before the 
 union of the Crowns, possessed considerable estates near Annan, and are siill 
 possessed of an estate held of the Crown, with other proj erty in laud thcie. 
 
 3 P
 
 474 
 
 In 1751 Dr. Johnstone settled as a physician at Kidder- 
 minster, where he experienced the kind offices of Dr. Mac- 
 kenzie, who had retired from practice in Worcester, as ap- 
 pears by a letter from Dr. St. Clair, dated Nov. 1751. In 
 this letter, the Doctor says, "As to yourself, allow me to 
 repeat, in a few words to you, the sum of my former ad- 
 vice, — be honest, be prudent, be diligent and complaisant, 
 — thus you will not fail of success, which I wish you most 
 heartily." His worthy friend's wishes were soon realized, 
 for in the first year of his practice, though only 21 years of 
 age, he acquired 100 pounds, and never afterwards had oc- 
 casion to apply to his father for pecuniary assistance. It 
 was here that the cases of gall stones came under his care, 
 the history of which was inscribed in the Philosophical 
 Transactions, 1. xxi. p. 543, under the title of " Two ex- 
 traordinary Cases of Gall Stones." From the low situation 
 and crowded population of Kidderminster, malignant fevers, 
 and sore throats, had often been prevalent and fatal ; a cir- 
 cumstance which arrested the attention of this reflecting 
 physician, and the result was the introduction of the use of 
 mineral acids, Peruvian bark, and a tonic system, in lieu of 
 bleeding, and every other debilitating means. It was pro- 
 bably the success attending the internal exhibition of mi- 
 neral acids which first suggested to him the idea of raising 
 them in the form of a vapour, as a means of destroying con- 
 tagion. This he did by pouring the sulphuric acid on com- 
 mon salt, of which he published an account, 1758, in a 
 book entitled " An Historical Dissertation concerning the 
 Malignant Epidemic Fever of 1756," a period many years 
 prior to the pretended discovery, by Guy ton Morveau, of 
 the muriatic acid gas, for purifying the Cathedral of Dijon, 
 which was not till 1773, and twenty-two years antecedent to 
 that of Dr. James Carmichael Smyth's introduction of the 
 nitric acid vapour, for the same purpose, the account of 
 which was not published till 1795.* However highly this 
 
 * The following u extracted from the Calendar of Living Authors, 1816.
 
 475 
 
 undoubted discovery of the use of mineral acids, both in- 
 ternally and in the form of a vapour, in curing or preventing 
 malignant fevers, might have raised the character of Dr. 
 Johnstone, it received additional lustre from his other im- 
 portant publications, equally evincing the strong powers of 
 an inquisitive and luminous mind. In the 54th volume of 
 the Phil. Trans, he published the first sketch of his opi- 
 nions of the uses of the ganglions of the nerves,* a subject 
 ■which he afterwards pursued in the 57th and 60th vo- 
 lumes of the same work, viz. " History of a Foetus born 
 with a very imperfect Brain; to which is subjoined, a Sup- 
 plement to the Essay on the use of Ganglions." — Phil. 
 Trans. Abridged. The publication of these papers pro- 
 cured the author the notice and friendship of many distin- 
 guished persons at this period, and amongst others, of the 
 illustrious Haller, with whom a correspondence com- 
 menced in 1761, and continued till 1775. It consists 
 chiefly of physiological and critical observations on the doc- 
 trine of ganglions, in which Haller candidly offers objec- 
 tions, and admits of reply. In a letter, dated May 25, 
 
 (article Carmichael Smyth.) — "To correct the contagion (in the prison hospital 
 at Winchester) in 1780, Dr. C. Smyth had recourse to the three mineral acids, 
 the superior efficacy of which was quickly felt ; and subsequent trials on other 
 occasions shewed the importance of the discovery. Dr. Smyth, in conse- 
 quence, made an application to Parliament for a remuneration, which was 
 granted him in 1802, but not without opposition, as Dr. John Johnstone, of 
 Birmingham, set up a counter claim, on the ground that his father had re- 
 commended the same acid, as a remedy against infection, many years before 
 the application of it by Dr. Smyth. On examination, however, it appeared 
 that the latter had no knowledge of such a hint having been given ; nor was it 
 proved that Dr. Johnstone himself had ever tried it on a proper scale." I 
 have thought it but fair to give both sides of the question ; the reader will 
 judge for himself. 
 
 * " When you are here, I will amuse you with a pamphlet which is a com- 
 plete physical, or rather anatomical reply to those who defend the right of 
 •elf murder; it is a treatise on the Ganglions of the Nerves, by a Dr. John- 
 stone, a physician in my neighbourhood ; is written with the pen of a scho- 
 lar, and possesses throughout a most perspicuous ingenuity. This gentle- 
 man attended my father in his last illness, and was not only his physician but 
 ki» confessor.— Fictitious Letters of Thomas Lord Lyttleton.
 
 476 
 
 17^9, utter some prefatory observations on Dr. Johnstone' 6 
 doctrine, he adds, " For any thing I know, there is but one 
 objection, the opthalmic ganglion, which lies entirely be- 
 tween nerves dedicated to voluntary motion. I shall look 
 for some opportunity of shewing you my just regard," &c. 
 This objection is satisfactorily answered in a subsequent 
 work by our author, entitled " Medical Essays and Ob- 
 servations." These papers were collected and enlarged, 
 and published in Salop, in 1771, under the title of * Essays 
 on the Ganglions of the Nerves." They were again pub- 
 lished in 179-3, with many valuable physiological and pa- 
 thological additions, and with several other practical tracts, 
 in one volume, entitled " Medical Essays and Observations, 
 with Disquisitions relating to the Nervous System." This 
 volume, which was translated into the German and French 
 languages, contains all the medical tracts published by him, 
 excepting his Inaugural Dissertation, his Treatise on the 
 lever of 175(), the Life of Dr. Gregory, in the Manchester 
 Memoirs, and two papers, in the Memoirs of the Medical 
 Society of London, on the Angina and Scarlet Fever of 
 1778, and on the Diseases of Needle-makers. He pub- 
 lished, however, separately, on the Slave Trade, and an 
 Analysis of Walton Water, near Tewkesbury, in a letter to 
 lid. Johnstone, M. D. Aug. CO, 1787, which he proved to 
 be of nearly the same qualities as the purging waters of Chel- 
 tenham. At the end of this analysis, he again displayed 
 the strong and active powers of his mind, by assigning the 
 uses of the lymphatic glands. At Kidderminster, Dr. John- 
 stone continued to act in a wide sphere of country practice, 
 till the death of his eldest son, a physician fast rising into 
 eminence, who fell a martyr to his humanity, while attend- 
 ing the prisoners affected with a gaol fever, at Worcester, in 
 1783 : he was succeeded by his father as Phvsician to the 
 Infirmary. — (See his article.) This distressing event, to- 
 gether with the coincidence of the death of his dearest friend, 
 the Rev. Job Orton, induced him to remove to Worcester: 
 in this city (famous for its physicians from the days of Dr.
 
 477 
 
 Cole, the friend of Sydenham,) he continued vigorous, ac- 
 tive, and sprightly, useful to the community, beloved by 
 his friends, and practising with the same success, till with- 
 in a few days of his death.* In the beginning of April, 
 1802, Dr. Johnstone was summoned to Birmingham on a 
 commission of lunacy: from thence he was hurried about 
 the country, in the course of three days, nearly 200 miles. 
 From this extraordinary exertion he never recovered : his 
 breathing became shorter, and his strength failed. He had 
 been attacked with pulmonary complaints in his youth, from 
 which the temperance and caution of the middle part of his 
 life had exempted him. In his latter years they recurred, 
 and during the spring of 1801 he had caused himself to be 
 bled rather profusely. In the last attack of his malady, he 
 had recourse again to bleeding, but his weakness was such 
 as to forbid a repetition of it. Only five days before his 
 death he went to Bromsgrove, a distance of thirteen miles, 
 on professional business. He now saw his end approaching, 
 and prepared for it with the same firmness as if he were 
 about to take a long journey. The night before he died, 
 he sat up, and conversed chearfully with his family. His 
 intellect was clear, his mind calm, and he expired, at Wor- 
 cester, after a short, and in no wise painful, struggle, on 
 the evening of April 28, 1802, in the 73d year of his age. 
 — See the inscription on his monument in the Cathedral, (in 
 which he was not buried) in Chambers's Worcester, p. 192. 
 Dr. Johnstone contributed to the Medical Society, of which 
 he was a corresponding member, by the following valuable 
 communications: In vol. 1, a case of Hydrophobia, which 
 was enlarged with further observations in his Medical Es- 
 says and Observations, published in 1795; to this case 
 many practical remarks were added by himself, and his son, 
 Dr. Edward Johnstone, in which a conclusion very favour- 
 able to the mercurial ointment was suggested. Case of Au- 
 
 * Dr. Johnson resigned the office of Physician to the Worcester Infirmary, 
 a situation which had been hold_by himself and his two sons, in December, 
 1799.
 
 478 
 
 gina Pectoris, from an unexpected disease of the heart, 
 1786. Vol. 2, Of the Cynanche Pharyngea, or Defect of 
 Deglutition, from a straitening of the oesophagus, 1787. 
 Vol. 3, Remarks on the Angina and Scarlatina of 1778 ; 
 case of Calculi ; and two other cases of a smilar nature, 
 1790; and on the Phthisis Pulmonalis of needle-manu- 
 facturers, 1790. Under a sense of the importance of these 
 communications, the Council of the Society voted the au- 
 thor their honorary medal. Dr. James Johnstone was 
 M.D.S. Lond.; S.R.M. Ed.; Physician to the General 
 Infirmary at Worcester; Honorary Member of the Phil, 
 and Lit. Soc. of Manchester, and of the Phil. Soc. Bath. 
 — To Dr. Johnstone we are obliged for the interesting 
 account of the death of Lord Lyttelton ; and Dr. Nash, in 
 his History of Worcestershire, acknowledges the assistance 
 of much valuable and curious information from the subject 
 of this memoir :* he also wrote an account of an earthquake 
 felt in various parts of England, Nov. 18, 1795, in a letter 
 dated Nov. 24. — See Phil. Transactions Abridged. 
 
 Dr. Johnstone was the father of Dr. James Johnstone, 
 jun. (see his article), and of Dr. John Johnstone, who was 
 educated at Merton College, was chosen a Fellow of the 
 Royal Med. Soc. of Ed. in 1790, and was admitted to the 
 degree of Bachelor of Medicine, at Merton College, Oxford, 
 1793, and is now with his brother Edward in practice at 
 Birmingham. 
 
 Edward Evanson, A.M. 
 
 In 1770, became Rector of Tewkesbury, Gloucester- 
 shire, and Vicar of Longdon, in this county. In 1778 
 he resigned borh these livings, and this resignation was oc- 
 casioned by his holding hetorodox opinions respecting the 
 Trinity, &c. Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, in his Letters, calls 
 him a notorious and confirmed heretic. He was the author 
 
 * Mr. Green probably meant Dr. Johnstone, instead of Dr. Johnson, 
 whom, in page 16, he thanks for valuable communication, as I do not re- 
 member to have heard of a Dr. Johnson in Worcester.
 
 479 
 
 of several publications, vehicles of his strange opinions oi» 
 religious subjects ; and died September 25, 1805, aged 74. 
 He was a native of Warrington, Lancashire. The reader 
 will find a detailed biography of Mr. Evanson, and an ac- 
 count of his literary productions, in Chalmers's Biographi- 
 cal Dictionary. — See also Dyer's Cambridge, Warburton's 
 Letters, and a note on them by Bishop Hurd, in the latter 
 work. 
 
 Isaac Taylor, 
 A Native of this city, was the son of William and Ann 
 Taylor, and was born December 13,1 730, in the parish of 
 St. Michael in Bedvvardine. His father was a brass found- 
 er : among his most considerable works is one of those chan- 
 deliers which adorn the Town-hall ; this he cast in compe- 
 tition with Birmingham, where the other was cast. The 
 profession of his father led Isaac to acquire a partial skill in 
 drawing of ornaments chiefly, to which he added some 
 knowledge of the general principles of the human figure. 
 He had the misfortune to fall into the Severn when about 
 nine years old, whence he was carried home for dead, but 
 was recovered ; yet he always thought that the accident 
 eomewhat enfeebled his constitution. Naturally intent on 
 study, he soon began to shew his disposition, and to take 
 advantage of what small helps were within his reach. The 
 principal of these was the sight of a few pictures painted by 
 M. Laroon, who then resided and died in Worcester ; and 
 tome encouragement from the celebrated Dr. \\ all ; the rest 
 was the study of nature. The youth observed men and 
 cattle in the fields, whence he brought home stones, plants, 
 barks and leaves of trees, &.c. for his study within doors. 
 These he painted from as occasion served. But his father's 
 business leading him to handle the graver, in order to en- 
 grave card plates for tradesmen, book plates for the gentry, 
 but especially to mark silver plate with coats of arms, &c. 
 the youth acquired a reputation for dexterity in this branch 
 «f business ; and often, during summer, he was invited to
 
 480 
 
 Spend as many days among the neighbouring seats, Lord 
 Foley's, Mr. Tracy's, &c. 
 
 The year 1747 was distinguished by a violently con- 
 tested election at Worcester, understood to be between the 
 Jacobite and Georgian parties, in which Mr. Tracy, a 
 Georgian, was successful, and the freemen who supported 
 him determined on erecting a triumphal arch to do greater 
 honour to his victory. This was accordingly placed across 
 the main street, and added to the splendour of the caval- 
 cade. To render this still more public, it was resolved 
 that this should be engraved, and it was spiritedly under- 
 taken by the Taylors. When finished, so little was known 
 at that time about the arts, and the conduct of publications, 
 printing, &c. that the father came to London to procure pa- 
 per to print it on, in full conviction that none was to be 
 had unless purposely commissioned from Holland. This 
 idea was not in reality so absurd as it appears now to be, 
 for the British paper manufactories were not then what they 
 now are, and copper-plate printing paper of good quality 
 was wholly imported from France. This display of party 
 triumph, however, gave violent offence, as might be ex- 
 pected, to the opposite party, and, with other occurrences, 
 Contributed to render the situation of the Taylor family ra- 
 ther unpleasant. Not long after, a breach between his fa- 
 ther and himself fixed the determination of Isaac to come to 
 London, where one of his uncles was settled. Thither he 
 accordingly peregrinated, early in 1752, walking by the 
 side of the waggon. Arrived at Hyde Park Corner, before 
 he had entered the town, he was attracted by a print of 
 Moses delivering the Daughters of Jethro, by Audran, af- 
 ter Le Brim ; unable to resist the temptation, he parted 
 with four-pence, no small part of his ready cash, for the pur- 
 chase. A youth, a stranger, without introduction, without 
 a regular profession, unacquainted with life, and exposed to 
 all the tricks of the town ; such was the situation of Isaac 
 Taylor. After making attempts in various places, he ob- 
 tained a few days' work at Francis Garden's, a silversmith.
 
 481 
 
 in the city, -where, by good fortune, a feliow workman Con- 
 nived at the introduction of a foreigner on city ground. He 
 afterwards worked with Mr. Jeffries, the geographer, the 
 corner of St. Martin's-lane, then but young in the business* 
 Here he staid about two years. He married that person's 
 niece, whom he met with at her uncle's. His first settle- 
 ment, after his marriage, was at Shenfield, near Brent- 
 wood, Essex, in the profession of a land surveyor, but this 
 failing, he returned to town, and resumed his occupation of 
 engraver. At Mr. Jeffries's he had executed a variety of 
 plates for the Gentleman's Magazine, then in its glory, un- 
 der the direction of Mr. Cave, and others for Owen's Dic- 
 tionary. This led him to seek employment in the book line. 
 The first considerable work he received was from old Mr. 
 Mynde, for whom he engraved the Cuts to Tookc's 
 Pantheon; he afterwards executed those to Don Quix- 
 ote, to which is affixed the name of G. V. Niest, and these 
 being copied from good modern masters, as Ravenet, Sco- 
 rin, and Grignion, furnished him with his fust masterly views 
 of his profession. He many years afterwards repaid these 
 obligations, by settling the accounts of Mr. Mynde with 
 the Royal Society in favour of his widow. By degrees Mr. 
 Taylor advanced in reputation and skill ; and on the death of 
 Anthony Walker might be regarded as the principal among 
 those engravers who fufnismed plates for books and booksel- 
 lers. Nor was he without employment on plates of larger 
 dimensions ; he engraved the Flemish Collation for Boy- 
 dell, which he exhibited at Spring Gardens in \7G5 ; also 
 " Democritus binding a Bundle of Sticks," exhibited in 
 1773; also the vignette frontispiece to the Alderman's vo- 
 lume of prints, representing "Apollo crowning his Ma- 
 jesty with Laurel," from a drawing by Gwin, exhibited in 
 1769, with his print of " Syagfius, the Roman Gene! a', 
 brought prisoner before Clovis I. King of France," one of 
 his best works. He was admitted an early Fellow of the 
 Society of Artists, which was incorporated by Royal Char- 
 ter in January, 17655 and, in 1 7 7 4, Mr. Taylor was chosen 
 
 3Q
 
 482 
 
 successor to Mr. John Hamilton, in the office of secretary, 
 he being the third appointed to that situation. The print 
 trade in England had now began to vie with that on the 
 Continent; the earliest of those productions in which Taylor 
 entered into a competition with the library engravers of 
 France, was the frontispiece to Langhorne's poems, bat 
 whether it was improved by the desire of the poet's friends, to 
 introduce somewhat of a portrait, I cannot say. The frontis- 
 piece to Daphne and Amyntor, exhibited in 1 766 ; to Love 
 in a Village, 1767 ; to the Maid of the Mill, ditto; to False 
 Delicacy, exhibited at the King of Denmark's exhibition, 
 1768; were thought very pleasing by the public* The vig- 
 nette to Goldsmith's Deserted Village, 1770; that to Nup- 
 tial Elegies, &c. were considered as sharing in the popu- 
 larity of those works. Of these, Taylor was both designer 
 and engiaver ; he was the same to two of the plates to the 
 Fool of Quality : he engraved the other two from pictures 
 by a Mr. Brook, a nephew of the author. Not many plates 
 have been superior to these, or to his Grandison, which are 
 extremely well engraved ; but as designer, he has in these 
 attended too much to fashion, and the change of mode, 
 which is an inevitable disadvantage to all delineations, has 
 given a constrained air to those compositions from which 
 their merit, as engravings, has not been able to preserve 
 them. He never disgraced himself by designing or engrav- 
 ing political prints j a few squibs on the elections at Wor- 
 cester were, however, executed by his pupils. Nor did his 
 genius admit fuel to vice. His pupils, including his two 
 eldest sons, were Mr. Binder, who quitted his profession 
 for divinity, Mr. Pollard, Mr. Clare; besides imparting as- 
 sistance to Mr. Collyer, and the elder Bewick, of New- 
 castle. — See a letter from this celebrated artist to Mr. 
 Taylor, in the Literary Panorama, for January, 1S08, 
 from which this memoir is copied. Mr. Taylor gradually 
 withdrew from business, and from town, during the last 
 20 or 25 years of his life, so that at length he was recol- 
 lected by few ; though not many sales of pictures, &c.
 
 483 
 
 passed without his inspection. He amused himself in the 
 country with painting a few subjects in oil ; this study had 
 been the delight of his early years, and he would willingly 
 have been a painter, but the course of his labours was di- 
 rected into another channel, and the wants of a family re- 
 quired exertions which left him little leisure for amusement. 
 The works that he conducted were very numerous, including 
 Mr. Howard's publications, Sparman's Cape of Good 
 Hope, Clavigero's History of Mexico, Chambers's Cy- 
 clopaedia, &c. and he gave his opinion on many more. 
 
 Taylor's style was finished, his workmanship sound, and 
 his plates were supposed to wear better at the press than 
 those of any other engraver ; in short, the succeeding gene- 
 ration of engravers, whose works now delight the public, 
 has but adopted and improved those principles of execution 
 which he had formed for himself. He laid the foundation 
 of that ornamental style of library decoration which has of 
 late years surpassed in merit and effect the labours of our 
 continental rivals. He died at Edmonton, in the county of 
 Middlesex, Oct. 17, 1807, aged 77- Mr. James Taylor, 
 the younger brother, came to London many years after him ; 
 he had practised as a china painter in the manufactory of 
 this city ; he worked some years with his brother, and died 
 in Dec. 1790. He made some humorous designs for 
 Magazines ; and was also the brother of Mr. Taylor, of 
 the Architectural Library, in Holborn. James Taylor's 
 son, some time a singer at Vauxhall Gardens, is also an en- 
 graver. There have been no less than five artists in this fa- 
 mily, engravers ; and there are others rising into notice. 
 The sons of Mr. Taylor are — the respectable Publisher, of 
 Hatton Garden, London; Isaac Taylor, an engraver of 
 considerable talent, at Ongar, in Essex, who is also a 
 preacher of the Baptist persuasion, author of " The Glory of 
 Zion," and a set of prints to illustrate the Bible, the designs 
 of which are by his son : his wife has published several re- 
 spectable works particularly applicable to females.
 
 4o4 
 
 The Hon. and Rev, St. Andrew St. John, D. I), 
 Dean of Worcester, March 20, 1783, 
 
 W as descended from a very ancient and noble family, 
 being the second son of John, tcr.lh Lord St. John, of 
 Bletsoe, in the county of Bedford, He was born January 
 17, 1731, at his father's seat, Melchboume Park, Bed- 
 fordshire. He was educated, under Dr. Kinsey, at Bury 
 St. Edmond's, and at New College, Oxford, as a gentle- 
 man commoner, where he received an honorary degree of 
 A.M. having been prevented from proceeding to a regular 
 degree by a singular accident that had nearly proved fatal, 
 and was followed by a long state of nervous debility, and 
 interruption of his studies. — As he was taking a book down 
 from a high shelf, the top of the book-case fell, and, 
 striking the back of his neck, partially fractured the bone, 
 with such injury to the spine, as to render his recovery al- 
 most miraculous. This accident occasioned a remarkable 
 stooping of the head, which never entirely recovered its po- 
 sition. On taking order?, Mr. St. John was presented bv 
 his father to the valuable rectory of Woodford, in North- 
 amptonshire, which he afterwards exchanged for Fawlev, 
 in Hampshire, on succeding to the estates of his relative, 
 Sir F. Seymour Py'e, in that county. He was early pro- 
 mised high preferment in the church, through the interest of 
 his brother-in-law, the late Earl of Coventry ; and on tiie. 
 death of Dr. Noel, the Deanry of Salisbury was offered to 
 him by Lord North, but, for political reasons refused. The 
 same reasons restrained any further application for advancer 
 nn.nt for many years, during which he resided on his estate, 
 and at Eawlev, diligently discharging the important duties 
 of a country gentleman, a magistrate, and a parish priest. 
 On a change of Administration, he was, on March c l[) y 
 1783, appointed to the Deanry of Worcester, where he was. 
 much distinguished for his liberal hospitality, his general 
 benevolence, unassuming manners, and constant attention 
 \.o the offices of his high station, He made considerable
 
 485 
 
 improvements in the Deanry, and built an excellent house in 
 the vi<arage of Lindridge, which, having relinquished Faw- 
 ley, he held (together with the rectory of Fawley, in the 
 county of Gloucester, and the Hospital of St. Oswald,) 
 the latter as Dean of Worcester. He died Monday, March 
 23, 1793, aged G4. Under the north window of Worces- 
 ter Cathedral is a neat white marble slab, with an inscription 
 to his memory. 
 
 Robert Hancock, 
 An engraver, of this county, was the master of Mr. Ross, 
 of the same profession, of this city : he was also chief en- 
 graver to the Worcester Porcelain Company, on its first 
 establishment. In the Worcester Journal, for January, 
 1 7-58, are some verses, ." on seeing an armed bust of the 
 King of Prussia imprinted on a porcelain cup of the Wor- 
 cester Manufactory, with Fame resounding her triumph, 
 addressed to Mr. Joseph Holdship; and an extempore, on 
 the compliments being ascribed to Holdship," exhibits the 
 following doggrel, of a piece with the preparatory matter : 
 
 "Hancock, my friend, don't grieve, tho' Holdship has thy praise : 
 "lis your's to execute ; 'tis thine to wear the bays." 
 
 Hancock died, October, 1817, in his 87th year. There 
 is a portrait of him, engraved by himself, from Wright. I 
 have a frontispiece to a book (of heraldry, I presume,) de- 
 dicated to John, Earl of Sandwich, engraved in line (from a 
 picture by Miller) by him ; he also engraved the portraits of 
 Edward Schofield, deputy clerk of St. Chad's, Shrews- 
 bury ; a dwarf; a small oval of Lady Fenhonlet, after 
 Reynolds ; James Wright, of Frome, father of a painter em- 
 plpyed by Mr. West ; and eight others. 
 
 Anthony Keck, 
 Architect of St. Martin's church, in this city, also the In- 
 firmary, and Dr. Nash's house at Bevere. He died at 
 Kill's Stanley, in Gloucestershire. August, 1797-
 
 436 
 
 The Right Hon. Warren Hastings, LL.D. 
 
 and F. R. S. 
 
 A Native of this county, was Governor General of 
 British India, and one of his Majesty's most Honourable 
 Privy Council ;* and was related, from the House of Hun- 
 
 * In the reign of Henry II. Milo de Hastings held three hides of land of 
 the Bishop of Worcester ; this Milo de Hastings, or another person of the 
 same name, was of Dailesford, 33 Edw. I. Mr. Penystone Hastings, an 
 antiquary, and rector of Dailesford, derives the pedigree of this family from 
 Hastings the Dane, in a letter from Dr. Thomas, dated December 11, 1732. 
 It certainly may boast of great antiquity ; Astrope Hastings held lands at 
 Feeks, in Warwickshire, of the Bishop of Worcester, so early as the time 
 of the Conqueror, or very soon afterwards. Of this family were the Barons 
 of Abergavenny, who, by the marriage of John Hastings, Baron of Aber- 
 gavenny, with the heiress of Aimer (*) de Valentia, camp tp be Earl of 
 Pembroke. During the time they were Earls of Pembroke, they married 
 thrice into the Royal family ; and historians observe that, for five genera- 
 tions, the father never saw the son, nor the son the father ; the latter alwayt 
 died before the former was bWn. John, the last Earl, leaving no issue, hii 
 Earldom reverted to the Crown, and the Barony of Abergavenny went by 
 marriage to Reginald, Lord Grey, although the right of it was a long time 
 contested by Hastings, the male heir, descended from the second son of John 
 Lord Abergavenny. From a younger branch of this family sprang the Earlt 
 of Huntingdon, who have altered the arms, and bear a manche sable in n 
 field argent ; whereas the original arms of Hastings, and those which have 
 always been borne by the Hastings' of Daylnesford, were a manche gules 
 in a field or, Daylesford continued in the family of Hastings till 1715, when 
 it was sold, by Mr. Samuel Hastings, to Jacob Knight, of South-mead, 
 near Gloucester, grandson to Sir John Knight, of Bri-tol. From the son 
 of Mr. Knight it was re-purchased by Mr. Hastings, in 1789. At Dayn- 
 lesford was first introduced the cultivation of Saint-foin, a French grass, 
 brought into England by John Hastings, in 1650. The ancient manor- 
 house, which has long been destroyed, was situate at the distance of 150 
 yards from the church. The ruins were left, about a century ago, and 
 shewed it to have been a grand structure. From the time this b°U 6e went to 
 decay, the family chiefly resided at Yelford, in Oxfordshire, called, in old 
 writings, Yelford Hastings; and in the visitation of that county, in the last 
 century, a particular account is given of that family. Yelford continued to 
 belong to them until the reign of Charles I. when John Hastings having 
 spent four manors in defence of the King, conveyed Yelford to the Speaker, 
 Lenthall, to save the rest of his estate. This John Hastings was the great 
 grandfather of Mr. Hastings, whom Mr. Burke is supposed to describe a= 
 
 (*) Not Acmar, as printed sn the Asiatic Journal.
 
 487 
 
 tingdonj to the present Marquis Hastings. The grandfather 
 of the subject of this article was Peny stone Hastings, Gent.; 
 whose name occurs, with many of his family, as patrons of 
 Dailesford,* who took the name of Pennyston from their 
 alliance w ith a family of that name in Cornwall. The father 
 of Warren Hastings (Penystone Hastings) held the rectory 
 of Dailesford, and, besides the rectory of Churchill, near 
 Dailesford^ is said to have had some landed property at 
 the latter place : his son, the subject of this memoir, was 
 born in the parish of Dailesford in 1732-3: his entree into 
 this world seemed unpropitiousy for his birth cost his mo- 
 ther her life. On the death of his parents, both of whom 
 died early, he was left without fortune, for the expences as 
 well as the care of his education devolved on an uncle, Mr. 
 Howard Hastings, erroneously called his father in the " Pub- 
 lic Characters," under the head Graves, who sent him to 
 Westminster School : at this seminary he exhibited marks 
 of a superior genius, and won the friendly regard of Dr. Ni- 
 chols; the head master. His great proficiency in literature did 
 credit as well to the preceptor as the pupil, and when he 
 left Westminster he was esteemed one of the best scholars 
 on the foundation. He was, it is said, removed to Oxford 
 at 16, but had scarcely become a resident there, when the 
 
 of an origin lew, obscure, and vulgar. The following persons, of the name 
 of Hastings, possessed the estate of Daynlesford, and the patronage of the 
 Irving, as appears by Dr. Nash's survey : 
 
 Thomas de Hasty nge... A. D. 1281 Simon Hastyngs A. D. 1593 
 
 Rolandus de Hastinge 1325 John Hastyngs... . 1646 
 
 Thomas Hastynge, d'n's del John Hastings 1661 
 
 Daylesford $ Penyston Hastings, Gent 1690 
 
 Thomas Hasting ....1419 Penyston Hastings, sen 1701 
 
 Edward Hasting 1466 Warren Hastings... 1789 
 
 John Hastyngs* 1525 
 
 From this account, which is authentic, it is tlear that from the year 1281 
 to 1715, a period of above 400 years, the estate of Daylnesford continued inf 
 the family of Mr. Hastings, though the fortune of the family was consider- 
 ably diminished in 1651, by the attachment of his great grandfather to 
 Charles the First. 
 
 * Anciently written Daeglesford, or Deiglesford, and not Daylensford, a* 
 printed in the Asiatic Journal.
 
 483 
 
 death of his Uncle consigned him to other guardians. Dr. 
 Nichols, however, having generously offered to furnish 
 money to complete his education at Christ Church, where 
 he then was* and Mr. Creswick, of Morton-in-the-Marsh, 
 an India Director, and executor to his uncle's property, 
 proposing to send him to Bengal with a writer's appoint- 
 ment, the offer was accepted ; and sailing from England in 
 the winter of 1749, at the age of 17, he arrived at Calcut- 
 ta in the ensuing summer. The .education of young Hast- 
 ings for public life may be properly dated from this period. 
 He says of himself, in his defence during the impeachment, 
 " With the year 1750, 1 entered the service of the East India 
 Company, and from that service I have derived all my of- 
 ficial habits, all the knowledge which I possess, and all the 
 principles which were to regulate my conduct in it." What- 
 ever were the capacities of his situation, Mr: Hastings was 
 fairly provided to avail himself of them all. He was acute, 
 observing, and enterprising; and he was soon placed in the 
 midst of affairs with great exterior advantages. He was at 
 first attached to one of the factories at Bengal, which he 
 had established in the interior of the province, where no 
 European had hitherto been seen ; this scheme failed, but 
 from no fault of Mr. Hastings ; from which he was soon 
 sent on business into the interior parts of that province, 
 where, to novelty of scene were added opportunity for stu- 
 dy, and motives for enquiry. He applied himself assidu- 
 ously to the study of the Persian language, to the general 
 cultivation of his talents, and to a minute observation of the 
 circumstances and nature of the English establishment in 
 India. In 1756, Siraj ud Dowlah having made himself 
 master of Calcutta, issued orders for seizing all the English 
 in Bengal, and Mr. Hastings was one of those who were 
 carried prisoners to Moorshadabad, that tyrant's capita!. 
 Even at that Court he had already acquired protectors ; he 
 
 * In the New Monthly Magazine, it is said he was about to be sent to Ox- 
 ford, when the death of his uncle, Howard, prevented it.
 
 489 
 
 received many marks of favour, and was permitted to reside 
 at the Dutch factory of Calcapore. Wen Colonel (after- 
 wards Lord) Clive, retook Calcutta, Mr. Hastings served 
 as a volunteer in his army, and was present at the night at- 
 tack on the Nabob's camp, and was taken prisoner by his 
 troops, but received from them, in return for his conduct 
 at the factory, many marks of humanity and attention. On 
 the restoration of the Company's affairs, by Col. Clive, 
 Mr. Hastings returned to his civil employments ; and when 
 Siraj ud Dawlah was deposed,* he was appointed the Eng- 
 lish Minister at the Court of his successor, Mear Jaffier ; 
 in that post he recommended himself to further notice ; and, 
 in 176l, was made a Member of the Council at Calcutta. 
 He returned to England (with a moderate fortune, in com- 
 pany with Mr. Geo. Vansittart, in his Majesty's ship the 
 Medway,) about four years after this last appointment, it 
 being the intention of both to settle in their native country ; 
 but having brought with him only part of his acquisitions, 
 and his remittances of the remainder failing, he endeavoured 
 to make interest to return to India; and it is a curious fact 
 that he who afterwards became so powerful with the Com- 
 pany, could not at that time obtain such a permission. Mr. 
 Hastings now lived in England, in order to improve his pa- 
 trimonial estate, cultivating literature, and enjoying the so- 
 ciety of men of genius ; among whom were, the great Lord 
 Mansfield and Dr. Samuel Johnson : three letters to him 
 from the Doctor have been preserved by Mr. Boswell, 
 who, speaking of the condescension with which Mr. Hast- 
 ings communicated to him these letters, delineates the fol- 
 lowing short sketch of his character : — " Warren Hastings, 
 a man w hose regard reflects dignity even upon Johnson ; a 
 man, the extent of whose abilities was equal to that of his 
 power ; and who, by those who were fortunate enough to 
 
 * This Nabob of Bengal, Siraj ud Dawlah, died soon after his defeat by 
 our forces, commanded by Col. Clive, at the battle of Plasseys, June 23, 
 1757. — Asiatic Journal. 
 
 3 R
 
 4.90 
 
 know him in private life, is admired for his literature and 
 taste, and beloved for his candour, moderation, and mild- 
 ness of character. Were I capable of paying a suitable 
 tribute of admiration to him, I should certainly not with- 
 hold it a moment, when it is not possible that I should 
 be suspected of being an interested flatterer ; but how 
 weak would be my voice after that of millions whom 
 he governed." At this time he also became acquainted 
 with Sir Joshua Reynolds, at whose table he met Ed- 
 mund Burke, who also professed for him a warm friend- 
 ship, but how that friendship terminated need not here 
 be repeated. In 1766, the year after Mr. Hastings's re- 
 turn from India, he made a proposition to establish a Pro- 
 fessorship of the Persian language at Oxford, (which plan 
 had been conceived by Dr. Johnson) with a view, among 
 other motives, to his obtaining the emoluments of that 
 situation in aid of his own income, which is said at 
 that tune to have been very moderate ; but a surprising re- 
 volution was preparing for his fortunes, which terminated in 
 his attaining the situation of Governor General of India. 
 The circumstance of this high promotion, the course of his 
 impeachment, and his acquittal, after a trial of seven years, 
 are already so fresh in the minds of the public, and is so 
 amply detailed in the publications of the day,* that no re- 
 petition seems necessary on my part. It may, however, be 
 proper to add, that various have been the opinions with re- 
 gard to his entire innocence of the charges brought against 
 him. When Mr. Burke brought forth the primary charge on 
 his injustice, cruelty, &c. this charge was lost in the House, 
 and the Committee, who gave the friends of Mr. Hastings 
 good reasons to suppose that the remainder would have ex- 
 perienced the same fate, but in this they were mistaken ; for, 
 to the surprise of all parties, Mr. Pitt, though he censured 
 the line of conduct pursued by Mr. Fox, in moving for an 
 
 * See also Wroxall, Gent's. Mag. for Sept. 1818, Annual Obituary, vol. 3, 
 and Walking's Life of Sheridan.
 
 491 
 
 impeachment for cruelty towards Cheit Sing, the Rajah of 
 Benares, voted in favour of the motion. In 1780, Mr. 
 AVilkes spoke in favour of Mr. Hastings, on which he 
 justly prided himself, it being perhaps the ablest exculpa- 
 tion of that gentleman which ever appeared in print. On 
 his acquittal, Mr. Hastings received for his expenses a 
 contribution from the East India Company of 42,0001. and 
 an annual pension of 40001. for twenty-eight years and a 
 half. They also lent him 50,0001. without interest. — 
 When 1 6,0001. of this loan had been paid, they relin- 
 quished the remainder. So far was he remunerated for ex- 
 penses incurred by him on his trial, amounting to 71,0001. 
 — To the public it amounted to 100,0001. But what re- 
 muneration could he receive for the anxiety of mind which 
 he had so long endured ! His bust is placed in the li- 
 brary of the India House, and another in the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne's grand gallery in London, on a pedestal in- 
 scribed " Ingrata Patria." Mr. Wilkes and the Marquis 
 were among the few Whigs in favour of the Governor Ge- 
 neral. It was a singular circumstance that Mr. Dundas, 
 afterw aids Lord Melville, who made a motion for displac- 
 ing Mr. Hastings from the Government, was afterwards 
 exposed to a similar trial by his country, though of shorter 
 duration, and was also acquitted : but it is an important point 
 to remark that Messrs. Fox and Dundas, and the other 
 gentlemen who spoke against Mr. Hastings, acknowledged 
 that his abilities were of the most splendid kind, and his 
 integrity unquestionable. 
 
 Mr. Hastings was, it is said, a good architect, a mathe- 
 matician, and an engineer, to which he added an extensive 
 acquaintance with the mechanic arts ; he was also a great 
 admirer of painting : in India, he was the patron of Hodges, 
 a celebrated landscape and portrait painter. He was also an 
 excellent classical scholar. His literary attainments were ex- 
 traordinary for a man who passed so many years of his life 
 in active scenes of business in such a service as that of the 
 East India Company, and who entered the service before
 
 492 
 
 he was 17; for, except a short recess, from 1765 to 1767, 
 he was 33 years in the service, eleven of which he was Go- 
 vernor General of Bengal. The beautiful imitation of the 
 1 6th Ode of the 2d Book of Horace, was written by Mr. 
 Hastings, on board the Ban ington, while on his passage to 
 England in 1785, and addressed to John Shore, Esq. af- 
 terwards Lord Teignmouth; it is inserted in the Asiatic 
 Journal for 1818. One of his collateral measures has been 
 omitted — the communication which was established between 
 this country and India, by way of Suez ; the communica- 
 tion, however, was open long enough to convey the Com- 
 pany's orders for the attack of Pondicherry, an event of 
 great importance. Among other objects which distin- 
 guished the government of Governor Hastings, was, his 
 deputing the ingenious Mr. Boyle to the Court of the 
 Grand Llama at Thibet, an account of which was published 
 in the Philosophical Transactions. 
 
 The following incidents, belonging to his private life, 
 are extracted from his letters to Sir Stephen Lushington, 
 Bart. Chairman of the Hon. Court of Directors in 1795, in 
 answer to an enquiry into the amont of his fortune : — " I 
 came to England in the year 1785, and lived in a hired 
 ready-furnished house ; first in St. James's Place, and next 
 in Wimpole-street, until the year 1790, when Mrs. Hast- 
 ings purchased the house in Park-lane. I purchased a 
 small estate in Old Windsor, called Beaumont Lodge, 
 1786, and re-sold it in 1789, for the exact sum I had 
 given and expended upon it. In 1789 I purchased the 
 principal part of the estate of Daylesford, and about 
 two years since, the remainder : it was an object that 
 I had long wished to possess : it was the house in which I 
 had passed much of my infancy ; and I feel for it an af- 
 fection of which an alien could not be susceptible, because 
 I see in it attractions which that stage of life imprinted 
 on my mind, and my memory still retains : it had been the 
 property of my family during many centuries, and had not 
 been more than 75 years out of their possession."
 
 493 
 
 It must not be forgotten, that, while Mr. Hastings was 
 Governor General, he paid a very huge sum out of his own 
 pocket to satisfy the demands of some of the natives against 
 another body of natives; a dispute which, had it not been 
 for this liberal and public-spirited act, might have produced 
 a civil war. 
 
 Mr, Hastings, for some time preceding his death, was 
 suffered to enjoy that tranquillity of which he had so long 
 been robbed : he followed the impulse of filial love and 
 duty in the purchase of a small patrimonial property, in 
 1789, where his ancestors had for many ages held consi- 
 derable estates, and where his father resided, on the borders 
 of Gloucestershire, which had continued out of the family 
 for two generations ; here he built a handsome house, and 
 amused himself with making improvements, and in hor- 
 ticultural pursuits. Of the construction of Mr. Hastings's 
 mind, there is an impressive account in Pratt's Cleanings, 
 accompanied by ananecdote, not only interesting in itself, 
 but highly illustrative of the point it .- : igned to establish, 
 relative to the benevolent disposition of Mr. 1 1 -, : — " I 
 
 must beg," observes the author to his c< ndent, "to 
 
 decline involving myself and yen in the labyrinths of the 
 question, the answers to which have for so many years fiiied 
 the presses of Great Biitain ; and the puzzle remains. But 
 of the man accused of every thing bad on the one hand, and 
 to whom has been attributed ev great and good on 
 
 the other, I will give you a Ik l< hi* h may assist 
 
 you perhaps more than all that has be en written, to form 
 your own judgment: I shall only presume that the truth of 
 the circumstance is indubitable: — This most injured and 
 most excellent man, was walking at earl) da) in his pleasure 
 grounds, near Windsor, when, as an unseen spectator (con- 
 tinues the relator) 1 beheld Warren Hastings going along 
 a narrow path-way, in a zig-zag kind »i manner, sometimes 
 stopping. suddenly, some; tting his foot forwards, re- 
 
 trograde and side-way, as if In trod) trembling; 
 
 and this circumspect movement he continued till he was lost
 
 494 
 
 to my view in the windings of the walk. So strange a pro- 
 cedure, however, strongly excited my curiosity, and I left 
 the chamber in which I was then sitting to explore the 
 cause. On reaching the spot, I perceived an emmet's nest 
 on one side of the walk, and the industrious proprietors of 
 it, called forth by the warmth of the morning, had spread 
 themselves over the path-way. The design of the destroy- 
 er of so many thousands of the human race, was studiously 
 to avoid doing any injury to these ants. I traced with a kind 
 of benevolent joy the Governor General's foot-steps, in 
 which, crooked, irregular, and broken as they were, I 
 could perceive the impressions of the tenderest heart, whose 
 very instinct was bountiful. It would have touched, warmed, 
 and melted a philanthropist, to trace the works of such ge- 
 nuine humanity along the sand. In one place, where I had 
 observed Mr. Hastings to stoop down, he had been at the 
 trouble to raise with his hands the depredations of his feet, 
 by re-building the little populated hillock, whose sides he 
 had inadvertently damaged ; and at another part, where I 
 had noticed him to make a large stride, the busy creatures 
 Mere busied together in a kind of foraging party, which, 
 but for that generous stride, he must have exterminated. 
 The feeling this gave, penetrated my whole frame ; but as I 
 am of an ardent temper, I should have set down some part 
 of my emotion to those constitutional propensities, had not 
 my recital of this little anecdote to all orders of people, 
 friends and enemies of the man, convinced me the feeling 
 produced in all others was the same, and arising from the 
 same cause. The heart asked spontaneously, whether he 
 who could thus act towards a hillock of poor ants, would 
 trample under foot all the laws of humanity, and prove the 
 scourge of his fellow creatures, over whose lives and pro- 
 perties he had equal power of doing good and evil ?" The 
 following anecdote of Mr. Hastings is taken from a miscel- 
 laneous work entitled Reid's Anecdotes.* — "When all that is 
 
 * In this work there are several particulars of Mr. Hastings, of which I
 
 495 
 
 bad is said against a man, some of his good actions should 
 be remembered : a young gentleman of the name of Mont- 
 gomery was engaged to a lady in India, whom he could not 
 marry on account of the total want of fortune between the 
 parties. The story was mentioned to Mr. Hastings, with 
 many encomiums on the deserving qualities of the subject of 
 it. On this he sent for Mr. Montgomery, and asked him if 
 a want of a competence was the only obstacle to his wishes ? 
 On being told it was, he presented him with a paper, which 
 at once left Mr. Montgomery without further complaints 
 against fortune, and in astonishment at the generous use 
 which Mr. Hastings made of it." 
 
 Mr. Hastings's Persian titles, as engraved upon a seal, 
 are thus translated: — Nabob Governor General Hastings, 
 Saub — Pillar of the Empire — The Fortunate in War and 
 Hero — The most Princely Offspring of the Loins of the 
 King of the Universe — The Defender of the Mahomedan 
 Faith, and Asylum of the World, &c. &c. The following 
 is a translation of a Persian inscription engraved on a fine 
 large ruby, being the titles either given to, or assumed by, 
 Mrs. Hastings : 
 
 Royal and Imperial Governess ; 
 
 The Elegance of the Age ; 
 
 The most exalted Bilkiss ; 
 
 The Zobaide of the Palaces ; 
 
 The most Heroic Princess ; 
 
 Ruby Marian Hastings Suaby, &c. &c. 
 
 N. B. With the Mussulmen Bilkiss signifies the person 
 called in the Bible the Queen of Sheba ; and Zobaide was 
 a favourite wife of Mahomed, and, when they wish to pay 
 the highest compliments to a lady, they compare her to 
 Bilkiss and Zobaide, who possessed the most exalted beau- 
 ty and perfection of every kind. 
 
 In Dr. Robertson's Appendix to his Historical Disqui- 
 
 have not availed myself, from a strong presumption that they are not 
 founded in truth.
 
 496 
 
 sitions concerning India, is the following high compliment 
 paid to the Governor General of India : — " About two cen- 
 turies alter the reign of Akber, the Great and Good, in 
 India, namely, in 1?73, his illustrious example was imi- 
 tated and surpassed by Mr. Hastings, the Governor Ge- 
 neral of the British Settlements in India. By his authority, 
 and under his inspection, the most eminent Pundits, or 
 Brahmins learned in the law of the provinces over which he 
 presided, were assembled at Calcutta, and in the course of 
 two years compiled, from their most ancient and approved 
 authors, sentence by sentence, without addition or dimi- 
 nution, a full code of Hindoo laws ; which is, undoubtedly, 
 the most valuable and authentic elucidation of Indian policy 
 and manners that has hitherto been communicated to Eu- 
 rope." — See a further corroboration of this stupendous 
 work in the Life of Mrs. Hamilton, lately published : 
 — " Among many magnificent literary plans originating 
 in the enlightened liberality of Mr. Hastings, was a pro- 
 posal for translating from the Persian " The Hedaya," or 
 code of Mussuhnen laws, a stupendous undertaking, of 
 which it was difficult to calculate the toil, and hazardous to 
 predict the termination. The office of translating it was gi- 
 ven to Mr. Hamilton, who, in his preface to the Rohila 
 History, has boldly avowed his abhorrence and contempt for 
 those atrocious calumnies on the conduct of the British ar- 
 my in India, which, though levelled particulaily at one in- 
 dividual, involved all." — Mr. Hamilton was highly attached 
 to the cause of Mr. Hastings, who united with the India 
 Directors in the warmest manner to purchase the copy-right 
 of Mr. Hamilton's iledava. 
 
 But to return ; after the acquittal of Mr. Hastings, he 
 was appointed a Member of the Privy Council, and created 
 a Doctor of Laws by the University of Oxford, at the com- 
 memoration of Jurte 30, 1818. When the epiestion of the 
 renewal of the Company's charter, and the opening of the 
 East India trade, came before Parliament, a desire to make 
 his knowledge and experience in India affairs useful to the
 
 497 
 
 country, induced him to come forward as a voluntary wit- 
 ness. Mr. Hastings was examined in the body of the House, 
 where he received every mark of respect : when he departed, 
 every Member spontaneously rose ; as if, by this action, to 
 atone for the injuries which former Members had conferred 
 on him. 
 
 When the Asiatic Society was formed, the members se- 
 lected him to be their president, which he respectfully de- 
 clined in favour of Sir Wm. Jones, but he took a warm 
 interest in the institution, and contributed to its literary col- 
 lections. — (See Lord Teignmouth's Sketch of his title to this 
 distinction in the Asiatic Journal for Dec. 1818.) He also 
 established the Madras College for educating Mussulmen 
 natives in the knowledge of the Hindoo law. Besides 
 the ode already mentioned, Mr. Hastings wrote some 
 fugitive poetry, and a Narrative of the Insurrection of 
 Benares, 4to. 1782; Memoirs relative to the State of 
 India,* Svo. 1786; lleview of the State of Bengal dur- 
 ing the last three months of his Residence, Svo. 1786; 
 Answer to the Articles exhibited by the Knights, Ci- 
 tizens, and Burgesses, assembled, Svo. 17S8 ; Speech 
 in the High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall, 8vo. 
 1791; in the Europ. Mag. for Dec. of this year, are some 
 lines added by Mr. Hastings to Mickle's Lusiad, continu- 
 ing it to the time in which Governor Hastings lived ; a Trea- 
 tise on the means of guarding Houses, by their construction, 
 against Fire, Svo. 1805 ; anonymously published in the 
 Pamphleteer, IS 15, and in the Worcester Journal, Feb. 5, 
 1818, appeared an extract of a letter from Governor Hast- 
 ings, now in his 86th year, to Sir T. Bernard, dated Jan. 
 
 * See Mr. Hastings's Proceedings at a General Court of the India Com- 
 pany, held Dec. 15, 1795, in the European Mag. for Jan. 1796. A Cor- 
 respondence between Mr. Hastings and the Chairman of the East India 
 Company, relative to the remuneration of theexpences of his Impeachmeut, 
 in the above Mag. for Oct. 1795. The History of the Trial of Warren 
 Hastings, Esq. with the Proceedings of the East India Company, was pub- 
 lished in May, 1796. 
 
 3 S
 
 498 
 
 33, 1818 : — "You have proved, by a vast mass of authentic 
 evidence, that the salt laws are oppressive in their execu- 
 tion ; equivocal and deceptive in their construction ; ruinous 
 in their penalties ; exercised with inexorable and undis- 
 tinguishing severity, operating with unnatural hardship on 
 our own trade, by immunities granted to foreign compe- 
 titors, and with one predominant and universal effect, to 
 the preclusion of the whole people of England from the un- 
 restrained use of salt as a necessary of life, as a constituent 
 of marine commerce, and an essential article of husbandry. 
 You have proved even by the opinion of its patrons and con- 
 stitutional supporters that it ought to be abolished, but that 
 it subsists by their protection." 
 
 Mr. Hastings brought from India a quantity of precious 
 jewels ; these were principally presented to her late Ma- 
 jesty : this led to the belief that the Governor General him- 
 self was possessed of considerable wealth ; a belief which 
 subsequent events shewed to be unfounded. 
 
 He died August 22, 1818; on Sunday, the 30th, his 
 remains were conveyed in decent pomp from Dailsford 
 House to Dailsford Church, the place of interment, when 
 a very impressive sermon was delivered by the Rev. Josiah 
 Owen, from the 4th verse of the 23d Psalm, " Thou art 
 with me ; thy rod and thy staff shall comfort me." 
 
 Mr. Hastings married, in early life, a lady who died be- 
 fore he left India in 1765 ; by her he had a son, who, hav- 
 ing been sent for education to this country, died before Mr. 
 Hastings reached England. Mr. Hastings's second mar- 
 riage was to the lady who now survives him, and who, by 
 her graces, her vivacity, and her talents, formed his chief 
 happiness during the long period of their union. She had 
 been married, when very young, to Baron Imhoff, of an 
 ancient family of Franconia, and had accompanied him to 
 India. Disagreements, however, arising from his uneven 
 temper, obliged her to avail herself of the German laws in 
 protestant states, which, like those of Scotland, permit the 
 wife to sue for a divorce. She remained in India while the
 
 forms oi' law were proceeding in Germany, which were 
 more tedious than was anticipated. On the arrival of the 
 judicial documents, her marriage to the Governor General 
 of India was solemnized, in Aug, 1777- By his second 
 marriage, Mr. Hastings had no child. But those admitted 
 to his domestic circle beheld with pleasure the unremitting 
 attention his son-in-law, Major Gen. Imhoff, paid to him 
 in his decline of life, as well as of Lady Imhoff, daughter of 
 the late and sister to the present Sir Charles Blunt, Bart. 
 Mrs. Hastings had another son by Baron Imhoff, who, hav- 
 ing been appointed by the Court of Directors on their Civil 
 Establishment in Bengal, was, by his diligent attention to 
 their service, made, at an early age, Chief Judge and Ma 
 gistrate of Midnapore, and died, much regretted, in 1799, 
 while acting as chief in the revenue department, as well as the 
 judicial of that station. 
 
 Mr. Hastings had only one sister,* who was about a year 
 older than himself: she married John Woodman, Esq. of 
 Ewell, in the county of Surrey, a son of whom, the Rev. 
 Thomas B. Woodman, Chaplain to the Duke of Clarence, 
 and Rector of Brackley, Northamptonshire, attended the 
 remains of his venerable uncle to the grave, and who is now 
 the proprietor of Stubhill. It is stated in Reicl's Anecdotes, 
 and i have heard this statement corroborated, that Mr. 1 ho- 
 mas Warren, the Governor General's maternal uncle, kept 
 a tea garden, about fifty years since, in the parish or Twin- 
 ing, close by the road to Malvern ; and in consequence of 
 the late Lord Coventry, or some other persons in the neigh- 
 bourhood, having represented to Mr. Hastings the impro- 
 prieties that marked the house on Sundays, lit; allowed his 
 uncle 100 pounds per annum to quit the situation. The la- 
 ther and maternal uncle of the subject of this article have 
 long been dead. 
 
 In addition to the manv testimonies in favour of the services 
 
 * Mrs. Turner, of Gloucester, asisterof Mr. Hastings's upother, had a 
 sou who was :i Captain in the East India Company's service. 
 
 -
 
 500 
 
 conferred by Warren Hastings on the East India Company, 
 that body, after a long debate, in January, 1820, came to 
 a resolution of erecting a statue to his memory. 
 
 In the above memoir I have carefully gleaned every cir- 
 cumstance, as related by parties, for and against the Go- 
 vernor, without daring to intrude any opinion of my own as 
 to his merits or demerits, but as I have thought proper with 
 regard to every article in this work, left the reader to draw 
 his own conclusions. The following supplementary pages 
 I have extracted from the 4th volume of the Annual Obitu- 
 ary, just published, a work conducted on decided W/iiggish 
 principles ; after saying this, it may be unnecessary to add, 
 that in this work Sir Philip Francis is made the sufferer in- 
 stead of Warren Hastings : — " On being asked by the 
 writer of this article (the Life of Mr. Jennings) respecting 
 his first interview with his old school-fellow, the Governor 
 General of Bengal, on his return from India, he stated the 
 following anecdote with much naivete : ' On our meeting,' 
 observed he, ' after the usual salutations, I accosted him in 
 the same frank and open manner as was usual with me when 
 we were at Westminster together ; ' My dear Hastings, is 
 it possible you should have been such a great rascal during 
 your government in Asia as Burke says, and the whole 
 world is beginning to believe you are ?' ' I assure you tru- 
 ly, Jennings,' was the reply, ' that although sometimes 
 obliged to turn rascal for the Company, I was never one for 
 myself!'" p. 3.55. '"Lord Walsingham, who acted as 
 chairman on the trial of Governor Hastings, on its conclu- 
 sion, lamented that he had been deprived of the power of 
 speaking, until then, by his official engagements, but added, 
 that he would then take the opportunity of stating his opi- 
 nion in the shortest possible manner : — ' The principle on 
 which I mean to act, it; this, to acquit Mr. Hastings where- 
 ever he appears to have acted directly for the public service, 
 or wherever any doubt arose in point of law, of so critical a 
 nature as that the most learned authorities in the House dif- 
 fer in their construction of it. Upon this principle I acquit
 
 501 
 
 him upon the Benares and Begum charges, because lie 
 sought only the Company's advantage, without any views of 
 self-interest : the same principle applies to the present given 
 through Sandanund ; there is a difference in respect to the 
 other presents.' His Lordship then stated his opinion in 
 respect to the contracts, and concluded by saying that Mr. 
 Hastings ' by the vigor of his mind, had preserved an em- 
 pire to the nation, which, without this, might have been 
 lost for ever.' xVfter au able and impartial speech, of which 
 the above is a brief outline, Lord Walsingham concluded 
 by acquitting the prisoner on all the 16 articles, the 9th only 
 excepted, ' For having granted the opium contract to Ste- 
 phen Sullivan, Esq. in 1781, upon terms glaringly extra- 
 vagant, and wantonly profuse.' " p. 436, ibid. 
 
 I shall conclude this sketch with an extract from the Epis- 
 tle to Kien Long, by the author of the Pursuits of Lite- 
 rature : — 
 
 " But lost, in regal grandeur once erect, 
 Now in wan splendor, and with eyes deject, 
 Hastings, that great, that injured, dubious name, 
 The glory of thy ludia, or the shame ; 
 
 Through truth, through lies, through eloquence, through pride, 
 Borne down in Burke's an navigable tide. 
 How fades the laurel on that haughty brow 
 Jove's thunder sparM ! who made the nations bow, 
 While in his grasp, by fame and honour grae'd, 
 Britain, thy delegated sceptre plac'd : 
 State victim now, deluded while secure, 
 Flesh'd for the altar, and for Pitt mature ; 
 Though vers'd in every wile, he learn'd too late 
 That love in Ministers is secret hate. 
 For him thus humbled, in Impeachment's weeds, 
 To tardy Justice England bends and pleads." 
 
 Robert Berkeley, Eso. 
 A descendant of the celebrated Judge Berkeley, was 
 born in the year 1713. He published Considerations on 
 the Oath of Supremacy; 2. Considerations on the Declara- 
 tion against Transubslantiation, 177S; both addressed to
 
 502 
 
 Dean Tucker : these were the result of their frequent con- 
 versations on those subjects at their occasional meetings at 
 the Guildhall CofTee-House, in this city, and produced a 
 friendly correspondence of some continuance; it is presumed 
 he was the author of several other works, and that the catholic 
 nobility and gentry were principally stimulated by him to pre- 
 sent their petition to the King in 1778, which was followed by 
 the repeal of the Act of 1 1th William and Mary. Mr. Berke- 
 ley died at Spetchley, Dec. 20, 1804, aged 91, 
 
 Mr. Philip, author of the Life of Cardinal Pole, resided 
 as Chaplain in the house of this gentleman, and there he 
 wrote his celebrated work. — (See page 436.) 
 
 The Hon. and Rev. William Digby, LL. D. 
 Dean of Worcester, 1709, 
 
 Was the fourth son of Mr. Edward Digby, eldest son of Wil- 
 liam, fifth Lord Digby. But William, Lord Digby, living 
 to the age of 93, and surviving his son Edward, his title and 
 estates went in consequence to Edward, his grandson, which 
 Edward, Lord Digby, dying unmarried, his second brother, 
 Henry, afterwards Earl Digby, succeeded him. Dean Digby 
 received his education at Westminster, and at Christ Church, 
 Oxford. He became M.A. March 27, 17-59, LL.D. Nov. 9, 
 1765, afterwards Canon of Christ's Church, Vicar of Coles- 
 hill, and, in 1777, was promoted to the Deanery of Durham. 
 He married Charlotte, daughter of Joseph Cox, Esq. and 
 died Sept. 19, 1788, at Buxton Wells, in his 06th year. 
 
 Thomas Fountain, Prebendary of Worcester, 1774. 
 
 The father of this gentleman kept, in 1775, a school in 
 Mary-le-bonne. The Prebendary was patronised by Lord 
 Rochford, whom he accompanied to France. He was au- 
 thor of a Sermon preached at the Cathedral of \Yoreester, 
 which sermon, now before me, lias the name of " John 
 Fountain, Prebendary of Worcester, and one of his Ma- 
 jesty's Chaplains in Ordinary." The sermon was printed at 
 the request of the Mayor and Corporation, 1788.
 
 •50.°, 
 
 John Aldington, 
 
 According to the Bibliotkeca Britannica, was of Evers- 
 ham (Evesham), in this county, and was the author of a 
 Poem on various scenes of Shooting, 4to. 
 
 J. Blackburn, 
 An historical painter, resided in this citv, where he 
 practised his art, first as an amateur, and afterwards as pro- 
 fessor : he died in the year 1787, after accumulating a for- 
 tune abroad. There was a painting by him of Caractacus 
 before Claudius, in the possession of Mrs. Hill, of the Tvth- 
 ing,* as also a landscape, and some portraits, by the same 
 artist : it is said, that for the picture first mentioned he was 
 offered and refused 70 guineas : it is but rather a moderate 
 production, even for the time in which it was produced. 
 There is an engraving after the same design, which is said 
 to be by Hayman ; and it is not unlikely that the picture by 
 Blackburne is only a copy. I have his portrait, painted by 
 himself, certainly the best of his productions. 
 
 Henry Winchcombe, 
 
 Author of the Lyre of Amphion, Sec: he boasted of a de- 
 scent from Sir Henry Winchcombe, whose daughter married 
 the celebrated Lord Bolinbroke with a fortune of 40,0001. 
 Mr. Winchcombe died near Pershore, in this county, May, 
 1791. 
 
 Elias Isaac, 
 Many years conductor of the Music Meetings of this 
 Cathedral, to which he was Organist. He was born July 
 14, 1734, and died in 1793, at his house in Edgar-street; 
 his remains were interred in the cloisters, attended by the 
 gentlemen of the choir, who sang Dr. Green's anthem, 
 " Lord, let me know my end," and performed Dr. Croft's 
 Funeral Service. Mr. Isaac was the author of two anthems 
 
 * Since deceased.
 
 504 
 
 sung at the Cathedral, ami a canzonette called " The 
 Blackbirds," the words from the celebrated ode of that 
 name, by Jago. 
 
 William Vincent, D. D. 
 
 The late venerable Dean of Westminster, was, in 
 1778, instituted to the vicarage of Longdon, in this coun- 
 ty : he was born in London, in November, 1739, and 
 died in 1815. — See the Gentleman's Mag. of that date, 
 and Annual Obituary, vol. 1, for a detailed account of his 
 life. 
 
 John Gwvn, R. A. Architect. 
 Of this person the Rev. Mr. Hugh Owen, of Shrewsbury, 
 in a very polite communication, has given me the following 
 interesting information :■ — ■" I very well remember Gwyn 
 when I was a boy, during the time he was engaged in 
 building the Euglish bridge over the Severn here, and I 
 have often heard him call himself a native of Shrewsbury, 
 which place I believe he left in early childhood. He was 
 lively, quick, and sarcastic, of quaint appearance and odd 
 manners. [ believe he was never largely employed as an 
 architect, though he possessed unquestionable talents and 
 considerable taste. His Worcester Bridge (finished in 
 1781) was his best production; that of Shrewsbury is a 
 beautiful elevation, but very faulty in point of convenience ; 
 as is the neighbouring bridge at Atchum : the bridge of Ox- 
 ford has little to recommend it ; but his new market in that 
 city, which was one of the finest modem markets erected in 
 the kingdom, did him credit. Dr. Johnson was fond of his 
 lively humour, and odd and sometimes keen sallies. Bos- 
 well gives an anecdote of him in his Life of the Doctor. He 
 was, I believe, poor, but high-spirited, and of unimpeach- 
 able integrity. It is supposed that his friend Johnson wrote, 
 or at least greatly assisted him in writing, the " London and 
 Westminster Improved," the materials of which were his 
 own. As a draftsman, his beautiful print of the section of
 
 505 
 
 St. Paul's,* decorated agreeably lo the original intention 
 
 ofSir Christopher Wren, and dedicated to the Prince of 
 
 Wales, must stamp his fame as long as a single impression 
 
 remains. I must here (continues Mr. Owen) guard you 
 
 against an error in my account of Gwyn in my History of 
 
 Shrewsbury — he did not build Henley bridge ; it was the 
 
 work of a Mr. Hayward, his clerk of the works.f Besides 
 
 his London Improved, the dedication of which to the King, 
 
 Johnson certainly wrote, he published a pamphlet on the 
 
 Coronation of George III., which, says Boswell, Johnson 
 
 corrected, as he also did a judicious treatise, by Gwyn, on 
 
 the Improvement of the Metropolis, the language of which 
 
 was chiefly from the pen of the lexicographer : he was of 
 
 a respectable family long settled in Shrewsbury, and which 
 
 is not extinct there yet. Who his father was, I know not." 
 
 Gwyn also published an Essay on Design, Svo. Bindley, 
 
 Bond-street, 1740, (see Bibl. Brit.); atone time he resided 
 
 in a house with Samuel Wale, R. A. a designer of book 
 
 plates, who died in 1786, and whom he often assisted in the 
 
 architectural parts of his back ground. "The approach to 
 
 the city of Oxford," says Mr. Dalloway, " over Magdalen 
 
 bridge, built by Gwyn, is unique in point of effect, and the 
 
 first impression it communicates of the grandeur of the Seat 
 
 of the Muses, and his bridge at Worcester, is a proof of 
 
 his skill, where he had a single river to cross." 
 
 In December, 1783, he was presented with the freedom 
 of this city, in testimony of his merit in planning and finish- 
 ing Worcester bridge, and for his indefatigable exertions in 
 completing the works. He was also the projector of the 
 
 * This was drawn, I believe, from actual measurement, and engraved by 
 E. Rooker : its companion print, an Elevation of St. Paul's, was began to 
 be engraved by Lowry, who never completed it. The idea of publishing 
 similar prints was revived here, I believe, about 15 years ago, by a P. 
 Moore, a pupil of Mr. Lewis's, architect, of Povvis-place. — Moore died in 1806. 
 
 + Wm. Hayward signed proposals for a bridge at Shrewsbury in 1781 (I 
 dresume for his master) : he died at Henley-upon-Thames, Oct. 1781, where 
 he was buried : at this time he was superintending Henley bridge, which he 
 had contracted to build, 
 
 3t
 
 506 
 
 several avenues leading thereto; which, together, will re- 
 main a lasting monument of his skill and ingenuity. They 
 who remember the state of this city near the river, on both 
 sides, and compare it with its present form, must neces- 
 sarily bear testimony to his great merit. 
 
 Had he lived, he would have seen what he had much at 
 heart, the completion of the new road from Henwick to 
 St. John's, which is one of the most beautiful approaches in 
 the kingdom. 
 
 He died Feb. 31, 1736, and was buried in the church of 
 Henley-upon-Thames, where an elegant monument is erected 
 to his memory. A son of Gwyn's died in April, 1796. 
 
 John Napleton, D. D. 
 Canon Residentiary of Hereford Cathedral, who died 
 Dec. 9, 1817, in his 80th year, held (or at least a person 
 with the same names held), April, 1775, the living of Great 
 Sheldesley, in this county. The biography of this valuable 
 character, whose memoirs belong not to the annals of this 
 county, is preparing for the press. He was of Brazen-nose 
 College ; and, besides his " Advice to Students at the Uni- 
 versity," was, I believe, the author of some other work. 
 
 Miles Peter Andrews, 
 
 Member of Parliament for Bewdley, in this county, 1799, 
 for which he was returned several times ; was a gentle- 
 man that contrived to follow the Muses without neglect- 
 ing his business as a merchant. He was one of the proprie- 
 tors of a gunpowder manufactory at Dartford, and a partner 
 in the house of Pigou, Andrews, and Wilkes : he wrote se- 
 veral poems, under the signature of " D'Arblay," in the 
 newspaper called The World; and was the author of several 
 petit dramatic pieces, prologues, epilogues, &c. 
 
 He was the friend of Thomas, Lord Lyttelton, who left 
 Mr. Andrews 20001. The dream that preceded, and which, 
 in fact, occasioned the death of Lord Lyttelton, is detailed 
 in this work, (see his article), but the very extraordinary
 
 507 
 
 one which Mr. Andrews had the night on which Lord Lvt- 
 telton died, is, perhaps, worth relating : — Mr. Andrews was 
 at Dartford, and did not know Lord Lyttelton was absent 
 from Ireland, where he had been some time, of course was 
 wholly ignorant of his dream and death. He had been in 
 bed about an hour, and had a light in his room ; he dreamed 
 Lord Lyttelton appeared before him, dressed in a damask 
 night-gown, like one he usually wore in the morning, and 
 said, "Andrews, 'tis all over with me!" He, imagining 
 Lord Lyttelton had arrived, and had come into the room to 
 frighten him, called to him by name, but found his door 
 locked ; he looked at his watch to ascertain the hour, and 
 see how long he had been in bed, and perceived it was with- 
 in a few minutes of 1<2. When he returned to town, he found 
 a letter from Lord Westcote, informing him of the death of 
 his friend at that very hour. The reader will draw his own 
 conclusions on these tales. 
 
 Mr. Andrews died, July, 1814, at his house in Cleveland 
 Row, facing the Green Park, leaving property to the 
 amount of 100,0001. His entertaining memoirs may be 
 seen in the Public Characters, Monthly Mirror, and a 
 work of inferior pretensions, under the title of The British 
 Plutarch: see also Gent.'s Mag. for 1814, and Biagraphia 
 Dramatica. 
 
 Valentine Green, R. S. A. 
 Of this artist's birth-place there has hitherto been much 
 uncertainty. On a reference, however, to the Register of 
 Salford, in Warwickshire, I find that he was christened 
 there October 16, 1739, and this date is corroborated by 
 Mr. Green himself in a memoir written by him for the 
 Monthly Mirror, and by the statement of Mr. Ross* in the 
 Gent's Magazine, Nov. 1813. Mr. Green was educated 
 
 * James Ross, an artist of considerable talent in this city, succeded Mr. 
 Grern as pupil to Hob. Hancock in 1765: he designed and engraved most of 
 the plates in Green's Worcester. In Dr. Nash'* tine edition of Hudibras, 
 there are also many engravings by his hand.
 
 50° 
 
 o 
 
 by his father, whom Mr. Ross believes was a dancing-mas- 
 ter. The " learned and worthy friend" who wrote to the 
 editor of the Monthly Mirror, for July, 1810, says, "that 
 Green was a native of Hales Owen," and that " there were 
 three brothers, all artists ; one, an engraver, who died early ; 
 and Amos* the eldest, excelled in painting flowers. I have 
 seen some beautiful posies of his ; he also drew well ; the 
 
 late Rev. Partley, of Stoke-by-Nayland, his friend, 
 
 had a room adorned with his drawings in water-colours. I 
 have been, continues this correspondent, with Mr. Amos 
 Green, at Mr. Hilton's, who was well acquainted with all 
 of them ; the eldest was the friend and companion of Mr. 
 Dean, a gentleman of fortune, " who, admiring his taste, re- 
 quested him to reside with him." Notwithstanding this cir- 
 cumstantial evidence, Mr. Ross declares that he has had 
 almost constant correspondence with Mr. Green from 1765 
 to the day of his death, and never heard him say or intimate 
 that he had either a brother or sister, nor can heJmd by 
 any enquiries among his friends, that he ever had. Mr. 
 Ross has heard of many artists ©f the name of Green, per- 
 haps of these persons, but that they had any nearer affinity 
 with him than the name he cannot believe." 
 
 Rut to return : in the office of William Phillips, Esq. 
 (according to Mr. Green's account of himself,) town- 
 clerk of Evesham, one of the most eminent attornies in 
 
 * I have an idea that Shenstone, in his Letters, 1757, means Amos Green, 
 when he says, " a young painter of my acquaintance, who is advised to go to 
 Bath, has a recommendation to the Bishop of B. who will introduce him to 
 Lord N. The person who I suppose will be the bearer of this letter, has, by 
 dint of mere ingenuity, risen to considerable eminence in fruit-pieces, &c. 
 he has been employed by Lord Lyttelton, and is much admired at Oxford ; 
 for my part I believe you will think he is in few respects inferior to Stran- 
 over, (*) but is a native of our parish, and a friend of mine." Shenstone 
 mentions Amos Green, by name, in another letter, whom he recommends to 
 Mr. Graves as about to commence partnership with Alcock, a painter, at 
 Bath, and as a painter of insects and game as well as flowers, to which he 
 xvould add flower painting. 
 
 (*) I have no such name among my memoranda of artists, nor is it in 
 Fuseli's Pilkington.
 
 509 
 
 this county, he passed nearly two years, with a view to 
 the profession of the law, and at the age of 19, he had 
 not the most distant idea of being at all connected with 
 the arts. In 1760, however, he changed his course, and 
 quitted his home abruptly, and without the knowledge 
 of his father ! Having a turn for drawing, he entered 
 himself into a pupilage of line engraving, with an artist, 
 Mr. Robert Hancock, (see his article) residing in Wor- 
 cester, but without his father's concurrence. Not suc- 
 ceeding to his wishes in that study, and feeling his time 
 sacrificed to a hopeless pursuit as an artist, he filled 
 that space of it, which would otherwise have been wholly 
 lost, in compiling a History of the City of Worcester, 
 which was published here by Butler and Gamidge, at 
 Prior's Head, in 1764, with 16 copper-plates, from draw- 
 ings of his own, and engraved by Hancock. 
 
 On his arrival in London, in 1765, he commenced his 
 career in the arts, in the department of mezzotinto engrav- 
 ing, in which he was his own preceptor, and for the space 
 of forty-four years was employed in executing a variety of 
 works in mezzotinto engraving, from the most celebrated 
 ancient and modern masters in the different schools of 
 painting, amounting to nearly 400 plates. In this branch 
 of the arts, it is known to the artists of our own school, 
 and to those of the Continent, that the reputation of uniting 
 historical subjects with the art of mezzotinto engraving, is 
 attributable to the execution of those undertakings, the 
 plates of Regulus and Hannibal, on a scale of dimensions 
 never before attempted ; these he engraved from the original 
 pictures in his Majesty's collection, painted by Benj. West, 
 the present venerable President of the Royal Academy. 
 Prior to the date of those productions, single figures, prin- 
 cipally portraits, were the m plus of that style of en- 
 graving. 
 
 His most Serene Highness Charles Theodore, Elector 
 Palatine at that time, and reigning Duke of Bavaria, was 
 graciously pleased to grant his patent of exclusive privilege
 
 510 
 
 for fourteen years to Mr. Green, m conjunction with his 
 son, Mr. Rupert Green, dated June 3, 1789, to engrave 
 and publish prints from all or any of the pictures in the 
 Gallery at Dusseldorf,* to their own use and benefit, and at 
 their own risk and expence. This privilege was no sooner 
 received than an immediate engagement was formed with 
 several artists of eminence on the Continent, to execute 
 paintings from the originals, which were successively trans- 
 mitted to them in London, for the purpose of being en- 
 graved. By an order from the Treasury they were delivered 
 to them free of duty. In March, 1793, 72 of these pic- 
 tures, together with 14 of the engravings from them, were 
 exhibited at the Great Room in Spring Gardens. In 1795, 
 the whole number of engravings published from that col- 
 lection amounted to 22 plates. 
 
 This magnificent work had already become firmly esta- 
 blished in its reputation in every quarter of Europe, and 
 had begun to yield returns nearly adequate to the great ex- 
 penditure that had been made to give due energy to an un- 
 dertaking so arduous and &o extensive. It is but too well 
 known what were the effects of the war in that part of Ger- 
 many ; and about the year 1798, when Dusseldorf became 
 the scene of action, the siege of that city by the French, oc- 
 casioned the removal and dispersion of the pictures ; and 
 the bombardment, which laid the castle and the gallery 
 which adjoins it in ruins, destroyed, together with a very 
 considerable property belonging to Mr. Green and his col- 
 leagues, all their well-founded hopes of success from an 
 enterprize which promised in its issue the most ample re- 
 compence, and which, had it been executed to its full ex- 
 tent, would have formed a monument of the talents of Bri- 
 tish artists. Other speculations, most promising in the 
 
 * " Aito the vain-glorious parade of the Dusseldorf business, and its con- 
 sequent bankruptcy, perhaps I have been too much a snft'erer to speak with 
 impartiality, and I leave it to the pen of some abler friend, not interested in 
 that unfortunate business ; for my wish is, that that affair, and all others
 
 outset, were also defeated and lost, to him, at least, in the 
 gloom of a war that tilled the world with dismay at the enor- 
 mous ruin it was making; and Mr. Green was at length 
 obliged to throw himself on the mercy of his creditors. But 
 although without fortune, Mr. Green was not without ho- 
 nours ; after being elected, in 1767, a Fellow of the Incor- 
 porated Society of Artists of Great Britain, he, in 1773, 
 was appointed mezzotinto engraver to his Majesty, and in 
 the ensuing year was elected one of the six associate engrav- 
 ers of the Royal Academy. In 1775 the Elector Palatine 
 appointed him his engraver, and confirmed his election in 
 the Academy of Dusseldorf, as Professor and Member ; and 
 a large gold medal of 125 ducats value, another of 60 du- 
 cats, and a third of 50 ducats, with two smaller ones, were 
 successively marks of favour which he received, between the 
 years 1775 and 1788, from that illustrious Prince. In 
 1790, her Majesty Frederica Louisa, Queen of Prussia, 
 ordered him to be presented with a gold snuffbox, enriched 
 with pearls, &c. of the value of 401. Another gold snuff 
 box, of equal price, was the same year given to him by her 
 Serene Highness Louisa Carolina Henrietta, hereditary 
 Princess of Hesse Darmstadt. 
 
 I have now to speak of Mr. Green as an author ; the first 
 edition of his Worcester I have already mentioned : I may 
 add that it is still preferred by many to his second edition : 
 he received much assistance in compiling this history, as 
 well as that published in 4to. from the Rev. Mr. Garbet 
 (vide p. 440). This last edition was published in 1792; 
 it has been so long before the public, that many remarks of 
 
 that I might have thought mean on the one hand, or ostentatious or Tain- 
 glorious on the other, may 
 
 " Sleep with him in the grave, 
 And not remembered in his epitaph." 
 For whatever I might have had to regret in my correspondence with him 
 (and it has been much), I shall respect his memory. I could say much about 
 him, but not having resided in London for the last twenty years, I shall leave 
 it to some abler pen. Your's, &c. 
 
 "Nov. 1, 1813. (Gent.'s 3Ia S .) JOHN ROSS."
 
 512 
 
 mine would be impertinent ; he has fallen into some mis- 
 takes, which, in a production of this elaborate kind, it is 
 next to impossible to escape ; but it wants an enlarged in- 
 dex to make it valuable as a book of reference : he was as- 
 sisted with communications from the most enlightened in- 
 habitants of Worcester, and also enabled, by the munifi- 
 cence of those who contributed to the expense of the en- 
 gravings, to produce a work richer in embellishment than 
 will ever, it is probable, be published again by any in- 
 dividual. The copiousness of its antiquarian research will 
 always render it interesting to the topographical reader. 
 ■ — This work was presented to the King in the May of 
 1796, on which occasion Mr. Green had the honour of 
 kissing his Majesty's hand : he was introduced by Lord Co- 
 ventry. In 1782 Mr. Green printed a letter to Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, entitled " A Review of the Polite Arts in France 
 at the time of their establishment under Louis XIV. com- 
 pared with their present state in England, in which their na- 
 tional importance, and several pursuits, are briefly stated 
 and considered." At that period the Shakespeare, Historic, 
 and Poet's Gallery did not exist. His next work was a 
 compilation called, " Acta Historica Reginarum Angliae, 
 formed on the history of the Queens of England subsequent 
 to the Norman Conquest, down to Queen Anne, inclusive." 
 This publication was brought forward under the patron- 
 age of her Majesty, and is made interesting as a work of 
 art by the many rare portraits it contains of the ancestors of 
 the first families in Great Britain, amounting in number to 
 nearly an hundred ; it was begun in 1786, and completed in 
 1792, with a French translation by the late Chevalier 
 Sausuiel. Lastly, " An Account of the Discovery of the 
 Body of King John in the Cathedral Church of Worcester, 
 July 17, 1797," a quarto pamphlet, as an Addenda to his last 
 History of Worcester ; but this account is not quite so cor- 
 rect as might have been expected from the assistance which 
 Mr. Green received from several scientific persons ; nor is 
 the plate intended as illustrative of the position of the ske-
 
 .513 
 
 leton sufficiently elucidatory. In 1775 he was elected a 
 Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London. In 1799 
 he addressed a memoir to the Society for the Encourage- 
 ment of Arts, &c. of which he was a member, shewing his 
 conceived paramount claims as a candidate for its secre- 
 taryship, which situation was however given to the late 
 highly respectable Dr. Taylor, since deceased. He after- 
 wards applied to them to be allowed to engrave the series of 
 paintings in the Great Room of the Society, the works of 
 the celebrated Barry, but this speculation fell to the ground. 
 
 In 1804 he was chosen Keeper of the British Institution 
 for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom, and his 
 conduct in this situation was highly satisfactory to the Govern- 
 ors of this institution ; he endeared himself to the pupils by the 
 impartiality of his conduct and the amenity of his manners, 
 and by prosecuting the arduousness of his task without vaunt- 
 ing the merits of his friends at the expense of the artist, 
 and from this body he received, if I am correct in my recollec- 
 tion, a piece of plate, as a testimony of its attachment. 
 
 I have in my possession several original letters explana- 
 tory of the coolness which subsisted between Mr. Green and 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, the perusal of which affords a cau- 
 tion to those who are too anxious to commit their feelings 
 to paper, and is a proof how much gentlemanly calm- 
 ness is superior to inconsiderate warmth : the dispute ori- 
 ginated in the wish of Mr. Green to engrave Sir Joshua's 
 " Tragic Muse." The former, it appears, was too fond of 
 letter writing. 
 
 Mr. Valentine Green died on the 29th of June, , 1812, in 
 St. Alban's-street, in the 74th year of his age. 
 
 John Hawkins 
 
 Was the son of Thomas Hawkins, Esq. of Nash Court, 
 
 Oxfordshire ; he received the early part of his education at 
 
 the Benedictine College of Douay ; at the age of 16 was 
 
 ordained a monk of that order, and was for some years the 
 
 domestic chaplain of Boddenham, Esq. of Rotheros 
 
 3 u
 
 514 
 
 Herefordshire. He became a proselyte to the Protest- 
 ant Church in the year 1779; and soon after, namely, 
 June 27, 1780, he married the eldest daughter of Richard 
 Bumey, of Barbourn Lodge, Esq. He was presented by 
 the present venerable Bishop of Winchester to the living of 
 Hinton, in Hampshire, which, in the year 1791, he was 
 permitted to exchange for the rectory of Halstead, in Essex. 
 Mr. Hawkins possessed much scientific knowledge and 
 literary acquirements, to which the works that he published 
 on religious controversy bear ample testimony. 
 
 He died in London, to which place he had resorted for 
 medical aid, June 19, 1804, aged about60 years. He was 
 the author of — 1 . A Letter from a Catholic Christian to his 
 Roman Catholic Friend, stating the reason for his relin- 
 quishing the Communion of the Church of Rome, Wor- 
 cester, 1780: 2. An Essay on the Law of Celibacy im- 
 posed on the Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, inter- 
 spersed with various Remarks upon several other parts of 
 their Discipline, also a few Remarks on Mr. Carrol's An- 
 swer to the Roman Catholics of the United States of Ame- 
 rica, occasioned by Mr. Wharton's Letter,* in which he 
 had stated his motives for relinquishing the Communion of 
 the Church of Rome, 1784-5, 4s. 6d. ; 3. An Appeal to 
 Scripture Reason, &c. 1785; 4. An Expostulatory Ad- 
 dress to the Rev. Dr. Priestley, containing an Apology for 
 thoi. Q who conscientiously subscribe to the Articles of the 
 Church of England, and particularly to the Doctrines of the 
 Trinity, and Divinity of Christ, Feb. 28, 1788; 5. Letter 
 in the Worcester Journal to the Rev. Joseph Berrington, 
 Dec. 22, 1785 ; 6. Letter to the Rev. Jos. Berrington, oc- 
 casioned by his " Reflections, addressed to the Rev. Jos. 
 Hawkins," Worcester, December, 1785; 7- A General 
 Defence of the Principles of the Reformation, in a 
 Letter addressed to the Rev. J. Berrington, Worcester, 
 1788. 
 
 * See his article, p. 470, note.
 
 515 
 
 These publications were answered by — A Caveat, ad- 
 dressed to the Catholics of Worcester against the insinuating 
 Letters of Mr. Wharton, by Wm. Pilling, price Is. 6d.; 
 Reflections, addressed to the Rev. John Hawkins, to which 
 is added, an Exposition of Roman Catholic Principles, in 
 reference to God and the Country, by the Rev. Jos. Ber- 
 rington. 
 
 Thomas Evans, D.D. Prebendary, 1764, Archdeacon 
 of Worcester, 1787. 
 He held the living of Severn Stoke, in this county. In 
 1801 he resorted to the Bath waters, " which would neither 
 cure a violent cough, or bring on the gout." The follow- 
 ing extract from a letter by Dr. Evans to Mr. Jeal, late 
 sexton of Worcester Cathedral, I have chosen to insert, not 
 only to shew that the Doctor had a feeling heart, but also 
 that he combined delicacy with relieving the distressed : 
 
 " My hearing is considerably mended, and, tho' still very imperfect, 
 makes me rather less troublesome and fatiguing to myself and others than 
 when I was in town ; but am extremely concerned for the hopeless state of 
 
 poor John F (an occasional servant probably) ; while he is encompassed 
 
 with his own relations, you do well to keep away ; but if you should call in 
 their absence, say what you canto comfort him; assure him particularly 
 from me, that while 1 live he shall not want. It may amuse him to be con- 
 sulted about the little work that is to be done in the garden, the person he 
 can trust to do it, &c. and to give directions accordingly : let him be asked 
 whether this is not the proper time for gathering hawthorn berries." 
 
 Dr. Evans died Aug. 12, 1815. 
 
 Lady Dorothea du Bois. 
 All I have learned of this lady is, that she was the author 
 of Theodora; and that, in the year 1771, the Ladies* 
 Pocket Books of Worcester were printed under her di- 
 rection. 
 
 Rev. George Butt, D.D. 
 Was born at Lichfield Dec. 26, 1741. His father, Mr. 
 Carey Butt, exercised for many years the medical profession
 
 516 
 
 in that place. He discovered the genius of Dr. Johnson, 
 while that extraordinary character was only a Hercules in 
 the cradle, and pronounced " that he would one day be- 
 come a great man." — Hawkins's Johnson, p. 6. George 
 Butt exhibited early indications of genius, and was placed 
 in the Grammar School at Stafford, some years after which 
 he was sent to Westminster, at the instigation of Mr. after- 
 wards Bishop Newton, author of "The Dissertation on 
 the Prophecies." He was conveyed by this Divine to 
 London, under whose patronage he was elected on the Roy- 
 al Foundation, in which he continued until he became cap- 
 tain of the school, during which time be walked in pro- 
 cession at the funeral of George II. and at the coronation of 
 his late Majesty. At Westminster he cared little for the 
 usual pursuits of boys, but attached himself to literature ; he 
 formed a friendship with Isaac Hawkins Brown, Esq. M.P. 
 Francis Burton, afterwards one of the Welch Judges, and 
 the late Dr. Cyril Jackson, Dean of Christ Church, and se- 
 veral others, to whom he was endeared by his good heart 
 and creative genius. He was distinguished at school for his 
 poetical compositions and his public speaking, and in acting 
 Demea in the Adelphi of Terence he bore the prize of 
 public approbation ; and was, as he declared, for the only 
 time in his life literally overflowing with money, forced up- 
 on him by the liberality of the audience. From Westmin- 
 ster he was, in ] 760, chosen student of Christ's College, 
 Oxford, and at this time he was more remarkable for 
 studying the English classics than the Greek or Roman 
 authors. In 1765 he was ordained Deacon, and was ap- 
 pointed curate of Leigh, in Staffordshire, a living in the gift 
 of Sir Walter Bagot ; and at this place he made consider- 
 able additions to his acquisitions in divinity, by reading with 
 deep attention the best models of pulpit eloquence. He 
 was a welcome guest at the seat of his friend and patron : 
 and a frequent change from Leigh to Blithfield well accord- 
 ed with his social disposition. In this situation he did not 
 continue long, being recommended as private tutor to the
 
 517 
 
 only son of Sir Edward Wilmington, of Stanford Court, 
 in this county, whom he accompanied with his father to 
 London, and in 1767 he brought his pupil to Christ's 
 Church, being no longer engaged as his private but his pub- 
 lic tutor, and taking other young men at the same time un- 
 der his tuition. He endeared himself to his pupils by his 
 sportive wit and manly sense ; and had an opportunity of be- 
 coming private tutor to Lord Carmarthen, but this valuable 
 situation he declined from motives of affection and honour 
 to Mr. Winning-ton. With his pupils of an inferior order he 
 also associated freely, many of whom he reclaimed from idle- 
 ness and profligacy, as well as those of the highest rank. 
 Among other exercises, it was his custom on Sunday even- 
 ings to assemble his pupils, and read to them his favourite 
 poet Milton ; and those who have witnessed the powers 
 of his eloquence, will not easily forget the effect produced 
 on their minds. Among his pupils, he selected for his 
 friend the Rev. J. C. Woodhouse, afterwards Rector of Do- 
 nington, in Shropshire, and Archdeacon of Salop. In the 
 summer of 17(38 he travelled into Wales with this gentleman, 
 whom he calls " a friend congenial to his soul," in a poem 
 descriptive of that journey, addressed to Mr. Winnington. 
 In 1769 he experienced a heavy loss in the death of his 
 eldest brother, John Martin Butt, M. D. F. R. S. who had 
 distinguished himself as a physician in Jamaica. Dr. Butt, 
 in 177 i, was presented by Sir E. Wilmington to the rectory 
 of Stanford, and the vicarage of Clifton, in this county ; the 
 former situation being very picturesque, was highly con- 
 genial to his feelings as a poet; but at this place he was 
 compelled to build a parsonage-house, which he greatly em- 
 bellished, and, by assisting nature, and not in thwarting 
 her, he formed a terrestrial paradise ; but from his liberality 
 on former occasions, with the expenses of erecting this 
 house, he incurred a debt, which produced many difficul- 
 ties, and checked the display of his generous spirit, but did 
 not restrain the exercises of his benevolence. In April, 
 1773, he married Miss Martha Sherwood, the daughter of
 
 518 
 
 a silk merchant in London, and to this lady he was much 
 beholden for a system of economy which redeemed hirn 
 from the consequences of his own inexperience ; and, in 
 compliance with her wishes, consented to take a number of 
 pupils, a plan that he persisted in until the year 1784, in 
 which time he had the heart-felt satisfaction of redeeming: 
 one soul from error, who had shut his eyes against the truth 
 of Revelation, whose death-bed he rendered easy, by ex- 
 torting contrition, and bestowing upon him the consolations 
 of hope. In the year 1777 he produced his tragedy of Ti- 
 moleon, which, although considered as nearly faultless, as 
 a composition, was deemed deficient in stage effect by 
 Mr. Garrick, and as such never appeared before the pub- 
 lic. Nearly at this time he relinquished some promises of 
 preferment from a noble family, for the sake of a beloved 
 younger brother, who obtained the living of Arley, in Staf- 
 fordshire. In the year 1778, his first patron, the Bishop 
 of Bristol, presented him to the small living of New 
 Church, in the Isle of Wight, tenable with his other prefer- 
 ment. In his visit to this place, he wrote the Patriot's Vi- 
 sion, a poem, which he published and dedicated to the 
 memory of the great Earl of Chatham. Several of his fugi- 
 tive pieces of poetry were written for the vase of Lady 
 Millar, from whom he received many honorary prizes. On 
 her death, in 1781, he wrote an elegy, perhaps the most 
 elegant monument to her memory, printed in his collection 
 of poems. In the year 1783, he exchanged his living of 
 New Church for that of Notgrave in Gloucestershire, and, 
 in the same year, he was, by the interest of Lord Hertford, 
 appointed one of the Chaplains in Ordinary to his Majesty. 
 He obtained permission, in the year 1784, to dedicate his 
 Versification of Isaiah, to the King. But his exertions for 
 the completion of this work caused a visible change in his 
 constitution, and is supposed to have laid the foundation of 
 that disorder, which terminated his life. The alteration, 
 and the necessity of a yearly visit to London, in his turn of 
 residence at St. James's, induced him to decline the offer of
 
 S19 
 
 new pupils. He had hitherto watched over the education of 
 his only son, now in his 10th year, whom he sent to Reading 
 school, from thence he was removed to Westminster, to 
 qualify him for a studentship at Christ Church. About this 
 period Dr. Butt took up the weapon of defence for his 
 friend, Dr. Valpy, master of Reading school, and couched an 
 answer to a Calvinistic invective against a sermon by his 
 friend, the title of which answer was, " The Practice of Li- 
 beral Piety Vindicated." During his yearly visits to Lon- 
 don as King's Chaplain, he was introduced to Mr. Potter, 
 Mr. Erskine, Dr. Warren, General Paoli, and Mr. Fuseli. 
 He was often requested to sit for his picture to that great 
 artist, who wished to preserve a countenance which he said 
 was compounded of the features of Sterne and Lavater. 
 In 1787,he was presented by Lord Foley to the valuable 
 vicarage of Kidderminster, to which he removed in 1788. 
 It was conferred on him through the interest of Sir E. Win- 
 nington, the Marchioness of Stafford, and his old master the 
 Archdeacon of York. In this memorable year of the King's 
 illness, he preached a sermon on that subject, at the Chapel 
 Royal, and so great and creditable to Dr. B. was the sensa- 
 tion caused by this sermon, that it was expected some sub- 
 stantial proof would be offered him for a discourse for 
 which rank and power pressed forward, emulous to offer 
 him their acknowledgments for his exertions. In 1791, he 
 published two volumes of his sermons with notes, dedicated 
 to the Archbishop of York. These volumes he presented 
 to their Majesties. And, in 1793, he printed two volumes 
 of his Poems; to this first volume he prefixed his portrait 
 after Kean ; to the second a view of his beloved Stanford : 
 the work was dedicated to Lord Viscount Valentia, who 
 had been his pupil. In the summer of 1794, Dr. Butt 
 brought his family to reside at Stanford, but his attention to 
 Kidderminster was unremitting ; on the resignation of Dr. 
 James, he, together with Dr. Parr, Mr. Quoyle, Mr. Ben- 
 well, and other literary characters, formed a plan to induce 
 Dr. Valpy to remove to Rugby school. Dr. Butt prevailed
 
 520 
 
 on his friend to visit Stanford, accompanied him to Rugby, 
 and used every argument and exertion, but in vain, to induce 
 Dr. Valpy to exchange his situation. The first symptom of 
 the decay of Dr. Butt's mental faculties, appeared in the 
 additions, which he now attempted to make in his Felicia. 
 As a relaxation from the laborious attentions which he paid 
 to his pupils, he had begun and almost finished a work un- 
 der that title. It holds a medium between the old romance 
 and the modern novel, and is cast, in the descriptions and in 
 some of the adventures, in the mould of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury. This work was afterwards completed by his daughter, 
 who has distinguished herself by several literary produc- 
 tions. In the beginning of 1795, he saw himself upon 
 the point of enjoying the fruit of his toils and privations, 
 by the completion of the payment of his debts. He came 
 into the full possession of an estate, which, since the death 
 of his mother, he had invariably devoted to that purpose. 
 But no sooner did the current of his cares and activity cease 
 to flow, than the pulse of his life ceased to beat. Such 
 are the hopes of man ! He exerts all his mental faculties, he 
 exercises all his physical powers in the pursuit of some 
 darling object. No sooner has he attained the wishes of 
 his heart, than he drops into the grave. On the last day of 
 June, he was attacked by a stroke of the palsy, at Kidder- 
 minster, from the worst effects of which he was relieved by 
 the skill and attention of his nephew, Dr. Salt, but from 
 this time to the end of September he gradually declined. 
 Dr. Butt had, during his life, maintained a constant inter- 
 course with his God ; and that merciful Power did not for- 
 sake him, " when his flesh and his heart began to fail." In 
 proportion as he was deprived of the reason and judgment 
 of a man, he was blessed with the cheerfulness of an infant. 
 The last words which he committed to paper, were the fol- 
 lowing, which may be considered " tanquam cygnea vox di- 
 vini hominis," conveying a sentiment of sincere piety, though 
 not perhaps expressed in his usual elegance : — " The visita- 
 tion of disease is one of the most beneficent acts of God.
 
 521 
 
 Bad habits to body and mind are weakened by this new 
 visitation ; and God, by nature and grace, assists us to re- 
 generate ourselves in better habits, than otherwise might 
 have been known to us." While able to articulate, he never 
 failed to speak of the mercy and goodness of God, and when 
 no longer able to converse, he cheered with smiles of be- 
 nignity the exertions of his friends and attendants ; he re- 
 mained imperfectly sensible almost to the end. At that 
 awful period, he fixed his dim eyes on a print of our Sa- 
 viour bearing his cross, and, in a faultering voice, he said, 
 " It is that which now gives me comfort !" Shortly after 
 he expired. He was buried in the church at Stanford, in 
 which is the following inscription, written by Dr. Salt: — 
 
 This tablet is sacred to the memory of 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE BUTT, D. D. 
 
 a man, in whom learning was recommended 
 
 by urbanity of manners, 
 
 and genius, combined with purity of heart. 
 
 Actuated by the warm spirit of benevolence, 
 
 and the sacred principles of religion, 
 
 he was a friend to man, 
 
 and a faithful Servant of his God. 
 
 He was born at Lichfield, Dec. 26, 1741, 
 
 and died at Stanford, Sept. 30, 1795. 
 
 As a rare instance of affection and respect, the principal 
 inhabitants of Kidderminster, at his death, hung the church 
 with black at their own expense, and attended divine service 
 in mourning. 
 
 He left three children, a son and two daughters. His son, 
 the Rev. John Marten Butt, student of Christ Church, lives 
 on a curacy at Abberly, in this county, and is the author 
 of several religious productions. — Vide Dictionary of Liv- 
 ing Authors. His elder daughter married Capt. Sherwood, 
 of the 53d. The younger resides with Mr. Butt, at Stock- 
 ton, near Worcester. Dr. Butt's sermons, the only compo- 
 sitions in prose which he has published, are formed on the 
 best models, not of modern writers, but of the authors of the 
 
 3x-
 
 e 
 
 22 
 
 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, Sanderson, 
 Jeremy Taylor, Burnet, Pearson, Barrow, Tillotson, Atter- 
 bury, and South. He neither admired the style, nor could 
 conform to the practice, of many modern divines, who have 
 written elegant and moral essays, rather than Christian ex- 
 hortations. The prominent feature of his poetry is genius. 
 On the merit of one poem, the late Mr. Owen Cambridge 
 thus writes to Mr. Hawkins Browne : — " I am most agree- 
 ably surprised with Isaiah, it is as near perfection as any 
 composition I ever saw. It has all the merit of Prior's Solo- 
 mon, without his negligence. It is equal to his Charity, 
 which is the finest thing I ever read." Nor was Dr. Butt 
 less formed by nature for painting, than for poetry. His 
 knowledge of the different styles of the art, and of the excel- 
 lencies of the great masters, displayed the utmost taste and 
 accuracy of judgment. He was fond of drawing sketches, 
 which bore strong impressions of genius and boldness. He 
 collected pictures and prints ; and his moderation in the in- 
 dulgence of this passion, marks the firmness of his mind. 
 Yet even here the pleasure of self-gratification was often 
 sacrificed at the shrine of friendship. He possessed a copy 
 of one of the best pictures of Vandyke; and after the 
 search and inquiry of many years, chance threw into his 
 hands the original, which had been in the family of Dr. 
 Wallis, to whom it was said to have been given by Archbi- 
 shop Fenelon ; overjoyed as he was at the unexpected acqui- 
 sition, he presented it to his friend at Reading, who had 
 commissioned him to procure a painting of that size for his 
 library. This sacrifice at the shrine of friendship, can only 
 be duly appreciated by an ardent amateur of the fine arts, 
 the artist, and collector. 
 
 Few persons have attained to so eminent a degree the art of 
 shining in conversation as Dr. Butt. He possessed much pe- 
 netration of character, simplicity, and independence ; and his 
 personal courage shewed itself on more occasions than one, 
 when he himself compelled a murderer, armed with a naked
 
 523 
 
 weapon, the terror of all around him, to sun tinier to the 
 officers of justice ; he had eccentricities, but shall it be 
 said, that tliese eccentricities or want of method detracted from 
 the graces of his life ? He was sometimes careless and ab- 
 sent ; but never careless of the wishes, or absent to the ser- 
 vices of others. Of his want of method his study presented a 
 curious specimen. Old and new books, old and new paint- 
 ings, confusedly mingled together ; sermons, poems, and letters 
 thrown in promiscuous heaps. His natural dislike to worldly 
 business cannot be more strongly marked, than by a trifling 
 circumstance which came under the observation of his fa- 
 mily : — among his papers was found a letter from a friend, 
 pointing out to him in serious terms the dangers of a want of 
 economy, and reminding him, in the most impressive man- 
 ner, of the state of his affairs. At the end of the letter he 
 hed written part of an ode. But when his clerical profession 
 called for activity, his eccentricity prompted him to be " in- 
 stant in season and out of season." In the character of the fa- 
 ther and shepherd of his flock, he considered none too low for 
 his notice, he sympathized with their distresses, visited them 
 in their most infectious disorders, comforted them with his 
 prayers, and relieved them in their necessities. To sum up the 
 character of Dr. Butt, in a few words, he was, says Dr. Valpy, 
 " as pure in heart, as free from vicious and immoral con- 
 duct, as the frailty of human nature can permit. The sanc- 
 tions of religion and morality were deeply engraved on his 
 heart ; he possessed by nature, and by habit had familiarized 
 to his actions, as large a share of benevolence, of genero- 
 sity, of candour, and of the love of what is great and good, as 
 perhaps ever fell to the lot of man." Vide " Some Account 
 of the Rev. Geo. Butt, D. D. prefixed to Poems, Odes, 
 Prologues, and Epilogues, spoken at Reading School," 
 8vo. 1804. 
 
 George Young, 
 Author of the Survey of Worcester, was a native of 
 Shrewsbury, but resided latterly in this city. He was born 
 May 13, 1750, and died Jan. '25, 1820.
 
 524 
 
 Robert Vellers. 
 This great benefactor to the city of Worcester was born 
 in 1743. From an humble beginning in the business of a 
 silk mercer in this city, he by constant assiduity, strict eco- 
 nomy, and judicious management, acquired a considerable 
 fortune, which by his will, made a short time previous to 
 his death, he disposed of in the following manner, viz. after 
 legacies to his friends, he gave 60001. to the Worcester In- 
 firmary, to be paid to the Governors of that excellent institu- 
 tion. See Vellers's Charity, p. 321 of Chambers's History 
 of Worcester. He also left money for the benefit of the 
 poor of St. Michael's parish, Bedwardine. Mr. Vellers 
 died April 1815, and was buried in a vault in the cloister 
 green of the Cathedral of Worcester. 
 
 Charles Francis Sheridan, 
 Who resided in the Foregate-street of this city, was the 
 elder brother of the late Richard Brindsley Sheridan, and 
 born in Ireland. The disordered state of his father's pecu- 
 niary affairs prevented him from paying much attention to 
 the welfare of his children ; this charge devolved on their 
 mother, till they were of an age to attend the school of 
 Mr. Whyte, in Grafton-street, Dublin. In 1762, his bro- 
 ther Brindsley was sent to Harrow,* but the subject of this 
 memoir remained at home to receive the instructions of 
 his father, who always entertained a strong partiality for 
 him, from an idea that he possessed the greatest genius, and 
 would ultimately prove the most shining character of his fa- 
 mily. At the age of twelve, he was actually exhibited as a 
 public speaker by his father, in order to shew the efficacy 
 of his boasted system of education. The subject of 
 this recitation was Eve's speech to Adam, and an account 
 of this debut may be seen in Dr. Watkins's Life of Richard 
 
 * I am informed by a gentleman who was at Harrow with this celebrated 
 character, that at this lime he was only remarkable for wearing very ragged 
 clothes, having no money, and feeling an eicessive fondness for archery.
 
 •vj.. 
 
 Brindsley Sheridan. In more mature life, he became the 
 rival but less fortunate lover than his brother in the latter's 
 attachment to Miss Linley ; but so unconscious was he of 
 the obstacle to his union, that he made this brother the confi- 
 dant of his passion. He was afterwards his second in a duel 
 with Captain Matthews, a pretender to the affections of 
 the same lady, but who had, it appears, aspersed her 
 character. 
 
 Mr. Charles Sheridan had been for many years Member 
 of the Irish Parliament, and was Secretary or Under Secre- 
 tary at War in that kingdom, previous to the question of the 
 llegency, when he resigned his seat and situation. In 1778, 
 he published in one vol. 8vo. a History of the late Revolu- 
 tion in Sweden. This was the revolution effected by the 
 King on the 19th August, 1772, in order to break the powers 
 of the senate, the members of which governed the kingdom 
 in the most absolute manner. In this work, Mr. S. marked 
 with a bold and masterly hand the progress of despotism in 
 the history of the Swedes, from the time of Gustavus Vasa 
 to that of Charles XII. and clearly explained the reasons of 
 the weakness and unsuccessfnlness of their struggle for 
 liberty, during that long period. This work, it is said, is 
 written in a natural, manly, and nervous style, and discovered 
 Mr. S. to be possessed of that acuteness of penetration, 
 which is the first excellence of an historian. At this period 
 he was Secretary to the British Envoy at Stockholm, and 
 was witness of the events which he has related in the above 
 work. He afterwards wrote several pamphlets, which were 
 received with applause on the ministerial side of the ques- 
 tion, during the dissensions of Ireland ; one of them was en- 
 titled " Letters of a Duncannon Volunteer respecting the 
 Expediency of a Parliamentary Reform." In 1793, he pub- 
 lished an Essay on the true Principle of Civil Liberty and of 
 Free Government, occasioned by the levelling doctrines of 
 the day, printed at a time when his brother was advocating 
 those very doctrines which he in his pamphlet has exposed as 
 dangerous. Notwithstanding these assertions of his ad- 
 
 'O
 
 526 
 
 vocating the cause of loyalty, borrowed from several publica- 
 tions, I am assured by a gentleman who knew him inti- 
 mately, that his politics at one time were decidedly those 
 of Richard Brindsley Sheridan. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan was the inventor of an apparatus, by means 
 of which and without tbe assistance of minors, the same 
 person or any given object is made to appear to the human 
 eye at three distinct places at the same time, or rather, says a 
 gentleman who saw it, that the head of one person would ap- 
 pear by this optical illusion to be on the shoulders of another. 
 It was exhibited at the Royal Institution to the great ad- 
 miration and surprise of the spectators. And the experi- 
 ment (vide newspapers) " was made last week, August 1804, 
 before the Prince of Wales." 
 
 He was a man, says Dr.Watkins, in the life of his bro- 
 ther, of considerable abilities, more solid than shewy, and in 
 principles quite the reverse of his brother, who never lived 
 with him upon good terms He was also unlike his brother 
 in shape, yet he dressed negligently, and his whole appear- 
 ance gave no indication of the talent within it, but as soon as 
 he spoke, the magic of his words immediately gave the 
 hearer an idea of his abilities. He has been represented to 
 me, by an intimate friend, as " a giant in talent!" Many 
 of his repartees are still remembered in this city. Of a bad 
 or diffuse arguer, he once said, such a man you are obliged 
 to hold up, in order to knock him down ; for if, said he, 
 you say a mouse has brains, he will immediately interrupt 
 you by saying, aye, but an elephant has larger. 
 
 Mr. Charles Sheridan was for some years on a particular 
 friendly footing with Mr. Grattan, of Ireland, of whose elo- 
 quence he had a very high opinion ; this intercourse of 
 friendship, however, was at one time broken ; it was occa- 
 sioned from a difference of opinion on some political affair. 
 During this time when they ceased to be friends, not a word 
 was heard to fall from either disrespectful of each other. 
 This lapse of years of friendship, Mr. S. once exclaimed, 
 will be made up in a day. I have heard that Mr. G. has no
 
 •lll 
 
 objection to be reconciled, if any one will bring it about. It 
 was brought about, and the friendship became warmer than 
 ever. 
 
 He resided, about the year 1S03, in the house now occu- 
 pied by Mr. Best, in this city, and died at Tunbridge Wells, 
 July, 1306, leaving a large family, among whom two sons, one 
 of whom died in the East Indies, in a situation of great trust ; 
 the other held a situation in the Custom House, Ireland; he 
 left also three daughters, the eldest married a Mr. Sat- 
 terthwayte, but is since dead; another married to an officer 
 in the service of the East India Company ; a third, Laetitia 
 Elizabethan Oct. 5, 1818, married at the new church of Ri- 
 verston, in the county of Sligo, to John Gore Jones, Esq. 
 only son of John Jones, of Johnsport, Esq. Mrs. Sheridan, 
 his widow, died in Worcester of a paralytic stroke, and lies 
 buried in the ground of St. Oswald's Hospital. 
 
 I remember reading in the European Magazine for June, 
 1782, some lines generally attributed to Richard Brindsley, 
 but on the authority of his father, given to the subject of this 
 memoir. I think they began " Uncouth is this moss-co- 
 vered grotto of stone," but I cannot now procure the ma- 
 gazine, to be certain that these celebrated lines were those 
 in question. 
 
 Thomas Lord Lyttelton, 
 Was not, that I am aware of, a native of this county. His 
 name does not appear in the register of Hagley. He was 
 born in 1744, being only son of the first and celebrated Lord 
 Lyttelton, and was M.P. for Bewdley, in this county, in 
 1768. Dr. Nash, who probably knew him well, says that he 
 had great parts and great ambition. Dr. Barnard, the school- 
 master of Eton, often compared the abilities of the late Mr. 
 Fox with those of Mr. Lyttelton, and thought those of the 
 latter greatly superior. After mentioning vices, which it is 
 painful to relate, the Doctor says, he was a great lover of 
 gaming, and, in his younger years, an unsuccessful gambler, 
 so as to be obliged to leave his companions abruptly in
 
 f>-28 
 
 different parts of Europe ; afterwards he became more art- 
 ful and more successful, the pigeon turned to a hawk, and 
 at his death he was supposed to have acquired 30,0001. by 
 play. His ambition tempted him to be a speaker in the 
 House of Lords, where he harangued with great pomp 
 and affected zeal for patriotism and honour. His constitu- 
 tion was feeble, and by his vices so enervated, that he died 
 an old man at the age of thirty-five. About three days be- 
 fore his decease, a female figure, with a bird in her hand, 
 appeared to him, as he imagined, and told him he should 
 die in three days. The day after this supposed appearance, 
 he went to the House of Lords, and spoke with great 
 earnestness on some business then in agitation. The next 
 day he went to a villa he had near Epsom, apparently as well 
 as he had been for some time before. The succeeding day 
 he continued at Epsom, and was in good health and spirits, 
 though the apparition still hung upon his mind. He spent 
 the evening in company with Miss Amphlet, Admiral Wole- 
 sely, Earl Fortescue, and some other persons ; he seemed 
 perfectly well, and pulling out his watch, said jocularly it was 
 ten o'clock, and if he lived two hours, he should jockey the 
 ghost. In about an hour he retired to his chamber, and 
 ordered his yalet to bring his powder of rhubarb, which he 
 frequently took at night ; his servant brought it, and forget- 
 ting to bring a spoon, was going to stir it with a key, upon 
 which his Lordship called him a dirty fellow, and bid him 
 fetch a spoon ; accordingly he went, and returning in a few- 
 minutes, found his Lord in the agonies of death (see article 
 Andrews in this work, page 506.) In November, 1783, 
 adds Dr. Nash, I spent a few days with Lord Dudley, at 
 Himley; his Lordship told me, that some years before, 
 Thomas Lord Lyttelton slept in the room I did ; the floors 
 of some of the rooms, owing to the length of the boards 
 will, upon change of weather or some other cause, make a 
 noise like the report of a gun ; this happened in a room 
 where Lord Lyttelton was lodged. His Lordship thought 
 of ghosts, was frightened, and ran into Lord Valentia's
 
 j29 
 
 room, which was near, where he slept the remainder of the 
 night. Next morning, Lord Lyttelton thinking it would be 
 talked of, began the subject with Lord Dudley, saying, if he 
 had believed in ghosts, he should have been very much 
 alarmed the preceding night: — " My father," said he, 
 " believed in apparitions and ghosts; nay, added he, 
 
 * * # # # » However, he never could be persuaded 
 to sleep another night at Himley, and often returned after 
 dinner to Hsfgley, in the darkest nights, and in the worst 
 weather. Upon the death of Thomas Lord Lyttelton, there 
 were printed for Bew, in Paternoster-row, 1780, Letters 
 of the late Lord Lyttelton, in two volumes. Advertise- 
 ments were published by Lord Westcote, his uncle, and 
 uncle to this article, disavowing these publications, though 
 many passages in them, particularly in the latter, had 
 some marks of being genuine ; I have authority for saying 
 they are entirely ideal. These letters, says Mr. Park, (see 
 the Addenda to his Noble and Royal Authors), were said 
 to be written by Mr. Coombe : Query the author of Syntax's 
 Tour ? In a letter from an excellent person, who knew the 
 family well, to Dr. Johnstone, dated June 4, 1781, after de- 
 claring that Lord Lyttelton (Thomas) was a deist, she says, 
 " Whenever I think of the poor young man, I comfort my- 
 self in an opinion, that he was to a certain degree insane. I 
 remember his worthy father saying to me, with tears in his 
 eyes, that he was obliged to consider this circumstance, so 
 terrible in most cases, as an alleviation of his unhappiness." 
 Lord Thomas, says Lord Or ford, was a meteor, whose ra- 
 pid extinction could not be regretted ; and as remarkable, 
 adds Dr. Anderson, for an early display as for a flagitious 
 prostitution of great abilities. He attained no small conse- 
 quence as a speaker, and was appointed Chief Justice in 
 Eyre, a place which his father, with better pretensions, could 
 never procure. One of his speeches in the House of Lords 
 has been printed, and in the Westminster Magazine, for 1773, 
 are some lines he wrote to his wife. In Mr. Park's work is 
 
 * An Invitation to MissWarburton." He also wrote " Poems, 
 
 3 Y
 
 by a young Nobleman of distinguished abilities, lately de- 
 ceased," Sec. 1780, 4to. The editor of these says he knew 
 the Noble Author both in his convivial hours and in those 
 which were more rationally employed. The superiority of 
 his abilities, he adds, was always acknowledged, and the 
 goodness of his heart, for the last three years of his life, be- 
 came as conspicuous as the excellency of his head. While 
 another friend avers, that the period which marked his 
 Lordship's emancipation from the fetters oi^ pleasure and 
 indolence, also marked his dissolution. Prefix to his Poems. 
 
 There is a letter in the Europ. Mag. for November, 
 1800, from Thomas Lord Lyttelton, to his father, dated 
 Florence, July 23, 1763, in which he expresses a contempt 
 for antiquarian researches. 
 
 The following is extracted from Wraxall's Memoirs of his 
 own Time, vol. 1. p. 319 : — " The ministry sustained about 
 this time (1779), a diminution of strength and a loss of ta- 
 lents in the House of Peers, which an administration so un- 
 popular could ill afford, by the defection of Lord Lyttelton 
 (Thomas), who suddenly went over to the opposition. His 
 decease, not less sudden in its nature, took place immediately 
 afterwards. He was a man of very considerable parlia- 
 mentary abilities, who, notwithstanding the many glaring 
 vices of his private character, might have made a couspicu- 
 ous political figure, if he had not been carried off in the 
 prime of life. But by the profligacy of his conduct and the 
 abuse of his talents, he seemed to imitate Dry den's Duke of 
 Buckingham, or Pope's Duke of Wharton, and when 
 scarcely thirty-six, breathed his last, at a country house, 
 near Epsom, called Pit-place, from its situation in a chalk 
 pit, where he witnessed, as he conceived, a supernatural 
 appearance. 
 
 " Having gone down there, for purposes of recreation, 
 with a gay party of both sexes, several individuals among 
 whom 1 personally knew, he had retired to bed, when a 
 noise, which resembled the fluttering of a dove or pigeon, 
 heard at his chamber window, attracted his attention. He
 
 531 
 
 then saw, or thought he saw, a female figure, which ap- 
 proached the foot of the bed, and announced to him, that 
 in three days precisely from that time he should be called 
 from this state of existence. In whatever manner the sup- 
 posed intimation was conveyed, whether by sound or by 
 impression, it is certain that Lord Lyttelton considered the 
 circumstance as real ; that he mentioned it as such to those 
 persons who were in the house with him ; that it deeply 
 affected his mind, and that he died on the third night at the 
 predicted hour. About four years afterwards, in the year 
 1783, dining at Pit-place, I had the curiosity to visit the 
 bed-chamber, where the casement window at which, as Lord 
 L. asserted, the dove appeared to flutter, was pointed out 
 to me : and at his step-mother's, the Dowager Lady Lyt- 
 telton's, in Portugal-street, Grosvenor-square, who, being a 
 woman of a very lively imagination, lent an implicit faith to 
 all the supernatural facts which were supposed to have ac- 
 companied or produced Lord L.'s end, I have frequently 
 seen a painting which she herself executed in 1780, ex- 
 pressly to commemorate the event. It hung in a conspi- 
 cuous part of her drawing-room. There the dove appears at 
 the window, while a female figure, habited in white, stands at 
 the bed foot, announcing to Lord Lyttelton his dissolution. 
 Every part of the picture was faithfully designed after the de- 
 scription given her by the valet de chambre who attended 
 him, to whom his master related all the circumstances. 
 This man assured Lady Lyttelton, that on the night indi- 
 cated, Lord L. who, notwithstanding his endeavours to sur- 
 mount the impression, had suffered under great depression 
 of spirits, during the three preceding days, retired to bed be- 
 fore twelve o'clock. 
 
 " Having ordered the valet to mix him some rhubarb, he 
 sat up in the bed, apparently in health, intending to swallow 
 the medicine, but being in want of a tea-spoon, which the ser- 
 vant had neglected to bring, his master, with a strong expres- 
 sion of impatience, called out to him to bring a spoon; he 
 was not absent from the room more than the space of a mi-
 
 532 
 
 nute, but when he returned, Lord L. who had fallen back, 
 lay motionless in that attitude. No efforts to restore ani- 
 mation were attended with success, whether therefore his 
 death was occasioned by any new attack upon his nerves, or 
 happened in consequence of an apoplectic or other seizure, 
 must remain a matter of uncertainty and conjecture." 
 
 " It is, however, to be observed," continues Mr. Wraxall, 
 " that the Lyttelton family, cither from constitutional ner- 
 vous irritability, or from other causes, was peculiarly suscep- 
 tible of impressions similar to the shock which seems to have 
 produced Lord L.'s end : his father, though a man of very 
 distinguished talents, manifested great credulity, as I have 
 been assured, on the subject of apparitions, and his cousin, 
 Miss Lyttelton, who married the present Sir Richard Hoare, 
 died in a way somewhat similar about four years later at 
 Stourhead. The second Lord Lyttelton's life had likewise 
 been of a nature and description so licentious, not to say 
 abandoned, as to subject him continually to the keenest 
 reproaches of an accusing conscience. This domestic 
 spectre, which accompanied him every where, was known to 
 have given rise, while on his travels, particularly at Lyons, to 
 scenes greatly resembling his last moments. Among the fe- 
 males, who had been the objects and the victims of his tem- 
 porary attachment, was a Mrs. Dawson, whose fortune, as 
 well as her honour and reputation, fell a sacrifice to her 
 passion. Being now forsaken by him, she did not long sur- 
 vive, and distress of mind was known to have accelerated if 
 not to have produced her death. It was her image which 
 haunted his pillow, and was supposed by him to have an- 
 nounced his approaching dissolution, at Pit-place." 
 
 William Langford, D. D. Preb. of Worcester, 1785, 
 Was a Steward of the Music Meeting of the three Choirs, 
 in 1788, and author of a sermon preached at this Meeting. 
 He was elected fellow of Eton Coll. May 1803, and was 
 succeeded in his prebendal stall, in 1787, by the Rev. John
 
 63S 
 
 Plumptre, the present Dean of Gloucester, at which period, 
 I presume, Mr. Langford died. 
 
 Arthur Onslow, D.D. Dean of Worcester, 1 795, 
 Was born August 30, 1746, O.S. He was the third son 
 of Lieutenant-General Richard Onslow, who was brother 
 to the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, about thirty years Speaker 
 of the House of Commons. His mother was Tooley Wal- 
 ton, the daughter of William Walton, of Wanstead, in Essex, 
 Esq. niece and heiress of Sir George Walton, Admiral of the 
 Blue, well known for his laconic letter to the Admiralty, of 
 " burnt, sunk, and destroyed, as per margin," when he had, 
 in fact, burnt, sunk, and destroyed the whole Spanish fleet. 
 Dean Onslow was educated at Hacknev and at Eton. On 
 leaving Eton, in 1764, he entered as a gentleman commoner 
 at Exeter College, Oxford, from which he was elected to a 
 fellowship of All Souls, in the same University. In 1770, 
 he was ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Oxford. On the 
 6th Nov. 1772, he was married to Frances Phipps, daughter 
 of Constantine Phipps, Esq. of the Island of St. Christo- 
 pher's. In 1774, he was ordained Priest by the Bishop of 
 Lincoln. Almost immediately on his being in full orders, 
 he was collated by Di. Terrick, Bishop of London, to the 
 living of St. James's, Garlick Hithe, a living which he after- 
 wards exchanged for the consolidated livings of White Wal- 
 tam and Shottesbrook, in the county of Berks. About the 
 year 1775, he was appointed chaplain to the House of Com- 
 mons, by the then Speaker, Sir Fletcher Norton. In 1779, 
 he was preferred by Lord North, for his services as chaplain 
 to the House of Commons, to a canonry of Christ Church, on 
 the promotion of Dr. Cust to the deanry of Rochester. In 
 1782, he was nominated by the mayor, aldermen, and bridge- 
 master of the town of Maidenhead, to the curacy of that 
 place, vacant by the death of the Rev. Humphry Henchman. 
 This preferment he held until the day of his death, though 
 he had for some time resigned the emoluments of it, to his 
 old friend Mr. Dodwell, who performed the duty of it. In
 
 534 
 
 1785, he was collated, on the death of Dr. Dodwell, by the 
 present Bishop of Durham, then Bishop of Salisbury, to the 
 archdeaconry of Berks. This appointment was wholly un- 
 solicited by the Dean, and was notified to him in the follow- 
 ing letter from the Bishop : — 
 
 Dear Sir, Palace, Salisbury, Oct. 27, 1785. 
 
 Personal regard, and a conviction that the duties of the office will be well 
 discharged, induce me to request your acceptance of the Archdeaconry of 
 Berks, vacant by the death of Dr. Dodwell. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, with much esteem, 
 
 Your faithful Servant, 
 
 S. SARUM. 
 
 In 1795, Mr. Onslow succeeded Dr. St. John in the 
 deanry of Worcester, and was installed May l6th. On his 
 first appointment, Mr. Pitt expressed his satisfaction, from a 
 consideration of the Dean's public conduct, at having an op- 
 portunity of recommending him to the royal patronage, and 
 his late Majesty, at the time of his signing the Dean's patent, 
 was graciously pleased to observe to a gentleman, who was 
 then with him, that he most highly approved of the recommen- 
 dation. In the same year that he was appointed to the deanry 
 of Worcester, he was also instituted to the vicarages of 
 Kidderminster and of Wolverley ; the former, on the pre- 
 sentation of the present Lord Foley, then a minor, at the 
 request of his uncle, the Hon. E.Foley; the latter, on the 
 presentation of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. In 
 1801, he resigned, with the consent of its patron, the vicar- 
 age of Kidderminster to his eldest son. In 1811, he also 
 resigned Wolverley, and was instituted to the vicarage of 
 Lindridge, vacant by the resignation of Dr. Evans. In 
 1813, on the death of Dr. Torkington, he was appointed 
 to the mastership of St. Oswald's Hospital, in Worcester. 
 He died at the vicarage house at Lindridge, of a paralytic 
 stroke, on the 15th of Oct. 1817. It is a remarkable fact, 
 that on the last Sunday but one preceding the attack which 
 terminated his valuable life, the Dean preached in the 
 church at Lindridge, on a text taken from Numbers xxiii. 10-
 
 53o 
 
 " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end 
 be like his." The object of his sermon was to shew, that 
 the same preparation which is necessary for a proper recep- 
 tion of the Lord's supper, is requisite also for a good death, 
 and that they who are properly prepared to receive the sa- 
 crament, are also properly prepared to die. The Dean, af- 
 terwards on the same day, received the sacrament himself, 
 and administered it to his parishioners ; and his worthy 
 curate, the Rev. D. Davis, observed, " that he performed 
 the service with the most marked and fervent devotion." 
 From the first moment indeed of his attack, until the period 
 of his dissolution, he was unable to articulate ; but he ap- 
 peared, during the greater part of his illness, to retain the 
 full possession of his senses, and his countenance throughout 
 the whole of it, was strongly expressive of piety and resigna- 
 tion. He expired, almost without a struggle. His remains 
 were deposited in a vault in the crypt of Worcester Cathe- 
 dral, and was the first body removed there, in pursuance of 
 the new regulation for interment. — See Chambers's Wor- 
 cester, p. 80. This ceremony took place, Oct. 23, 1817. 
 
 The Dean published four sermons, 1. Preached before 
 the House of Commons, on Wednesday, March 12, 1800, 
 being the day appointed for a general fast, from 2 Chronicles 
 vi. chap. 34 35 v. For this sermon he received the thanks of 
 the House of Commons. 2. " The Scriptural Analogy and 
 Concord of St. Paul and St. James on Christain Faith," 
 preached May 9, 1805, in the parish church of St. Mary, 
 Reading, at the Visitation of the Archdeacon of Berks, from 
 Romans xii. and the latter part of the 6th verse. This ser- 
 mon was published at the request of the clergy of the arch- 
 deaconry. 3. " The Testimony of the Spirit of God in the 
 Faithful," preached at the Visitation of the Archdeacon of 
 Berks, July 1, 2, 3, 1807, from Romans viii. 16, and pub- 
 lished also at the request of the clergy. 4. " The Advan- 
 tages of National Schools," preached at the Visitation of the 
 Archdeacon of Berks, April 28, 29, 30, 1812, from Pro- 
 verbs xix. c. 1 1 v. published at the request of the clergy.
 
 536 
 
 / 
 
 As a preacher, the Dean's delivery was clear, impressive, 
 and Tree from affectation, and his sermons were plain, scrip- 
 tural, and practical. Dean Onslow was a magistrate for the 
 counties of Berks, Oxford, Surrey, and Worcester. 
 
 He left three sons and three daughters : of the former, 
 1. Richard Francis, is Archdeacon of Worcester, &c; 2. 
 Arthur Cyril, Rector of Newington Butts ; 3. Phipps, an 
 officer in the artillery : of the latter, the second married to 
 the Rev. Winnington Ingram ; the first and third remain un- 
 married.* 
 
 Rev. Ron. Gentleman, 
 Was a native of Whitchurch, Salop, and first settled as a 
 teacher of the protestant dissenters, assembling on Swan 
 Hill, Shrewsbury, in 1767, and in the year 1784, he settled 
 as a pastor over one of the congregations of dissenters at 
 Kidderminster. He published an edition of the Rev. Job 
 Orton's Exposition of the Old Testament for the Use of Fa- 
 milies, in 6 vols. 8vo. and several pieces of his own writing 
 (" Addresses to Youth," &c.) He died in 1795, in the 50th 
 year of his age. 
 
 T. Goodinge, LL.D. 
 
 Late head master of the College School at Worcester. 
 Many who have been indebted to him for their educa- 
 tion, will be pleased to read a few memorials of their able 
 and learned preceptor: he was born in or about 1746, and 
 it is believed in London, where his father)- practised as a 
 barrister, but removed to Gloucester in 17-52, and this his 
 only son, received his education at the College School there. 
 In April, 1763, he became a resident member of Trinity 
 College, Oxford, where he continued till January, 1765, 
 when, " at the sadly too early age of nineteen," as he ex- 
 
 * An excellent likeness of the late Dean of Worcester is engiaved, after a 
 picture by Wood, in the possession of the family. 
 
 + The Rev. Wallinger Goodinge, Vicar of Stratton St. Margaret's, county 
 of Wilts, was the elder brother of the Doctor's father.
 
 o37 
 
 presses it, io soma memoranda which he left behind him, he 
 became assistant to the Rev. Mr.Townshend, in the College 
 School of Salisbury. He quitted this situation in the fol- 
 lowing November, and resided with his mother at Glouces- 
 ter, till the beginning of 1768, when he was appointed head 
 master of the College, Worcester, which he raised from a 
 very declining condition to great respectability. In 1769, 
 he took the degree > of B. A. and was ordained deacon by 
 Bishop Johnson. In December 1771, he became Rector 
 of Bredicote, in this county, on the presentation of the 
 Dean and Chapter. In December 1773, he married Miss 
 Maria Hale, a very amiable woman, the daughter of 
 Robert Hale, Esq. of Mary-le-bone. In 1775, he resigned 
 his situation at Worcester, and retired to the neighbouring 
 village of Bevere, where he opened a private academy with 
 great success, having under his care the sons of most of the 
 principal gentry of that county. In 1778, he became M. A. 
 and LL.D. the former at Cambridge, the latter at Oxford. 
 In the following year, having been appointed head master of 
 the Grammar School, Leeds, (which he also raised from a 
 state of great depression to very considerable repute), he re- 
 moved thither. In June 1788, he took possession of the 
 Rectory of Hutton, county of Somerset, to which he had 
 been presented by a relation fourteen years before, but from 
 which he had been hitherto excluded by a suit concerning 
 the advowson. In January 1789, on the death of the truly 
 excellent Dr. Adams, of Pembroke College, he was pre- 
 sented to the valuable rectory of Counde, county of Salop, 
 whereupon he resigned the school at Leeds ; and after at- 
 tempting to reside on his living, from which he was much 
 unfitted from his previous habits, became for the remainder 
 of his days an inhabitant (and while he enjoyed his health, 
 one who added much to its society), of the town of Shrews- 
 bury, within a few miles of his living, the service of which he 
 rarely intermitted, as long as he was able to perform it. In 
 September 1810, he lost his wife, by a lingering and cruel
 
 538 
 
 disease, and dying at Shrewsbury, followed her t<> the grave, 
 July 17, 18 1G. 
 
 Dr. G. was a man of accurate and varied information, 
 which he knew well how to communicate ; admirably versed 
 in the classics, profoundly skilled in the Greek tongue, and 
 not less so in biblical literature. His valuable library of 
 exegetical divinity was sold by Sotheby, in the spring of 
 1817. His extensive botanical collection was disposed of 
 some years before his death. He had made considerable 
 progress in a translation of Lycophron, w ith a commentary 
 on that obscure writer, which is still extant in M.S. but he 
 laid aside this arduous undertaking, for which he was 
 excellently qualified, on the appearance of Mr. Meen's 
 publication. Dr. Goodinge was an impressive and power- 
 ful preacher, and when Ids eves failed, as they began to 
 do about ten years before his decease, was enabled, by 
 a very copious and well-arranged mind, to address his 
 congregation, greatly to their satisfaction, without notes. 
 His conversation derived much additional interest, from a 
 peculiarity of manner, which will be long remembered by 
 those who enjoyed his acquaintance. 
 
 GentJs Mag. Aug. IS 17. 
 
 Theophilus Swift, 
 
 A relative of Mr. Dean Swift, see page 4'2S, was born 
 at Goodrich Castle, Herefordshire, and was called to the 
 Bar in 1774. He inherited, it is said, the eccentricities of 
 the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick ; it is true, he was eccen- 
 tric, but his eccentricities were of a different nature, fai- 
 lle was an amateur of duelling; he was severely wounded 
 in a rencontre of this kind by the late Duke of Richmond, 
 then Colonel Lennox, in July, 1789, who challenged Mr. 
 Swift ; the cause of this dispute was some offensive lan- 
 guage, reflecting upon the Colonel, contained in a pamphlet 
 entitled " A Letter to the King;" in this encounter Mr. S. 
 states, that Colonel Lennox wounded him, but did not in- 
 duce him to retract his assertions,
 
 530 
 
 Captain Ascough, the relation and publisher of the 
 Works of George Lord Lyttelton, a victim to his fears, sub- 
 mitted to the insults of Mr. S. which he suffered without 
 resenting. At a house, in this city, it was the chance of the 
 subject of this article, to sit down to whist, a game to which 
 he was much attached, with a gentleman for his partner, who 
 was of a somewhat nervous temperature ; they at length 
 counted eight, when he looked in vain for his partner to 
 finish the game by a call for honours. What, then, was his 
 surprise afterwards, to see his partner play two honours 
 which he held! " Why did you not call," said the astonished 
 Swift, in an authoritative strain : " Sir," replied the trem- 
 bling partner, " I — I winked." — " Winked !" reiterated the 
 disciple of Hoyle, with stronger energy, " Why, Sir, are 
 you a geutleman and wink at whist ?" This was too much 
 for the winker, he ran off as fast as he could from the scene 
 of altercation, and jumping into a boat, was on the other side 
 of the Severn in an instant. 
 
 Mr. Swift was the author of the War of the Whigs, 4to. 
 1785. A Letter from Theo. Swift, Esq. to Mr. Bird, (an 
 attorney, who managed the assemblies of this city), em- 
 bellished with an emblematic frontispiece, and the motto 
 " It was not an open enemy that did me this dishonour," 
 Psalm iv. v. V2. The Temple of Folly, 4to. 1787, with 
 a design by Fuseli. The Gamblers, a Poem, 4to. Poeti- 
 cal Address to his Majesty, 4to. 1788. Letter to the King, 
 on the Conduct of Colonel Lennox, 8vo. 1789. Letter to 
 W. A. Brown, Esq. on the Duel of the Duke of York and 
 Colonel Lennox, Svo. 1789- Vindication of Renwick 
 Williams, commonly called the Monster, Svo. 1790. He 
 also contributed several papers of his relation the Rev. Jo- 
 nathan Swift, to Mr. Walter Scott, for his life of the Dean. # 
 lie is also the presumed author of Royal Magnificence, 
 and the Lunaticiad. He was a frequent communicator of 
 
 * Those were atone time advertised in The Worcester Journal, as about to 
 be published by him.
 
 540 
 
 poetical effusions, about the year 1780, to The Worcester 
 Journal, which was afterwards the medium of his letters 
 in the several disputes in which he was engaged. Mr. Swift 
 died in Ireland in the summer of 1815. 
 
 Robert Lucas, D.D. 
 
 Rector of Ripple, in this county, and Vicar of Patishall, 
 was a native of Northampton, and graduated at Trinity Col- 
 lege, Cambridge. He was, I am informed, an active magi- 
 strate for the counties of Gloucester and Worcester, and 
 known to the literary world as the author of a volume of 
 Poems and one of Sermons, and a separate Sermon preach- 
 ed for the benefit of the Severn Humane Society, and pub- 
 lished with some interesting matter relative to that praise- 
 worthy institution. He died March 1, 1812, aged 65. 
 
 Francis Jukes, 
 A Native of this county, was born at Martley, and, by the 
 dint of the utmost frugality and industry, raised himself to 
 eminence in his profession, in the art of aqua-tinta engraving, 
 of which, if he were not the inventor, he certainly was the 
 first that brought it to a degree of perfection ; witness the 
 numerous specimens he has given to the world. His in- 
 tense assiduity in business cost him his life. Superintending 
 continually, with indefatigable attention, a large body of 
 aquafortis, in the operation of his art, for such a number of 
 years as he did, the effluvia of that pernicious acid to the 
 human frame, brought an oppression upon his breath, 
 which never left him but with life. In his line of publisher, 
 he was upon the point of establishing an intercourse of print- 
 selling to Basil, in Switzerland, as the French Revolution 
 broke out, and blasted the hopes of millions. He died 
 June 1811, in his 66th year, in Upper John-street, Fitzroy- 
 square, London, but was twenty years resident in Howland- 
 street.
 
 511 
 
 Holland Cooksey, 
 
 A Native, I believe, of this county, was descended of 
 an ancient family, whose names are found in an inqui- 
 sition taken in this county in the reign of Edward the 
 Third, 1355. — See Pedigree in Dr. Nash's Hist. vol. 2. 
 p. 50. He was the son of Richard Cooksey, Esq. of 
 the White Ladies, near this city, was educated at Mer- 
 ton College, Oxford, and afterwards became a student in 
 the Temple. He married Miss Tart, and was the author 
 of 1 . "A Charge to the Grand Jury of Worcester," de- 
 livered by him as Chairman of the Quarter Sessions of 
 the Peace for the County. 2. Essays on the Lives and 
 Characters of the Lord Chancellors Somers and Hardwicke, 
 1791, which bears the name of his son (see his article) in 
 the title page, and which was presented by his father for that 
 purpose. Mr. Cooksey resided at Braces Leigh, in the 
 parish of Leigh, in this county, which he purchased in 
 1758, and died at Bath, Dec. 26, 1792. 
 
 Thomas Moss, A. B. 
 
 For many years minister of Brinley Hill chapel, in this 
 county, and of Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, died in 1808; 
 he was the author of" The Rise and Progress, together with 
 the Influence and Effects of the Papal Power, an awaken- 
 ing Call to Protestants." An Assize Sermon, on the Im- 
 portance and Necessity of Christian Moderation, 1779« He 
 was also said to have been the author of those beautiful and 
 popular lines " The Beggar's Petition." This has, however, 
 been disputed by some writers in the Gent's. Mag. 
 
 Thomas James, D.D. Prebendary of Worcester, 1797, 
 Was born in 1748, at St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire, 
 where his ancestors have long resided. From his earliest 
 childhood he was thoughtful ; and shewed a strong desire to 
 take every opportunity of acquiring knowledge In 1760,
 
 o42 
 
 his father sent him to Eton School, where he received his 
 education under Dr. Barnard, Dr. Foster, and Dr. Jonathan 
 Davies. He had not been there long before the quickness 
 of his intellects became conspicuous ; while iiis dili- 
 gence and amiable disposition recommended him strongly 
 to his instructors. He was elected on "the foundation, 
 and became one of the brightest ornaments of that dis- 
 tinguished seminary. His remarkable skill in Latin and 
 Greek versification, will ever be remembered by those who 
 were his contemporaries at school ; and of his ingenuity 
 in that art, the public have some very masterly specimens 
 in the well-known selection of Latin and Greek verses, 
 called the Muste Etonenses. For a Greek translation of 
 one of the smaller poems of Dr. Akenside, that elegant 
 poet complimented the subject of this memoir, by present- 
 ing him in the most handsome manner with some books. 
 Having thus gained for himself no small credit, he was 
 elected a scholar of King's College, Cambridge, to which 
 place he removed in February 1767. Flere he soon be- 
 came known for his diligent pursuit of literary knowledge; 
 and his name was established with that of his competitor, 
 Mr. Law, (the late Lord Ellenborough), by their obtaining 
 the two University prizes, for the best Latin essays, in two 
 successive years. He distinguished himself also by his 
 knowledge of mathematics, a science which before his 
 time was but rarely studied by the scholars of King's, 
 because, by the charter of their College, they claim the pe- 
 culiar privilege of exemption from all the University exami- 
 nations in taking their decrees. 
 
 In February 1770, Mr. James became fellow ; and hav- 
 ing proceeded to his degree of B.A. and M.A. he took 
 Orders, and was chosen tutor of the College ; an office which 
 he held for several years ; during which time he fully confirmed 
 his reputation as a scholar, and his character as a man of an 
 upright mind and benevolent heart. One proof of the lat- 
 ter must be here recorded: — It happened that the clerk 
 of the CollegcChapel was reduced to extreme distress, by the
 
 I 
 
 long illness of his huge family ; — his wife became deranged ; 
 his debts increased ; and despairing of being able to extricate 
 himself from his difficulties, he applied to Mr. James, at 
 that time a young man at the College, for his assistance. A 
 subscription was immediately raised ; but Mr. James's cir- 
 cumstances not being such as enabled him to contribute 
 largely by pecuniary relief, he turned his mind to some 
 other mode of affording it, and for this purpose wrote an 
 accurate account of that wonderful piece of Gothic architec- 
 ture, the chapel of his College. This little production was 
 embellished with two etchings (a side elevation of the cha- 
 pel, and a portrait of the clerk,) from the masterly hand of 
 his friend, Mr. Thomas Orde, afterwards Lord Bolton ; and 
 was published under the name of " Henry Maiden, Chapel 
 Clerk." It went through several editions, and the money 
 arising from the sale, which was considerable, was applied 
 for the benefit of the clerk's distressed family. 
 
 Mr. James's long residence in the Lniversitv had given 
 him a deeply-rooted attachment to a college life; but the 
 air and situation of Cambridge were not at all congenial 
 to his health. In 1778, therefore, Dr. Bnrrough having re- 
 signed the head mastership of Rugby school, Mr. James's 
 friends advised him to offer himself a candidate for that si- 
 tuation, which lie accordingly did ; and was elected, though 
 not without opposition. Before, however, he left Cam- 
 bridge, he proved how much he had the interest of his Col- 
 lege at heart, by presenting 1001. to institute an annual prize 
 for the best Latin declamation by a scholar of King's : this 
 handsome offering is prettily alluded to in some lines which 
 appeared in a Coventry paper, and are inserted at the end 
 of this memoir. 
 
 When Dr. James first went to Rugby, he found the school 
 consisting of little more than sixty boys. He began, there- 
 fore, a reform in the discipline and system of teaching hi- 
 therto adopted, and introduced the Etonian method. His ex- 
 ertions were soon crowned with the desired success, the fame 
 of the new master rapidh spread, and pupils crowded from
 
 o44 
 
 all parts for the benefit of his instruction.* From this time it 
 may be said to have been one of our public seminaries, being 
 inferior neither in point of discipline, mode of education, nor 
 masters, to the first in the kingdom. In its most flourishing 
 state, under Dr James, it consisted of more than 300 boys, 
 many of whom afterwards distinguished themselves as emi- 
 nent scholars every year at the Universities, and brought 
 lasting credit to the establishment ; among these must be 
 mentioned the name of Samuel Butler, D. D. the learned 
 editor of iEschylus. 
 
 Soon after his first settlement at Rugby, Dr. James 
 married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Mander, 
 Esq. of Coventry, a lady for whom he had a most sin- 
 cere attachment, but who was unhappily taken from him 
 by a rapid decline, three years after their marriage. Upon a 
 small marble monument, which he erected to her memory, 
 in Rugby church, is inscribed this comprehensive line, at 
 once expressive of his tender affection for her, and the well- 
 grounded hope which he entertained of a blessed meeting 
 in a better world : — 
 
 Dr. James had two children by his first wife: — 1. 
 Thomas James, Esq. of the Middle Temple, London, Bar- 
 rister at Law. 2. Mary, married to the Rev. John Wing- 
 field, D. D. late head-master of Westminster School, and 
 now Prebendary of Worcester Cathedral, Rector of W hit- 
 burn, and Vicar of Bromsgrove. 
 
 Early in 1785, he married Arabella, fourth daughter of 
 William Caldecott, Esq. of Rugby, heir of the ancient fa- 
 mily of that name, of Catthorpe, in Leicestershiref- This 
 lady, after many years of uninterrupted conjugal happiness, 
 
 * " James's school, at Rugby, is in much vogue, and he has a great num- 
 ber of boys. There is no person under whom I would sooner place a child." — 
 Jacob Bryant. 
 
 t For an account of thii family, see iNichols's Leicestershire.
 
 545 
 
 survived her husband, and succeeded to the care of educat- 
 ing his numerous family.* 
 
 After a laborious employment of sixteen years at Rug- 
 by, Dr. James's health began to be impaired by his unre- 
 mitted study, and the great attention which he had paid to 
 the minutest affairs of the establishment under his care ; 
 and, in the year 1794, he resigned the mastership. Upon 
 Dr. James's resignation the Trustees presented him with a 
 handsome piece of plate, as a testimony of their esteem ; and 
 at their next meeting wrote jointly to Mr. Pitt, then Prime 
 Minister, expressing their high sense of the long and great 
 services of the late able master ; and requesting he might 
 have such preferment given him as should be thought ade- 
 quate to his deserts ; in consequence of which application 
 he was appointed, in May 1797, to a prebendal stall in the 
 Cathedral Church of Worcester, and was instituted to the 
 rectory of Harvington, in the same county .j 
 
 Dr. James gave so much of his time to the concerns of 
 the school, and afterwards to the zealous performance of his 
 duties as a parish Minister, that he never appeared before the 
 world in any literary work of much consequence. He pub- 
 lished, however, a small Compendium of Geography, which 
 is one of the most comprehensive and accurate of its kind, 
 and was intended for his school at Rugby. Besides this, and 
 his little work on King's College, before alluded to, he pub- 
 
 • 1. Rev. John Thomas James, M.A. Vicar of Flitton, Bedfordshire, late 
 student of Christ Church, Oxford, author of " Traveli in Russia, Sweden, 
 Poland," &c. and of the " History of the Italian Schools of Painting." 2. 
 Rev. Wm. James, M.A. Fellow and Senior Tutor of Oriel College, and 
 Vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford. 3. Rev. Edward James, M. A. of Christ 
 Church, Tutor in the family of the Earl of Derby. 4. George James, Lieu- 
 tenant in the Royal Artillery, served under the Duke of Wellington in Spain, 
 and has been since employed in Upper Canada. 5. Sophia Catharine, mar- 
 ried, in 1813, to Robert Morris, Esq. of t Barnwood Court, near Gloucester. 
 6. Isabella Octavia James, a minor. 
 
 + In 1798, I find Dr. James's name among the subscribers to the defence of 
 the country, of a sum of 1001. over and above the sum which he contributed in 
 that subscribed by the Dean and Prebendaries of the Cathedral. 
 
 4 A
 
 54(> 
 
 lished a very useful algebraic explanation of the 5th book of 
 Euclid : and also two sermons, one of which was preached in 
 the Cathedral of Worcester, at the Triennial Music Meet- 
 ing of the three Choirs of Worcester, Hereford, and Glou- 
 cester, of which he was a steward in 1800, viz. " The Pro- 
 phetic Office connected with Poetry and Music, published 
 for the benefit of the Charity, and dedicated to the Stewards :" 
 and the other, on the occasion of a public fast, dedicated 
 to the Dean and Chapter. The former of these, the learned 
 Dr. Hurd, late Bishop of Worcester, said, was " ingenious 
 and eloquent;" the latter, " pious and animated." Some 
 years before the late King's lamented illness, as his Majesty 
 was walking on the Terrace at Windsor, he saw Dr. James 
 in company with Dr. Heath, former head master of Eton, 
 when recognising him, with that quickness of recollection 
 for which he was always so remarkable, he heartily congratu- 
 lated him on his enlargement and improvement of Rugby 
 School : — " But it is no wonder," continued the King, " you 
 have been so successful, having been yourself educated at 
 Eton," — a compliment of which Dr. Heath might certainly 
 claim a share. 
 
 After a life spent in the exercise of real and active 
 christian benevolence, Dr. James expired at his living of 
 Harvington, on the 23d of September, 1804, in the 56th 
 year of his age ; having on that day experienced much hap- 
 piness, from effecting a reconciliation between some parties 
 who had quarrelled in his parish. There is a mural monu- 
 ment of white marble to his memory, in the south aisle of 
 Worcester Cathedral, with an inscription. — Vide Chambers's 
 Worcester, p. 188. 
 
 There is a good portrait of Dr. James, engraved by the 
 contribution of some gentlemen educated by Dr. James ; it is 
 executed in the dotted manner, by Mr. Matthew Houghton, 
 of Birmingham, a pupil of Bartolozzi, from a picture by 
 the justly-celebrated Engleheart. To this private testimony 
 of worth and affection, we have to add, that a very hand- 
 some subscription has been raised by Dr. James's scholars,
 
 517 
 
 for the purpose of erecting a cenotaph to his memory in the 
 Chapel of Rugby School.* This monument, which contains 
 a full-length figure of Dr. James, in white marble, is exe- 
 cuted by Mr. Chantrey, and affords a fine specimen of that 
 sculptor's exquisite skill. 
 
 LINES TO THE MEMORY OF DR. JAMES. 
 
 Though silent sorrow pour the copious tear 
 To James — the father, friend, and husband dear : 
 And humble hope has register'd above 
 His acts of mild benignity and love : 
 Yet public strains to public worth belong, 
 And bright example still should live in song ; 
 That vice may never triumph through neglect 
 Of those, whom all should follow and respect; 
 That ev'ry good man, deem'd a general good, 
 May claim the meed of general gratitude ; 
 That nought be lost of that which God has given, 
 To light the path to happiness and Heaven. 
 
 Nurs'd in the lap of the Etonian Muse, 
 Nor Greece nor Latium might a wreathe refuse 
 
 * At a numerous Meeting of the Noblemen and Gentlemen educated at 
 Rugby School, holden on Wednesday, the 20th June, 1810, at the Freema- 
 sons' Tavern, Great Queen's-street, Lincoln' s-Jnn-fie!d% London, Stkphejc 
 Rumbold Lushington, Esq. M.P. in the chair, the following resolutions were 
 unanimously agreed to: — That in order to testify the feelings of affectionate 
 attachment evinced by many pupils of the much-lamented Dr. James, a mo- 
 nument be erected to his memory by subscription. — That to facilitate as much 
 as possible the means of attaining the desired object, and carry it into execu- 
 tion in a manner adequate to the worth of Dr. James, a committee be im- 
 ' mediatety appointed to manage the necessary arrangements. The following 
 were accordingly elected members of such committee ; the Viscount Yalentia, 
 (now Earl Mountnorris,) the Hon. and Very Rev. the Dean of Windsor, (now 
 Lord Bishop of Oxford,) the Hon. Mr. Eardley, the Hon. Wm. Booth Grey, 
 M.P. the Hon. Charles Bagot, M.P. the Hon. W. H. Lyttelton, M.P. for 
 "Worcestershire, the Very Rev. the Dean of Lincoln, the Rev. the Warden of 
 Merton College, Oxford, the Rev. Dr. Wooll, head master of Rugby School, 
 the Rev. Mr. Heyrick, S. R. Lushington, Esq. M. P. Lieut. Col. Colquitt, 
 G. Wharton Marriott, Esq. That Mr. Wratislaw, as secretary to the Com- 
 mittee, be directed to address an official letter to the trustees of Rugby 
 School, inclosing a copy of the resolutions, and requesting their permission 
 to place the monument in the chapel about to be erected, or in some 
 other c >i. venient part of the new building at Rugby. That these resolutions 
 be generally advertised and circulated by the Committee ; and subscriptions 
 received by Mr. Wratislaw, aDd the several Bankers.— Courier.
 
 548 
 
 To bim, by learned Foster well beloved ; 
 
 By chaste and attic Akenside approv'd. 
 
 Maturer grown, h'explor'd the maze of truth. 
 
 And Cam admired his laborious youth. 
 
 In mat hematic step ascending sure 
 
 To light of science, as sublime as pure : 
 
 He ne'er unnerv'd his mind in languid ease, 
 
 Nor sought for knowledge self alone to please. 
 
 Cheer'd by his voice, Youth bent the patient mind 
 
 (Which erst had play'd with fancy uncoufin'd) 
 
 To thought severe, to nature's constant laws, 
 
 And plans which reason out of reason draws. 
 
 Hence playful genius took a chaster stole, 
 
 And decent method disciplined the soul. 
 
 Language and thought arranged, controul'd appear, 
 
 While Ciceronian rythm charms the ear. 
 
 Patron of science, and of classic lore, 
 
 Oh ! James, will Cam remember thee no more ? 
 
 Yes, King's proud dome still echoes with thy name, 
 
 And annual gratitude records thy fame : 
 
 But chiefly Rugby, which, in happiest day, 
 
 Hail'd thee the guide of youth's entangled way, 
 
 Shall sing thy praise as long as verse shall roll, 
 
 And mild humanity shall charm the soul : 
 
 Then Britain sent her sons from every shore, 
 
 To sip the honey of thy classic store ; 
 
 And thousands blest the kind paternal hand, 
 
 Which led them on to learning's fertile land, 
 
 Smoothing with patient toil the rugged way, 
 
 And oft reclaiming oft who went astray. 
 
 Youth, taught by precept, and example too, 
 
 Heard what was right, and found the proof in you. 
 
 All knew thee good, as learned, and confest 
 
 The milk of human kindness in thy breast. 
 
 You bade the organ's solemn notes to blow, 
 
 And gave religion a sublimer glow. 
 
 Nor e'er unmindful of the social weal, 
 
 You sought the rankling wounds of strife to heal; 
 
 Approv'd by love of man thy love of God, 
 
 Nor punish'd frailty with too harsh a rod. 
 
 When wakeful fever raging round thy bed, 
 
 Wither'd awhile the ivy on thy head, 
 
 When from thy hand Quintilian's fasces fell, 
 
 And the voice languish'd which could teach so well, 
 
 You found the comfort, which you ne'er denied, 
 
 Respect and love attendant at your side :
 
 549 
 
 Patrons of genius came, a gen'rous band, 
 And bade the blossoms of fair hope expand ; 
 Led thee to brighter scenes, where honour stands 
 Holding his golden gifts in his capacious hands. 
 E'en in that day which clos'd thy active life, 
 This was thy work of love, to banish strife ;* 
 Voices discordant long you taught to flow 
 In harmony, and made a heaven below. 
 Spirit of gentle goodness, oft descend, 
 A guardian angel, still, thy influence lend 
 To soothe mad passion, modulate the mind, 
 Spread far and wide the love of human kind, 
 Compose the sorrows of those held most dear, 
 Paint thy new joys, and check th' immod'rate tear : 
 And oh ! from Heav'n's high mansion may'st thou see 
 Succeeding ages happy — blest — through thee. 
 
 Coventry Mercury, Oct. 1804. 
 
 The following tribute of respect, to the memory of Dr. 
 James, is from the Northampton Mercury, October 6, 
 1804:— 
 
 Died, on Sunday se'nnight, the Rev. Thomas James, D. D. formerly of 
 King's Coll. Cam. and many years head master of Rugby School, and lat- 
 terly a Prebendary of Worcester Cathedral, and Rector of Harvington, in 
 that county. He died suddenly in the night, having retired to rest the pre- 
 ceding evening in perfect health. By this lamented death, the world at large 
 may be said to have sustained a heavy loss ; to his severely afflicted family, it 
 is indeed irreparable. In every stage of life, the purest integrity and good- 
 ness of heart marked the character of this truly good and learned man, and 
 obtained him the highest respect and love of all who had the happiness to 
 know him. In no situation did his virtues shine with greater lustre than in 
 that of preceptor, when, by the fatherly manner in which he conducted him- 
 self towards the numerous pupils entrusted to his care, he gained the ad- 
 miration of their parents, and the affection of themselves. 
 
 B. Walwyn, 
 A Native of this county, was born in 1750. His family 
 have their origin from Walwain, the nephew of King Ar- 
 thur, which they assert on the authority of tradition alone, 
 unless it be allowed, as a confirmation of their ancestry, 
 
 * See page 546.
 
 550 
 
 that we read in the old records of Wales, of a parish in Pem- 
 brokeshire, named Walvain parish, where a castle stands, 
 originally of the same name, and which is said to have been 
 in the possession of an ancient family from this stock. Mr. 
 Walwyn's grandfather was born in this parish ; but to shew 
 the vicissitude of families, as well as of estates, his father 
 was a leather-seller in the Borough of Southwark. The 
 subject of this memoir was brought up to the same busi- 
 ness, but having a very strong addiction to study, he stole 
 every moment from the labours of the day, and also hours 
 from the repose of the night, to improve his mind. His fa- 
 ther being in an eminent line of business, employed his son 
 to ride through England, Scotland, and Wales, to procure 
 orders. In this pursuit he continued five years, being al- 
 most always on horseback during that time. Soon after 
 this he married an amiable young lady, with a fortune of 
 20001. and went into business for himself in a wholesale 
 warehouse in Watling-street. He suffered innumerable 
 losses, and his affairs having gone into embarrassment by 
 various calamities, he was again employed by his father to 
 transact business for him in Ireland. Here he bought and 
 fitted out a sloop, and in his first voyage was wrecked and 
 thrown a stranger and an outcast on the northern shore of 
 Ireland. He speaks of the hospitality of the people in 
 terms of rapturous gratitude ; for though without money 
 he was attended to in the violence of a dangerous fever, 
 with parental care ; and after restoring him to life and health, 
 they procured him a passage to England. On his ar- 
 rival in London, he found himself destitute of any other de- 
 pendence for the support of his wife and family, than an 
 annuity of 401. In this predicament he commenced author, 
 and was engaged as one of the critics in Dr. Kendrick's 
 London Review. He has also written a variety of essays in 
 the public prints. " London," a Satire, in Feb. 1782 ; also 
 " Chit Chat," an Interlude, 8vo. 1781 ; and " Matrimonial 
 Breakfast," a Burletta, the music by Reeve, 8vo. " Chit Chat ;
 
 551 
 
 or, the Penance of Polygamy," a temporary satire-on the 
 doctrines of the " Thelyphthora." One of his dramatic 
 pieces was written for the benefit of the late Lee Lewis, 
 and on account of its merit and success, it was afterwards 
 performed several times. He also contributed a great deal 
 to the comic exhibitions of 1782, entitled " Je ne scai quoi," 
 and a variety of essays, in the periodical prints of that 
 time, claim him as their parent. A series of political let- 
 ters, under the signature of Corrector, gained him also con- 
 siderable credit. 
 
 Charles Dunster, 
 
 A Native* probably of this county, as I am informed by 
 his relict, who always understood, but cannot say with cer- 
 tainty, that Mr. D. was born in Worcester. He has been 
 mentioned as the son of the translator of the Epistles of Ho- 
 
 * The Dunsters, of Dunster, and afterwards of Ilchester, both in Somerset- 
 shire, were a family of great respectability. I have no doubt that this tran- 
 slator (Samuel Dunster), was a native of the same county. Mr. Granger 
 merely mentions his name, degree, and preferment; and Mr. Bromley only 
 observes, that he was living in 1719 ; but they both say he was a Prebendary 
 of Sarum. I think it is not impossible that he was a son or other near rela- 
 tion of Thomas Dunster, D. D. elected Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, 
 in 1689, upon the promotion of Dr. Gilbert Ironside, to the See of Bristol, a 
 brother translator ; the Rev. Thomas Francklin, D. D. Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, who was Greek Professor there, does not convey a very 
 favourable idea of the version of Horace, by Mr. Dunster, in these lines, in a 
 poem professedly on the subject of translation : — 
 
 " O'er Tiber's swan the Muses wept in vain, 
 And mourn'd their bard by cruel Dunster slain." 
 
 But that genius, learning, and taste, are now, at least, familiar with this 
 name, there needs no other evidence than the English translation of the 
 " Frogs of Aristophanes," and the editor of Philips's " Cyder," and the Pa- 
 radise Regained of Milton, by the present worthy incumbent of the valuable 
 vicarage of Petworth, (the subject ef this article.) — Nobles Continuation of 
 Granger. 
 
 A John Dunster, living at Doneat, near Ilminster, in Somersetshire, Mas, 
 according to Wood, made demy of Mag. Coll. in 1598, aged sixteen ; Perpe- 
 tual Fellow, 1602; afierwards M. A. Proctor of the University, 1611 ; and
 
 552 
 
 race, but the name of the writer of this was Samuel. The 
 father of Mr. Dunster was the Rev. Charles Dunster,* a 
 Prebendary of Salisbury. His mother was the daughter of 
 the pious Dr. Inett, Prebendary of Worcester, 1726, and 
 Precentor of Lincoln Cathedral. The subject of this me- 
 moir was born in 1750, and received the early part of his 
 education at the Rev. Mr. Samuel Pritchett's, Rector of 
 Knightwick (1734) in this county; he was formerly under 
 master of the King's or College School, Worcester, and af- 
 terwards at Knightwick, where he built the parsonage house, 
 and formed an earthly Eden. He prepared many cele- 
 brated characters for the universities. At this school there 
 was nothing apparent in the conduct or abilities of young 
 Dunster, to warrant the future celebrity of his attainments. 
 He was only, as I am informed by a contemporary of his, 
 remarkable for an extreme bashfulness and timidity, arising, 
 
 at length chaplain to Archbishop Abbot, who bestowed on him a benefice 
 or dignity, about 1613 ; in which year he resigned his Fellowship. He pub- 
 lished Caesar's Penny Sermon, on 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. Oxon. 1610, 8vo. [Bodl. 
 Svo. D. 59. Tb.] Prodromus ; or, a Literal Exposition of the 79th Psalm, 
 concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. [Lond. 1613, 8vo. Bodl. 58. Th.] 
 In his younger days being estemed a noted poet by his contemporaries, he had 
 seTeral copies of verses printed in various books, especially in that made by 
 the Soc. of Mag. Coll. on the death of a noble young man of that house, 
 named Will Grey, son of Arthur Grey, Baron of Wilton, who died 18th Fe- 
 bruary, 1605. A John Dunster, who died October 14, 1625, and was buried 
 in the church of All Hallows, Bread-street, gave (inter alia) 2001. which pur- 
 chased 121. per annum for ever, towards the reparation of the same, besides 
 2001. which he then gave towards the building thereof. Newcourt's Reper- 
 torium, i. 244. There was also a John Dunster of Mag. Coll. admitted M. A. 
 Mar. 27, 1604 ; Proctor, April 3, 1604. 
 
 * The following memoranda are copied from Green's History of Worcester 
 Cathedral, N. Isle W. End :— Here lieth the body of Mary, the daughter of 
 the Rev. Charles Dunster, M.A. (late Prebendary of the Cathedral Church of 
 Sarum), and of Mary, his wife. She died Oct. 24,1761, aged 13. Also the body 
 of Ann Inett, daughter of Timothy Chamberlain, Esq. of Revesley, in Leices- 
 tershire, and widow of Thomas Inett, M.A. Prebendary of Winchester, and 
 of this church. She died March 24, 1780, aged 83. Also the body of Mary 
 Dunster, daughter of the said Thomas and Ann Inett, widow of the above- 
 mentioned Charles Dunster. She died Feb. 25, 1786, aged 67. Also in the
 
 553 
 
 it is presumed, from being kept much at home until this pe- 
 riod with his sisters. From Knightwick Mr. Dunster was 
 removed to Westminster School, where he formed an ac- 
 quaintance with the present Earl of Egremont and the 
 late Lord Foley and his brothers, who afterwards became 
 his most valuable patrons in the profession which he had 
 adopted. In the year 1766, he entered at Oriel College, 
 Oxford, which he subsequently exchanged for Baliol,* and 
 again for Trinity College in the same University. Mr. 
 Dunster proceeded to the degree of B.A. in 1771, and 
 M.A. in 177-5 ; he was instituted to the rectories of Oddiug- 
 ley and Naunton Beauchamp in this county, Feb. 29, 177-5, 
 to which he was presented by Lord Foley ; but the next 
 year he resigned the former, being presented by the same 
 noble patronage to the rectory of Mordeford, in the county 
 of Hereford : and here he married Miss Brydses, of that 
 county, now surviving him at Midhurst, in Sussex, and by 
 whom he had no issue. He resided at Mordeford till the 
 year 17S.S, but in that year resigned his benefices, for the 
 valuable rectories of Petworth and TiUington, in the county 
 of Sussex, to which he was presented by his other early noble 
 friend and schoolfellow, the Earl of Egremont; and, in 1787, 
 was instituted by the Bishop of Hereford to the rectory of 
 Stoke Edith.f He resided from this time until his decease, 
 at Petworth. • 
 
 choir, N. T. W. E. Thomas Tnett, M.A. Prebendary of this Cathedral twenty- 
 three years, 1748. Charles Dunster, Prebendary of Salisbury, 1749. 
 
 * Mr. Dunster took his degree of M.A. at Baliol College, at the same time 
 with the Rev. Digby Smith, now of Worcester, and Mr. Jeffreys, a son of the 
 late very respectable surgeon of the same city, at which time a custom was 
 revived, but which had not been practised for a great number of years; they 
 were required to go, preceded by one of the yeomen bedells, to certain Col- 
 leges, and to propose a question for disputation in the quadrangle of each. 
 These Colleges, it is believed, were those of the candidates for the degree— and 
 those of the Vice Chancellor, Proctors, and other officers. 
 
 + According to a very short account of Mr. Dunster, in the Gent's. Mag. 
 he was Rural Dean of We?tern : Sussex. 
 
 4 B
 
 r 
 
 .'j4 
 
 Mr. Dunster frequently exercised his genius by contri- 
 buting to the poetical departments of the monthly publica- 
 tions of the day. In 1784, he put forth proposals for trans- 
 lating the comedies of Aristophanes into English verse, of 
 which " The Frogs" he published as a specimen. But in 
 this work he did not proceed. By too freely complying 
 hi the early part of his life with the claims of that society 
 of which he was the life and soul, he impaired his health 
 and constitution materially, and was recommended by his 
 physician and friend, Dr. Falconer, of Bath, to have some 
 regard for his own health, in the pleasure that he was dealing 
 round him, and to fill up his leisure hours with such studies 
 as might be pursued without injury to his constitution. 
 
 In consonance with this advice, he engaged himself in the 
 cultivation of his poetical talents, and in works of playful 
 criticism ; imt latterly he confined himself to those produc- 
 tions which chiefly related to the sacred profession he had 
 adopted. He died in April 1816.* 
 
 There are many manuscript copies of his earlier produc- 
 tions, scattered among his friends, and the following, I have 
 every reason to believe, were never in print : — 
 
 ODE TO BACCHUS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Bacchus, I bow before thy shrine, 
 
 God of the soul-inspiring vine ; 
 
 I've felt thy force, I've known thy power, 
 
 God of the gay convivial hour; 
 
 By thee my breast has been inspir'd, 
 
 My genius wak'd, my fancy fir'd, 
 
 And as 1 joiu'd thy bacchant train, 
 
 Reason might preach, — but ever preach'd in vain. 
 
 II. 
 
 At thy approach pale care and sorrow fly, 
 
 Suspicion drops her jealous eye, 
 
 Sad apprehension's fancied ills are o'er, 
 
 And disappointment rends the soul no more. 
 
 Hope, bright enchantress ! waves her golden hair, 
 
 And to eternal exile dooms despair; 
 
 * His Horary wns sold in 1818.
 
 QD'J 
 
 
 Let me then sit beneath thy throne, 
 When other priests I ween, are found beside their own. 
 
 III. 
 Have I not seen at thy command, 
 Avarice herself ungrasp her baud •, 
 Envy to worth due tribute pay, 
 And throw her venom'd snakes away ; 
 Pride in the equal converse join, 
 And selfishness e'en self resign ? 
 
 Oh ! let us then thy praise allow, 
 And to thy pow'r in reverend rapture bow. 
 
 IV. 
 !Tis thine the drooping heart to cheer, 
 To free the mind from groundless fear ; 
 The loaded bosom to careen, 
 And loose the tyranny of spleen ; 
 'Tis thine the demon9 to subdue, 
 Of sable or cerulean hue, 
 Bid them no more our joys controul, 
 Or cloud the azure sunshine of the soul. 
 
 v. 
 Then while before thy shrine I bow, 
 Fealty and firm allegiance let me vow, 
 Not that thy frantic rites impart, 
 Some transient raptures to the heart, 
 But that the virtues flow from thee, 
 Mild candour, pure sincerity ; 
 Friendship's warm glow, Compassion's tear are thiue, 
 Thine Genius, Liberty, and Truth divine. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF GRAY's ODE 
 
 " tu severi religio loci" &c. 
 
 Kail genius of these realms austere, 
 
 Whatever name, 'tis thine to bear; 
 
 For sure no trivial pow'rs can reign, 
 
 O'er this romantic solemn scene, 
 
 But midst the gloom of thick-wove bowers, 
 
 Through which the dashing torrent roars, 
 
 Midst pathless wilds more plain we see, 
 
 And shaggy rocks, the Deity, 
 
 Than when the sons of art combine, 
 
 To labour out the form divine,
 
 550 
 
 And gold and geras their lustre shed, 
 Around the idol's honour'dhead. 
 
 Hail, nor disdain the votive lay, 
 Which wrapt in reverence I pay; 
 And midst your hollow groves request, 
 That ease which soothes the wanderer's breast; 
 Though fortune cruelly severe 
 Me from these envied mansions tear, 
 From scenes of more than common awe, 
 And musing silence, welcome law, 
 And to the stormy haunts of men, 
 Bear me in torture back again. 
 Yet, Power supreme, thy suppliant hear, 
 Nor doom him to perpetual care, 
 When trembling 'ueath life's closing load, 
 Grant him some calm retir'd abode, 
 There save him from the great and proud, 
 And shield him from the vulgar crowd, 
 There let him live in unmolested ease, 
 And breathe his last in solemn scenes like these. 
 
 MALVERN. 
 I. 
 Malvern, while on thy lofty brow I stand, 
 And view Vigornia's distant spires arise, 
 While duty calls me to my native land, 
 
 Why heaves the sigh, why backward turn mine eyes ? 
 
 II. 
 Are not thy vales, and native land, as fair 
 
 As those Pomona's partial bounties bless? 
 
 Dost thou not Nature's amplest tribute share ? 
 
 Why then, Vigomia, do I love thee less? 
 
 111. 
 Why thus reluctant do my footsteps bend, 
 
 To view these scenes which charm'd my youthful mind ; 
 While Malvern's much-lov'd summit I ascend, 
 Why turn my longing, ling'riug looks behind? 
 
 IV. 
 
 Forgive me native land, and thou fair stream, 
 
 Sabrina, Oh! forgive my wandering eye, 
 If 1 regardless of thy beauty seem, 
 
 And seek on fancy's wings the banks of Wye. 
 
 v. 
 There Delia roams with every charm replete, 
 
 Each native tint of innocence and youth,
 
 00/ 
 
 In her the virtues and the graces meet, 
 
 The blush of goodness, and the smile of truth. 
 
 VI. 
 
 In every look superior sense presides, 
 
 Her every thought, good nature, springs from thee, 
 
 Candour her every word and action guides, 
 Her every feeling sensibility. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Then pardon, native land, on charms like these, 
 If all my raptur'd thoughts transported roll, 
 
 If while thy once-lov , d beauties cease to please, 
 Delia alone, possess my captive soul. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And should the lovely maid, whose generous mind, 
 Scorus each base art, which vulgar bosoms know, 
 
 Bland to my hopes and to my wishes kind, 
 Propitious smile upon my proffer' d vow. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Her gentle steps I then perhaps may lead, 
 
 To view the beauties of thy level plain, 
 And while Sabrina's verdant banks we tread, 
 
 Thy scenes, O native land, shall please again. 
 
 EPITAPH ON A MUCH-LOVED AND MUCH-LAMENTED 
 CHILD, OF GREAT PROMISE. 
 I. 
 While agonizing nature prompts to mourn, 
 The sweetest pledge from our embraces torn ; 
 This beauteous flower, which Heaven so perfect mad*, , 
 Thus doom'd in earliest noon of life to fade, 
 Still taught by her, we dare not to repine, 
 But bow submissive to the will divine. 
 
 II. 
 Oh ever lov'd ! be now our joy to trace, 
 On memory's page, each sweet retiriug grace, 
 Each mild angelic virtue which combin'd, 
 To pour its lustre o'er thy spotless mind, 
 But chief that bright-ey'd faith, and seraph's love, 
 Which rais'd thy stedfast gaze to theirs above, 
 Which bade thee fix on Heav'n thy soul's desire, 
 And to those realms with ardent hope aspire. 
 
 III. 
 Oh everlov'd ! with equal faith may we, 
 In every saiut-like virtue copy thee,
 
 558 
 
 So while thy sainted spirit mugs its flight, 
 
 To the blest regions of eternal light, 
 
 The bliss thy fancy framed, thou there shalt know, 
 
 44 The guide and guardian of thy friends below." 
 
 The following translation of Mr. Dunster's, among the 
 many of Bishop Lowth's elegant epitaphs on his daughter, 
 was deemed superior to any extant : — 
 
 " CARA VALE INGEMO PRiESTANS P1ETATE 
 PUDOEE," &C. 
 
 A Item pled in English. 
 
 With sense, religion, modesty array'd, 
 Lov'd beyond nature's claim, farewell, sweet maid ! 
 Farewell ! let hope my bursting sigh restrain, 
 That well-fix"d hope, that wc shall meet again ; 
 When if thy father should be found like thee, 
 Spotless and pure, from every frailty free, 
 Again shall he behold that angel face, 
 And fold Maria in a fond embrace. 
 
 The following, I believe, is a correct list of the works 
 of Mr. Dunster : — 
 
 1. The Frogs, from the Greek of Aristophanes, 4to. 1785. 
 2. Cyder, a Poem, in two books, by J. Philips, with Notes, 
 Provincial, Historical, and Classical, 8vo. 1791, dedicated to 
 the Hon. Ed. Foley. 3. An edition of Paradise Regained, 
 with Notes, 1795.* 4. Considerations on Milton's early 
 reading, and the Prima Stamina of his Paradise Lost,f to- 
 gether with Extracts from a Poet of the 16th Century, in a 
 Letter to Wm. Falconer, M.D. from Chas. Dunster, A.M. 
 1800, Svo. 5. St. James's Street, a Mock Heroic Poem, 
 in blank verse, by Marmaduke Milton, Esq. Is. (3d. pub- 
 
 * For which purpose Mr. D. in 1195 applied to Mr. Price, the friend of T. 
 Warton, for collections. 
 
 t Every illustration of Milton v ill be acceptable to admirers of poetical 
 fancy. Perhaps few have been more happy in illustrating him than the critic 
 before us, who having relieved the melancholy of habitual indisposition, com- 
 paring him with a contemporary writer, pays his friend and physician the 
 compliments of his investigation. — GcnCs. Mag. Vol. LXX. p. 657.
 
 lished Jan. 1791- See it reviewed, with extracts, mEurop, 
 Mag. for 1791' And, in the more immediate line of his pro- 
 fession, he published — 6. A Letter to the Right Rev. the Bi- 
 shop of London, humbly suggesting a farther Consideration 
 of a Passage in the Gospel of St. Matthew, 1801. 8vo. 
 7. Discursory Observations on St. Luke's Preface, and 
 other Circumstances of his Gospel, in three Letters to a 
 Friend from a Country Clergyman, 1805, Svo. 8. Con- 
 siderations on the supposed Evidence of the Early Fathers 
 that St. Matthew's Gospel was the tirst written, by a Coun- 
 try Clergyman, 1806. Svo. 9. A Letter to Granville 
 Sharpe, Esq. respecting his Remarks on the two last Peti- 
 tions of the Lord's Prayer, from a Country Clergyman, 
 1807. 12mo. 10. A Letter to a Noble Duke (Leeds), on 
 the Incontrovertible Truth of Christianity, (a republication 
 of Mr. Leslie's Short Way with the Deists, abridged), print- 
 ed by Seagrave, Chichester, for Robson, Bond-street, &c. 
 1803, the second edition corrected, to which is now added, a 
 Postscript, 1808. Svo. 11. Discursory Considerations on 
 the Hypothesis of Dr. Macknight and others, that St. Luke's 
 Gospel was the first written, 1808. Svo. 12. Points at 
 Issue between the Editor of Dr. Townson's Works, and the 
 Author of Discursory Considerations on the Hypothesis 
 that St. Luke's Gospel was the first written ; discursorily 
 canvassed in two Letters to the Rev. Ralph Churton, Arch- 
 deacon of St. David's, from a Country Clergyman, 1811. 
 8vo. 13. Considerations on the Holy Sacrament, 1811. 
 12mo. 14. A Synopsis of the three First Gospels, includ- 
 ing the four last Chapters of St. John's Gospel, 1812. 8vo. 
 15. Psalms and Hymns, selected and adapted for the Use 
 of a Parochial Church, by a Country Clergyman, 1812. 
 12mo.* 7, 8, 12, and 13, were published anonymously. 
 
 * Mr. Dunster, it is said, never read a sermon m ritten by any other person. 
 " If it is a bad one," said he, " my time is lost ; if a good one, I should only 
 regret it was not my own composition." lie never published any himself, al- 
 though he wrote many. He began one which was finished by Dr. Greaves, 
 and they once bought one between them for three guineas.
 
 560 
 
 Mr. Dunster's rare and very desirable qualifications make 
 it difficult to speak of them without the appearance of ex- 
 aggeration. He was a profound scholar, and possessed an 
 uncommon genius. Yet he could descend to the most play- 
 ful conversation, and the most trifling subjects he treated in 
 a manner entirely his own. Thus he was an enlightened 
 companion among the most erudite of his own sex, and 
 to females he was endeared by the conciliating and elegant 
 manner into which he entered into their more immediate 
 pursuits. His conversation was, at the same time, brilliant, 
 clear, and conclusive, ranging through every branch of 
 human science, art, or learning. 
 
 In fine, he was an elegant writer, and an ingenious and 
 feeling poet. In his editorial capacity, he united a due 
 portion of critical accuracy, with extensive learning and ele- 
 gance of taste. He has taken some pains (says Dr. Nash, 
 in his Hudibras,) to vindicate the character of Withers, as a 
 poet. Party might induce Butler to speak lightly of him; 
 but Mr. D. seems to wonder why Swift, and Granger, in his 
 Biographical History, should hold him up as an object of 
 contempt. His works are very numerous, and Mr. Granger 
 says, his eclogues are esteemed the best; but Mr. Dunster 
 gives a few lines from his Britain's Remembrancer, a poem 
 in eight cantos, written upon occasion of the plague which 
 raged in London in the year 1625. The extract from his 
 Britain's Remembrancer is quoted in Nash's Hudibras, 
 which passage, Mr. Dunster says, may, perhaps, challenge 
 " comparison with any instance of the Qeoa- octto ^yy^xwa- in an- 
 cient or modern poetry." His private character was marked 
 by liberality of sentiment and feeling, and a disposition, with 
 all these temptations to become a man of the world, highly fa- 
 vourable to the interests of religion and virtue. This was 
 the man who formed one of a bright constellation of men 
 of genius and talent, who might be said to have been the 
 boast of this city and its environs, about the middle and sub- 
 sequent part of the eighteenth century. Men, in whom the 
 sun of intellect never shone with brighter rays, nor illumined
 
 561 
 
 with more vivid intelligence.* In a volume of Poems, by 
 Holland Cooksey, Esq. is a poem addressed to the Rev. 
 Charles Dunster, with the poetical answer of the latter. 
 
 Edmund Lechmere, 
 
 A Native, perhaps, of this county, was the son of Ed- 
 mund Lechmere, formerly representative for Worcestershire ; 
 he received his education at Queen's College, Oxford, 
 where he took the degree of M.A. 14th November, 1770, 
 and was afterwards called to the Bar. In 1770, he publish- 
 ed, in a 4to. pamphlet, " Poems and Translations, by a 
 Young Gentleman of Oxford." He was afterwards M.P. 
 for this city, and died at Edinburgh, about Sept. 1798. 
 
 There are some elegiac lines to the memory of the late 
 Edm. Lechmere, Esq. Member in the last Parliament for the 
 city of Worcester, signed "Belinda" Downing-street, West- 
 minster, April 28, 1799, in the Europ. Mag. for May, 1799- 
 
 Captain Michael Clements. 
 
 The father of this gallant officer was Rector of Long 
 Walton, in the county of Leicester; he built the house 
 now occupied by Mr. Stephenson, surgeon, in the Ty thing, 
 near this city. About the year 1742, Captain Clements 
 commanded the Acteeon. In the year 1759, the freedom of 
 the city of Cork was presented in silver boxes to Captains 
 Clements and Logie, for their spirited behaviour at Carrick- 
 fergus, on the defeat of the celebrated Thurot, on the 28th 
 of February of that year. — Vide Smollett's History of Eng- 
 land. March G, 1778, Captain Clements was appointed 
 
 * This circle consisted of Mr. Ingram, of the Wkite Ladies, — (Vide Cham- 
 bers's History of Worcester, pages 236, and 2S5,) Dr. Russell, Sir Edward 
 Winnington, Mr.Dandridge, of Malvern; Colonel Barry, nonliving; Rev. 
 J. Carver, Preb. of Worcester ; Mr. Ccombe, author of " Dr. Syntax," &c. Mr. 
 Russell (surgeon,) James Johnstone, M.D. Dean Swift, his relative, Theophi- 
 lus; Mr. Berkeley, of Spetchley, and his chaplain, Mr. Philips, the author of 
 the Life of Cardinal Pole ; Ed. Lechmere ; Dr. Goodinge, Master of the Col- 
 lege School; Thomson, jun. M.D. Holland Cooksey, Esq. and Captain 
 
 Clements, R. N. Memoirs of most of these are to be found in this volume. 
 
 4 c:
 
 5C2 
 
 to the command of his Majesty's Bhip Vengeance, and per- 
 formed sevcial gallant actions, particularly near Cadiz, in 
 the face of the whole Spanish fleet, and in sight of all Un- 
 people assembled on the walls of the city, when he defeated 
 two frigates sent out against him, receiving the fire of 
 twenty-four ships of the enemy, and having forty shots put 
 into the hull of his ship, many of which win between wind 
 
 and water. 
 
 Captain Clements died in confinement, for he became in- 
 sane ; but at what period of time I have not been able to 
 ascertain, but after the death of his wife, which took place 
 
 in 1786. 
 
 His brother, Major J. Clements, of the Worcestershire 
 militia, and one of his Majesty's magistrates for the county, 
 died Sept. 17, 1778, at Warley camp, and was buried in 
 the ground of St. Osw aid's Chapel. 
 
 Walsh Porter. 
 
 This gentleman, of such considerable celebrity in the fa- 
 shionable and literary world, lived at Farmcomb, Worcester- 
 shire. He published Travels through Russia; he also wrote 
 the Chimney Corner, a Musical Entertainment, 1797, N.P. 
 Voluntary Contributions, Occasional Interlude, 1798, N. P. 
 and died at Dawlish Villa, near Bath. He had, on the 
 evening preceding his death, desired his valet to order the 
 post-chariot to be got in readiness by five o'clock on the 
 morning, May 1809, at which time he was found in bed 
 lifeless by his servant. His death was presumed to have 
 been caused by the bursting of an abscess in the liver. He 
 was married to the beautiful and accomplished daughter of 
 the late Rev. Dr. Scrope, of Castle Comb, near Bath. For 
 a character of his dramatic works, see Biog. Dramatica. 
 
 On Saturday, April 14, 1810, the collection of pictures, 
 which belonged to the late Mr. Walsh Porter, were sold by Mr. 
 Christie, for no less a sum than 30,0331.; a picture by Claude 
 went for 27501. another by Correggio was sold for 20501.; 
 the latter picture was, J believe, afterwards sold for 70001.
 
 563 
 
 John Maunde, 
 
 A clergyman of the Church of England, was a native of 
 Montgomery, and received his education at Christ's Hospi- 
 tal, London. He visited Paris at the early part of the 
 French Revolution, and during his stay there, was seized 
 with the rest of the English, and thrown into prison, where 
 he remained four years. On his return to England, he en- 
 tered himself a member of the University of Oxford ; from 
 thence he removed to this city and took orders. 
 
 In 1812, he went to Kenilworth, as curate, and just be- 
 fore his decease, he was presented with the living of 
 Atherton, near Evesham, in this county, to which place he 
 was travelling to take possession, when at the Crown Inn of 
 this city, he was seized with a violent fit of coughing, from 
 which he burst a blood vessel, and within an hour expired, 
 in June 1813. He was engaged, at the time of his death, 
 by Lucien Bonaparte, when at Thorngrove, to translate his 
 poem of Charlemagne, in which he had proceeded as far as 
 the eighth canto. 
 
 Thomas Pitt, 
 Originally a chorister of Worcester Cathedral, was the 
 pupil and afterwards assistant of Mr. Isaac, whom he suc- 
 ceeded as organist to that Cathedral and as conductor of the 
 concerts. — See his article, p. 503. He was the author of 
 " A Selection of Sacred Music, principally from the Works 
 of Handel, inscribed by permission to the Hon. and Rev. the 
 Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Worcester." 
 This work consisted of sixteen anthems now used in this 
 Cathedral. Mr. Pitt died in April, 1806. 
 
 James Johnstone, Jun. M.D. 
 A Native of this county, was born at Kidderminster, 
 Aug. 1754. He was the eldest son of Dr. James John- 
 stone, (whose memoir we have detailed at page 473) and of
 
 564 
 
 Hannah, daughter of Mr. Henry Crane, of Kidderminster. 
 This gentleman was also a Physician to the Worcester In- 
 firmary, in which situation he was succeeded by his father, 
 Dr. James Johnstone, sen. In his childhood he gavetailv 
 indications of an amiable disposition and good talents ; and 
 was brought up under his father's eye at the grammar school 
 at Kidderminster, under the Rev. Mr. Martin, an excellent 
 classical scholar. At Dr. Atworth's academy, young John- 
 stone made considerable progress for three years in lan- 
 guages, mathematics, philosophy, and other academical 
 studies; and when he left that sehool, the Doctor conclud- 
 ed many pleasing accounts of his pupil by declaring he was 
 one of the most ingenious and promising young men he had 
 ever known. Thus prepared, he commenced the study of 
 medicine at Edinburgh, in the 17th year of his age, wherej 
 it is said, he attended the lectures and studies with singular 
 industry. He was soon admitted a member of the Medical 
 Society of Edinburgh, and distinguished himself there by 
 his papers, and in the debates, the former of which have, 
 according to his life, in Green's History, contributed to 
 form the medical character of a great many celebrated phy-- 
 sicians. His assiduity was honourably noticed by his pro- 
 fessors, particularly the late Dr. Cullen and Dr. Gregory ; 
 to the last, he acted as chemical clerk, in preparing the cases 
 in which the Doctor proposed to lecture at the Infirmary. 
 Dr. Johnstone graduated at Edinburgh in September, in 
 the year 1773, being there distinguished by his early pro- 
 ficiency, for he had hardly completed his 20th year, when 
 he was made a Doctor of Physic. His thesis on the An- 
 gina Maligna was considered as a master-piece, and recom- 
 mended to the attention of physicians by Dr. Cullen. This 
 treatise was re- published in 1779, in an English translation, 
 with considerable additions, derived from a paternal stock 
 of observations, as well as from the author's own study and 
 experience. Dr. Cullen is not the only writer of eminence 
 who has spoken of this work as one of the most valuable 
 treatises on the subject ; the late Dr. Fothergil!, Dr.
 
 56-5 
 
 Rowley, and others, have bestowed much commendation 
 upon it. 
 
 In the summer of 1774, Dr. Johnstone was unanimous- 
 ly chosen a Physician to the Worcester Infirmary, and at- 
 tended that charitable institution with acknowledged assi- 
 duity. The patients felt his humanity, and profited by his 
 skill. His success and diligence in his profession gave 
 him a large share of medical practice in the city and county 
 of Worcester, at a time of life when it is not usual for 
 physicians to be very much employed. His knowledge of 
 medicine was regular and correct m all its branches ; but in 
 the application of his knowledge to particular cases, he dis- 
 played that happy sagacity and discernment, that energy 
 tempered with prudence, in his prescriptions, which alone 
 belongs to the rare character of a physician of genius ; and 
 a little before his death (continues his biographer) he was 
 looked up to as one who would soon be at the head of his 
 profession. 
 
 When called, by the Magistrates of the county of Wor- 
 cester, to visit the prisons, where many laboured under the 
 gaol fever, nobly attentive to his duty, but too negligent of 
 his own safety, he went into cells and dungeons full of pes- 
 tilential contagion, and restored health to the miserable suf- 
 ferers ; but his own valuable life fell a sacrifice to the ex- 
 ertion. He was seized with the dire contagion ; and, fully 
 persuaded that the event would be unavoidably fatal, he was 
 conveyed to his father's house in Kidderminster, there to 
 receive the last attention of parental skill and affection. — 
 Every medical effort proved ineffectual ; he died Aug. 16, 
 1783,* a lamented victim in the discharge of one of the most 
 dangerous duties of the profession : he was buried in Wor- 
 cester Cathedral, where, on a tablet, is an inscription to 
 his memory from the classical pen of Dr. Parr. — Vide 
 Chambers's History of Worcester, p. 189- Dr. Johnstone's 
 manners were as remarkably chearful and pleasing as his 
 
 * Aug. 20, Dr. Johnstone offered himself to succeed his son as Physician to 
 •the Infirmary.
 
 566 
 
 knowledge was great and extensive ; to these were added 
 great sweetness of temper mingled with vivacity and sensi- 
 bility, and he possessed a vigor of body which seemed to pro- 
 mise a long life. The Governors of the Worcester Infir- 
 mary expressed the concern of the public in their statement 
 of 1784: — "It would be unpardonable to overlook the 
 mournful occasion of this election of physicians, by the death 
 of Dr. Johnstone, jun. who for nine years served this cha- 
 rity with great assiduity, humanity, and skill, and who fell a 
 memorable sacrifice by his attendance on another public ser- 
 vice." The late Mr. Howard, whose death was similar, 
 speaks of Dr. Johnstone with a generous sympathy in his 
 " State of the Prisons in England and Wales," 3d ed. 1784: 
 " In the course of my pursuits (says the philanthropist) I 
 have known also many amiable young physicians, who, in 
 their zeal to do good, have been carried off by this dreadful 
 distemper, the gaol fever, and this has been one incentive to 
 my endeavours for its extirpation out of our prisons. I shall 
 mention one affecting instance which happened here, as the 
 circumstance is related by Dr. Barnes, in the Manchester 
 Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 85 : Dr. Johnstone, jun. of Worces- 
 ter, has lately fallen a much-lamented martyr to a noble dis- 
 charge of duty, in attending the prisoners ill of a fever in 
 Worcester gaol, in 1783. He attained, at an early period, 
 to great and deserved eminence in his profession, and will 
 be ever regretted as a physician of great ability and genius, 
 and one of the most pleasing men, prematurely snatched 
 from his friends and country, when highly agreeable and use- 
 ful to them."* 
 
 * In recording the memoirs of the last physician of eminence who died in 
 this city, I may perhaps be allowed to mention one of the Medical Pro- 
 fession who, although he has left no memorial of his literary talents behind 
 him, yet have the celebrity of his abilities, and the goodness of his heart, 
 not been forgotten among us. — The following tribute to his virtues appeared 
 in the Worcester Journal: — " Died, suddenly, the 17th Nor. 1818, at his 
 house in Foregate-street, of violent haemorrhage from the bowels, John 
 Dangerfield, Esq. of this city, surgeon. He was not more distinguished 
 for professional skill, than for his humanity, attention, and kindness to all
 
 mi 
 
 N. WlLLOUGHBY, 
 
 Architect of the new County Prison, died Dec. 1815. 
 
 *WlLLIAM TlNDAL.f 
 
 The following account of the historian of Evesham, ex- 
 
 that required his assistance. His conduct through life -was ever marked by 
 the highest sense of honour, the strictest integrity, the noblest candour, and 
 the practice of every christian virtue- 
 
 * So christened after his ancestor, the celebrated martyr and translator of 
 the Bible. 
 
 + The pedigree of the family of Tyndale, Tindale, or Tindal, may be seen 
 in Morant's History of Essex, and Bloomfield's Norfolk; but they say nothing 
 of the famous Wm. Tindal (a) burnt for translating the scriptures at Augs- 
 burg, in Germany, during the reign of Henry VIII. who was, it is not un- 
 likely, the second son (mentioned in the pedigree) of John Tindal, Knight of 
 the Bath, who died in 1539. Nor do they mention the later branches of the 
 family ; the latter I shall endeavour to supply by a communication from me- 
 mory, from a genealogical table made out at the Herald's Office: — " Mat- 
 thew Tindal, son of the Dean, was father of Matthew and John, the former 
 the great metaphysician and deist ; the latter had the living of Cornwood, in 
 Devon, and was father to Nicholas Tindal, Rector of Alverstock, Hampshire, 
 a great living, and one of the Directors as well as Chaplain to Greenwich 
 Hospital. He had by his first wife three sons, John, Rector of Chelmsford, 
 Essex; George, captain of a man of war ; and James, captain in the 4th re- 
 giment of dragoons. John, the eldest son, had one daughter, Anna Maria, 
 married to John Morgan, clerk, he succeeded to the rectory of Chelmsford ; 
 George had two sons, George and Robert, and two daughters; Robert, still 
 living, has a numerous family, which are now the only branch likely to per- 
 petuate the name. James Tindal, the youngest son of Nicholas, bad four 
 children; James, who died young, and likewise Ann Louisa, married to 
 James Boden Carpenter, who has a numerous family, and Wm. Tindal, 
 clerk, the youngest, (the subject of this memoir), was likewise married, 
 but died without children." 
 
 ArmsofTyndal — Argent or, a fesse sable 3jarbesor. Crest a plume of 
 feathers, ermine, within a crown. 
 
 (a) See Granger. He is also mentioned by Mr. Chalmers, in his Biog. 
 Diet, as of another family. Mr. Wm. Tindal has been heard to say, that the 
 version of Psalms, as now used in the Common Prayer, was literally his trans- 
 lation ; being more poetical and read better than perhaps a more correct 
 one, it remains unaltered.
 
 508 
 
 traded from a little sketch of his early life, and written by 
 
 himself, has been obligingly forwarded to inc by the person 
 in whose possession he left it : — " I first saw the light at the 
 parsonage house at Chelmsford, on the 14th of May, 17-36; 
 my father, the youngest son of three, of Nicholas Tindal, 
 the continuator of Rapin, was a captain in the 4th regiment 
 of dragoons, and was then on a visit with my mother, i»t my 
 uncle's, John Tindal, at that time rector of Chelmsford. 
 Verv soon after my birth, my father's regiment went to Scot- 
 land; I accompanied it, and there he died, I believe, at 
 Dunbar, when I was about four years old, and my mother, 
 who was left in circumstances very far from affluent, brought 
 me from Scotland, to her brother's house, who was then a 
 minor canon of Chichester Cathedral. At a proper age I 
 was sent to a day school kept by the Rev. Mr. Biagdon, a 
 worthy man and a good scholar, but inattentive to his pupils. 
 At this school I acquired little or nothing. A very singular 
 turn of mind, which has accompanied me through life, was 
 visible even in the early part of it. Though possessing the 
 playfulness and vivacity of other children, yet a pensive 
 meditative thoughtfulness so much predominated, as to be 
 remarked by my friends, and excited their wonder and dis- 
 approbation, at the same time 1 evinced a strong inclination 
 for music, and was early discovered to possess a very delicate 
 ear. When about the age of ten, I left Chichester, to live 
 with my mother, then removed to Richmond. Here 1 saw 
 much of my grandfather, and often visitedat his apartments, 
 in Greenwich Hospital, of which he was chaplain. He 
 seemed to think well of my capacity for obtaining know- 
 ledge, but appeared apprehensive of the violence of my pas- 
 sions. I think he would have been right, in both respects, 
 if poverty, and the remote situation in which 1 lived, had not 
 at the same time that they curbed those violent passions, 
 also repressed what little genius I might originally have pos- 
 sessed, which afterwards discovered itself in the cultivation 
 of the art of music.
 
 569 
 
 In about a year after I had resided with my mother,* at 
 Richmond, I accompanied her to Oxford, iu order to be 
 entered as a chorister of the chapel there. This, I think, 
 was a material error of my friends ; it shewed a want of pro- 
 per attention to my disposition and turn of mind. Had I 
 been a bold forward boy, without awe of my superiors, this 
 plan might have answered ; but for a shy, reserved, silent, 
 and meditative youth, fully sensible of his inferiority to the 
 merits of others, although, perhaps, not superior in reality to 
 his own, it was the worse situation they could have chosen. 
 They fell into the common error of many persons, in mis- 
 taking silent thoughtfulness for stupidity or heaviness ; here, 
 however, I continued for some years, and lodged at the 
 house of the Rev. Mr. Mant. My passion for music again 
 revived, with the leisure, which made me my own master. 
 I hired a violin, and began to play several passages from the 
 solos of Correlli, and not contented with these, I endeavour- 
 ed to improve these solos into trios, by adding parts to them ; 
 at the same time I was also seized with an ardour for severer 
 studies. I know not at what period of my life my love of 
 drawing and a fondness for paintings first discovered itself, 
 which afterwards clung to me through life. I only know, 
 that when in Cumberland, in 1770, I was seized with an 
 eager desire of delineating some of its magnificent scenery, 
 and I produced two or three well-finished and spirited pencil 
 drawings, to my own great astonishment. In the spring of 
 1772, 1 entered as commoner of Trinity College, with an in- 
 tention of standing for a scholarship the same year. My 
 tutor, the famous T. Warton, ushered me into some of the 
 best rooms of the college (mistaking, probably, my import- 
 ance), and when the day came to which I looked forward 
 with anxiety, I was examined in Epictetus, and a difficult 
 ode of Horace. I do not recollect, but I believe there 
 was nothing very brilliant in my mode of doing it ; however 
 
 * This lady, whose maiden name was Shenton, and who was respectably 
 portioned by her father-in-law, married Dr. Smith, a physician, of Chelten- 
 ham and Oxford. 
 
 4 D
 
 570 
 
 I was elected scholar. Study, serious study, was now pretty 
 much out of the question. Music, at this period, mostly 
 occupied mv time. I began to compose a quartetto and 
 sccceeded tolerably well." — Mr. Tindal having thus far 
 spoken for himself, I have only to continue the memoir 
 from the same authentic source from which I have gained 
 the preceding matter. 
 
 His father died at the early age of thirty-three. A few 
 years after his father had purchased him a captain's commis- 
 sion at a great expense, and during the time that Captain 
 James Tindal was in the army, the following exertion of his 
 courage occurred; at the battle of Dettingen, where he was 
 a comet of dragoons : — He was stationed in the front rank, 
 when his horse was shot under him, but contrived to save his 
 colours, which he did by creeping under the bellies of, the 
 whole troop of horse, and dragging the flag after him in 
 his teeth. This enterprize being reported to George II. his 
 Majesty presented him with a lieutenancy, and signed his 
 commission on the field of battle. Mr. Tmdal lost his pa- 
 ternal grandfather in the year 1774, by whom he was left a 
 handsome annuity, until he should arrive at the age of 
 four and twenty, at which time the old gentleman had hoped 
 and expected his grandson would have been amply provided 
 for in the church. He was ordained at Oxford in 1778, and 
 became Fellow of Trinity College. This he lost by marry- 
 ing, which he did early in life. He afterwards held the living 
 of Kington, in this county, to which he was instituted July 6, 
 1792, and to which he was presented by his father-in-law, 
 Dr. Smith, through his interest with the Cecil family ; he 
 also held the living of Billmgford, Norfolk, which latter pre- 
 ferment he exchanged with the Rev. T. Cowper, it is be- 
 lieved, in 1779, for the chaplainship of the Tower of Lon- 
 don, in which place he died, September 1804. Mr. Tindal 
 was the author of" A History of Evesham," in one volume 
 4to. a work of which the following letter bears more ample 
 testimony to its merits, than any panegyric I can bestow : —
 
 571 
 
 COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE LATE EARL OF ORFORD 
 
 TO A FRIEND.* 
 
 Dear Sir, Strawberry Hill, Oct. 12, 1794. 
 
 There has been published, this year, a book, with so uncaptivating 
 a title, that it may not have attracted your notice, yet, in some 
 parts, I think it would please and amuse you; and from one chapter 
 I can confidently say, that it deserves to be highly commended and re- 
 commended, for the effect it may have on others, though not, perhaps, 
 on those readers for whom it was principally calculated, and on whom 
 good sense is not apt to make much impression — I mean antiquaries. 
 — Lord help them ! The book is called " The History and Antiqui- 
 ties of the Abbey and Borough of Evesham ;" a quarto, printed there; 
 the author, Wm. Tindal, M.A. late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxon. 
 I know nothing at all of the gentleman, nor whether he is a clergy- 
 man or a laic. I am fond of English local history, a study, if it may 
 be called so, that requires little but patience, and a memory for 
 trifles, and which, to be sure, from the general manner in which it is 
 executed, produces as little satisfaction, as any kind of reading can 
 do. Thus, you see, I prove I am one of those insipid beings at 
 whom I hinted, who demand uothing, but to be told facts and cir- 
 cumstances of no importance, that commonly are obsolete, and little 
 worth reviving. 
 
 To my great surprise, (for I never set out in such a task with san- 
 guine hopes of entertainment), I found the work in question written 
 with the utmost impartiality and liberality, as you will judge, if you 
 will please to turn to a few lines at the close of the 4th chap. p. 120, 
 and still better, if you look at the conclusion of the 5th chapter, be- 
 ginningatp. 144, with these words :— " But these poor abbotts." I 
 think. Sir, you will discern excellent and rational reflections, and 
 an admirable contrast between just seriousness and superstition, 
 with an amiable picture of melaucholy contemplation on the vicis- 
 situdes of human affairs. But what I chiefly meant to recommend 
 to your observation, and wish to see specified with proper enco- 
 miums (the real object of this letter), are the severe but merited 
 strictures on the French Revolution, on their insolent philosophers, 
 and on all those monsters that have been, and still are, their disci- 
 ples^ These strictures extend to the end of the fifth chapter, and, 
 in my humble opinion, no reprobation of the conduct of the French 
 
 * Printed in some periodical publication. 
 
 + Surely Mr. Walpole forgot the eulogiutns he had lavished on his dear 
 friend, Madame De DefFend, &e.
 
 57 ■: 
 
 for the last five years, has been so well expressed in the compass of 
 fix pages. 
 
 How concisely has the author, towards the bottom of page 146, 
 painted the apish and pedantic atlcctation of their writers in imita- 
 tion of the classics ! 
 
 I beg your pardon, good Sir, for giving you this trouble, though, I 
 trust, I have introduced to you an author worthy of your acquaint- 
 ance. 1 beg, too, not to have this letter shewn, as I write to you 
 most confidentially, and should be very sorry to offend those very 
 inoffensive personages, antiquaries: for a few of them I have a great 
 esteem. 
 
 I am, with sincere respect, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 OR FORD. 
 
 P.S. Pray read the account of the Battle of Evesham, it is a fine 
 piece of history. 
 
 In addition lo the History of Evesham, the contributor of 
 this article informs me, Mr. T. wrote — 2. " Strictures (or 
 Remarks) on Dr. Johnson's Life, and Critical Observations 
 on the Works of Mr. Gray, 1782;"* a work of which I 
 have heard, that the late Bishop Hurd said, " It was the best 
 defence he had ever seen against the attacks of that Goliah 
 of literature." He also wrote, 3. " Juvenile Excursions," a 
 work produced, I believe, while he held the living of Bil- 
 lingford. 4." The Evils and Advantages of Genius contrast- 
 ed ;" and several pamphlets on political subjects. He also had 
 several unfinished works in hand, at the time of his decease, 
 of which many are in the possession of his widow. 
 
 His compositions in music have been held in high estima- 
 tion by the first judges; and it is not long since that some 
 of his juvenile productions were played at the Concert of 
 Ancient Music, with great approbation. 
 
 * I have in my possession " Remarks on Dr. Johnson's Life, and Critical 
 Observations on the Works of Gray," 8vo. 1782. In the work by Mr. Tin- 
 dal, I am informed, he called Johnson the Aristarchus of the present age. 
 This is not mentioned in my pamphlet ; and yet I have little doubt but it is 
 the same work.
 
 573 
 
 George Osborne, 
 
 Late pastor of the dissenting congregation in Angel-street, 
 in this city, was born in the city of Cork, November 13, 
 1757, and was the son of John and Catherine Osborne. 
 He was placed under the care of a clergyman in Cork, 
 who, perceiving the intellectual bias of his mind, bestowed 
 upon him more than common attention. While yet very 
 young, he appeared resolved to dedicate himself to the mi- 
 nistry, and this idea probably arose from an impression made 
 on his mind by a sermon from Mr. Whitfield, whom he was 
 taken to hear by his grandmother. This inclination was, 
 however, much discouraged by some of his friends, who ob- 
 serving indications of superior talent, imagined it might more 
 successfully be employed at the bar ; while others proposed 
 the study of medicine ; but his first design prevailed. He 
 was then strongly solicited to enter into the established 
 church, and many inducements were held out by his young 
 friends and others, who had livings at their disposal. 
 
 These flattering offers, being a dissenter from principle, 
 he positively rejected : and at length embarked for England 
 for the purpose of studying at the academy of Daventry, 
 under the Rev. Thomas Robins ; he, it is said, took much 
 pains to strengthen his voice, which was naturally weak, by 
 resorting to the plan laid down by Demosthenes, of speaking 
 in the open air, and near the sea-shore. Upon leaving the 
 academy, Mr. Osborne returned to Ireland to exercise his 
 ministerial labours in his native country. In these views he 
 was, however, disappointed : those to whom his talents as a 
 preacher would have been acceptable, differed from him in 
 sentiments ; he therefore returned to England, where he found 
 many friends, and he continued in this country more than 
 two years, during which period, namely, in March l/So, 
 he married the daughter of John and Frances Hartley, of 
 Fleet-street. Towards the close of the same year, he re- 
 moved to West Bromwich, Staffordshire, having accepted 
 hi invitation t<> take care of an independent congregation of
 
 374 
 
 that place, and where he was ordained on the 2oth July 
 1787- He continued his services, at West Bromwich, 
 during a period of seven years, and in this place he estab- 
 lished Sunday schools, relieved the poor, and promoted the 
 institution of a lying-in charity, the latter of which was sanc- 
 tioned and supported by the late Earl of Dartmouth. In 
 1792, Mr. Osborne entered upon the office of pastor of the 
 congregation belonging to Angel-street, Worcester, in which 
 he continued until his death, and here he commenced form- 
 ing a collection of books, for the benefit of his connection, in 
 the same room now occupied as the City Library. " As a 
 preacher," says his biographer, " he was deservedly conspi- 
 cuous, and had his health (which was habitually infirm) ad- 
 mitted of a more rigid application to study, it is more than 
 probable he would have attained a very high degree of emi- 
 nence in the list of pulpit orators." 
 
 His voice, without being strained, was always distinctly 
 audible ; bis enunciation and manner graceful and impres- 
 sive; his style oftentimes energetic, but always neat, co- 
 pious, and flowing ; his conception of his subject was gene- 
 rally exceedingly correct and intimate, and the facilities of 
 language and expression seemed perfectly at his command. 
 As a tutor he was eminently distinguished as well by his 
 clsasical attainments and general knowledge, as bv his 
 unceasing endeavours to promote the high interest of his 
 pupils. Mr. Osborne was the first* who established Sun- 
 day schools in Worcester, and his exertions were successful 
 in stimulating other societies to a similar work. He died on 
 Tuesday, November 10, 1812, aged 54, at the parsonage ad- 
 joining Angel-street chapel, after being for nearly twenty-one 
 years pastor of the congregation at Worcester, and was in- 
 terred on the Wednesday follow ing, in the burial-ground ad- 
 joining the chapel. He left behind him a widow, one son, 
 and four daughters. 
 
 * I had been given to understand, that the Sunday schools in this city, ori- 
 ginated with the Rev. Mr. Harris, in 1791. See History of Worcester, p. 266.
 
 ""»C 
 
 570 
 
 Mr. Osborne was the author of four published sermons. 
 1. Christianity attested and explained by Prophecy, Rev. 
 xix. 10. 1738. 2. Evangelic Faith and Union, Philip, i. 27. 
 1794. Moral Charity, Rom. ii. 20. 1801. And 4. Devout 
 Loyalty, Psalm xx. 9- 
 
 John Price, 
 A teacher of the French, Latin, Italian, and Spanish lan- 
 guages, was born in the year 1773, at Leominster. He was 
 the author of 1. " An Historical and Topographical Account 
 of Leominster and its Vicinity," 1795, 8vo. 2. " An His- 
 torical Account of the City of Hereford," &c. 1796, 8vo. 
 and 3. " The Worcester Guide," 12mo. 1799, very respect- 
 able works ; from the latter of which have been copied 
 much of the matter of other histories of Worcester, without 
 due acknowledgment to the author for information bor- 
 rowed from his work, the copy-right of which was pur- 
 chased by the late Mr. Smart, bookseller, of this city. 
 Mr. Price died April 5, 1801, sincerely lamented; his ac- 
 quaintance with the various departments of polite literature 
 was accurate and extensive ; his manners were affable, and 
 his conduct marked with integrity. He had pedestrinated 
 through France, Italy, &c. and is represented as being a 
 little active man. 
 
 J. Barrett, 
 
 A clergyman, whose name is affixed to " A Description of 
 Malvern and its Environs, comprising an Account of the 
 Efficacy of the Malvern Waters," &c. 1796, of which there 
 is a later edition. I believe this gentleman was the curate 
 of Colwall, in Herefordshire. The work possesses consider- 
 able merit; it has been quoted by several authors, and is 
 now out of print. I have been informed that the work was, 
 in reality, written by Sir H. V. Tempest. 
 
 Eliza Blower, 
 A Native of this rounty, was. an early candidate for li-
 
 57(1 
 
 terarv fame, having been the authoress of a novel when 
 only of the age of sixteen. In the year 1782, being only 
 eighteen years of age, she produced a similar work, called 
 George Bateman, published by Dodsley, in three volumes. 
 Her father was well known for his steady attachment to an 
 unsuccessful candidate for the city of Worcester, and from 
 the misfortunes attendant on this attachment, it was pre- 
 sumed that Miss Blower was indebted for the election inci- 
 dents which she has introduced in George Bateman. " The 
 general plan of this work," says a contemporary critic, " is 
 obviously a masterly imitation of Tom Jones. George 
 Bateman has every trait that marks the Foundling of Field- 
 ing. If there is a deviation, it is in the superior politeness 
 of Bateman;" and the critic then proceeds in a strain as 
 highly complimentary to the abilities of the fair writer. Her 
 first novel was called " The Parsonage House." Its design 
 was to ridicule the method of novel making at that period ; 
 but her imagination, it is said, insensibly contracting a fond- 
 ness for the characters it conceived, threw a brilliancy over 
 the performance which destroyed the intention. Miss 
 Blower, from forming so early a taste for books, formed 
 little extempore dramas, before she had learned to write, 
 from tales in the Spectator, Tatler, &c. Sec. for she was 
 not permitted by her parents to peruse regular dramas. Her 
 literary exertions were called forth to benefit her family, but 
 her success in them bore no proportion to her merit. In 
 person she was elegant, attractive, and interesting. Her 
 countenance pleasant, expressive, and vivacious ; her eyes 
 lively and penetrating ; and, finally, says the contemporary 
 critic which we have quoted above, her character was irre- 
 proachable. 
 
 John Collett 
 Was born at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, 
 April 28, 1769, of respectable parents. He was a descend- 
 ant of that estimable scholar, Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. 
 Paul's, and founder of St. Paul's School, London. His ex-
 
 577 
 
 traordinary size* unfitting him for a more active life, he 
 opened a boarding-school at Bourton, in 1791. In 1799, 
 he removed to Evesham, in this county, where he presided 
 over a large and respectable seminary with great reputation 
 and success. He died March 22, 1816, in the Foregate- 
 street of this city, where he had opened a school in the sum- 
 mer preceding, which is now conducted by his sou. 
 
 He was a useful and benevolent man ; he was the chief 
 promoter of the first Sunday school at Evesham, and was 
 the secretary and treasurer to that and several other in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 In the early part of his life he frequently invoked the 
 muses ; and in most of the magazines of that period, some 
 of his poetical contributions are to be found, under the sig- 
 nature of O. O. He published, in 1795, " Poetical Es- 
 says; or, Short Flights towards Parnassus;" and, in 1805, 
 a larger work, entitled, " Sacred Dramas." 
 
 Colonel Sir Henry Walton Ellis, 
 
 A Native of this county, was the son of Major-General 
 Joyner Ellis, many years resident at Kempsey, where the sub- 
 ject of this memoir was born, in the year 1782. At a very 
 early period he entered the army as ensign in the 89th regi- 
 ment, from which he was, in 1 792, promoted to a lieutenancy 
 in the 41st regimeut; and, in 1795, embarked for the West 
 Indies with the latter corps, and was stationed with it in the 
 island of St. Domingo. He returned to England, 1796, in 
 consequence of being promoted to a company in the 23d, or 
 Royal Welch Fusileers. In 1799, he accompanied the 23d 
 to Holland, and was present at the action of the H elder, on 
 the 27th August, where he received a severe wound in the 
 knee. Captain Ellis embarked at Plymouth, in 1800, with 
 his regiment, which formed part of the force engaged in 
 the several expeditions to Ferrol, Cadiz, and ultimately to 
 Egypt. At the memorable landing effected by our troops in 
 
 • He weighed 365 Ite. 
 
 4 E
 
 578 
 
 the Bay of Aboukhy Captain Ellis, then only nineteen years 
 of a«e, was the first officer of his regiment who gained the 
 beach, and gallantly led on the brave grenadier company to 
 storm the heights, which was effected with great loss, and he 
 received a very severe wound. lie received a gold medal 
 for his conduct on this occasion, and was subsequently em- 
 ployed with his regiment, at Gibraltar, for eighteen months, 
 and returned to England, in August 180:5, and was engaged 
 in the recruiting service, till he attained the rank of major, in 
 October 1804, and in the year following accompanied the 
 army to Hanover. In April 1807, he obtained a lieutenant- 
 colonelcy ; and, in Feb. 180S, embarked in the command 
 of the 1st battalion of the 23d regiment for North America, 
 and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, the April following ; 
 the 23d regiment also formed part of the expedition against 
 Martinique, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ellis was very highly 
 spoken of in the dispatches of Sir George Beckwith, for 
 his conduct at the capture of that island, in February 1809. 
 
 In April, of the same year, the regiment returned to Hali- 
 fax, and, in October 1810, embarked to join their gallant 
 countrvmen in the Peninsula, and arrived at Lisbon in No- 
 vember following, from which time, till the conclusion of 
 the war, he and his brave regiment formed part of the 4th 
 division of the army, and was engaged in almost every battle 
 and siege which occurred. 
 
 On the retreat of Massena from Santarem, on the night of 
 the 5th March, 181 1, the 23d regiment composed part of the 
 force detached southward, under command of Marshal Be- 
 resford. On the investment of Badajos, the 23d was em- 
 ployed in the trenches, till the siege was raised by the ap- 
 proach of Marshal Soult to relieve it, when the allied army 
 took up a position on the heights near Albuera, where a 
 most sanguinary battle was fought on the l6th of May, and 
 the French were repulsed, and retreated with great loss. 
 The conduct of the fusileer brigade was on that day the ad- 
 miration of the whole army, but its loss was most severe. 
 Sir William Myers, who commanded it, being killed, the
 
 o79 
 
 command of the brigade devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Ellis, who was severely wounded, by a musket-ball passing- 
 through his right hand. He was, however, soon after com- 
 manding his regiment at Aldea de Fonte, on the 27 th Sep- 
 tember, 1811. At the siege and storming of Cuidad Rod- 
 rigo, in January 18112, Lieutenant-Colonel Ellis, and the 
 Welch Fusileers, bore a distinguished share, and formed 
 part of the army besieging Badajos in March following ; 
 whilst on services in the trenches, on the 28th of that 
 month, he received a wound from a musket-ball, across his 
 forehead, just above his eyes, which deprived the country 
 of his services at the storming of that fortress, but where his 
 regiment behaved nobly. He likewise commanded the fu- 
 sileer brigade at the glorious battle of Salamanca, the 23d of 
 July, where he was most severely wounded from a musket- 
 ball, which entering his neck, passed along his back, and 
 lodged in his shoulder, another ball, at the same moment, 
 grazing his temple. He was present at Burgos in October 
 following, and at the subsequent retreat. In 1813, he sus- 
 tained the high character of his regiment at the battle of 
 Vittoria, on the 21st of June, and received the praise of 
 Lord Wellington. At the battles of the Pyrenees, the 23d 
 was particularly engaged, and, on the 28th of July, charged 
 several times with the bayonet; the total repulse of the enemy 
 followed, but the Lieutenant-Colonel received another wound 
 from a musket-ball on his cheek. He was present at the 
 battle of Pamplona, in September; at the passage of the 
 Bklassoa, in October; the Nivclla, in November ; and the 
 Nive, in December following. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Ellis received a wound in his eye at 
 the battle of Orth.es, on the 27th February 1814, where he 
 greatly distinguished himself, as he did at the battle of 
 Thoulouse, on the 10th of April following. 
 
 The Peninsular war having gloriously terminated, Lieute- 
 nant-Colonel Ellis returned with his regiment to England, 
 and soon after received those rewards from his Sovereigu 
 and his country, which he had so justly merited, by being,
 
 580 
 
 in June IS 14, promoted to the rank, of a Colonel in the army ; 
 and, in January 181.5, made one of the Knights Command- 
 ers of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, 
 and Knight of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and 
 Sword. He also received a gold cross, &c. for his conduct 
 in the different battles in which he had been engaged ; and, 
 on his return to his native land, this county and city voted 
 him a most superb and elegant vase, which was presented to 
 him on the 2()th of December 1814, by the Right Hon. the 
 Earl of Coventry. The inscription on one of the sides of 
 this vase is in Latin, and the other in English, the latter of 
 which is as follows: — 
 
 To Colonel HENRY WALTON ELLIS, 
 
 Of the 23d Regiment Royal Welch Fuzileers, 
 
 This tribute to his meritorious and distinguished conduct, 
 
 during 15 years of active service, 
 
 In Holland, Egypt, America, the W r est Indies, 
 
 Spain, Portugal, and France, 
 
 Is respectfully offered by the County 
 
 And his native City of Worcester, 
 
 and presented at their desire, 
 
 By the Earl of Coventry, 
 
 Lord Lieutenant and Recorder, 
 
 1815. 
 
 Alas ! all these honours were only achieved to illustrate 
 the words of the poet, 
 
 " The paths of glory lead but to the grave !" 
 
 On the recommencement of hostilities, Sir Henry Ellis 
 embarked with his regiment for the Netherlands, and at 
 the ever-memorable battle of Waterloo, so glorious for the 
 country, but so unfortunate for individuals, whilst charging 
 the enemy with his brave and invincible regiment, lie re- 
 ceived a carbine shot in the left breast, of which wound he 
 lingered nearly two days, and then expired at the early age 
 of thirty-three,* to the great regret of the whole regiment, 
 which was devotedly attached to him, and the unutterable 
 grief of all who knew him. Colonel Ellis is said to have 
 
 D 
 
 * Thirty-two accordins to his monument.
 
 581 
 
 been a man of most engaging and fascinating manners, mild 
 and affable, and possessing a happy flow of spirits, a most 
 entertaining companion, excelling eminently in the charms of 
 conversation and social life. He was, in consequence, en- 
 thusiastically beloved by his own family. The estimation 
 in which he was held may be ascertained from the Duke of 
 Wellington's dispatch announcing his death, in which he 
 laments him as a public loss, and as a friend. He was in- 
 terred in the field of battle to the right of the position, on 
 the mound of the only wind-mill at Braine le Leud, and he 
 has left behind him a name of imperishable lustre. 
 
 As a token of respect to his memory, the officers, non- 
 commissioned officers, and privates of the regiment, unani- 
 mously resolved to raise a monument by subscription, ac- 
 cording to their respective ranks. This monument, exe- 
 cuted by Bacon, is now erected in the nave of Worcester 
 Cathedral. It represents Colonel Ellis falling from his 
 horse, while Victory is crowning him with laurel. 
 
 His present Majesty, when Prince Regent, was pleased 
 to grant to the family of Sir Henry Ellis, the following ho- 
 nourable augmentation of arms, to be for the future borne 
 by them, viz. Gules on a fess Or, three escallop of the field, 
 between two crescents in chief, and an urn in base, Ar- 
 gent, pendant from the chief point by a ribband and clasp. 
 A representation of the gold cross and clasp presented by 
 the royal command to the late Sir Henry Walton Ellis, as a 
 mark of his (late) Majesty's approbation of his services in 
 the Peninsula, &c. On a chief embattled of the 2d, pen- 
 dant of a ribband Gules, fembriated Azure, representation of 
 the silver medal struck in commemoration of the battle of 
 Waterloo, and presented to the family of Sir H. W. Ellis, 
 beneath the word " Waterloo," and a branch of palm, and 
 another of cypress, proper. The urn, in the base of the 
 arms, being intended to allude to the public tribute, &c. 
 presented by his native county and city of Worcester. And 
 for a crest, or, a wreath of the colours out of a mural crown ; 
 Or, a cubit arm in bend, vested Gitlet, cuff Azure, the hand
 
 582 
 
 grasping a Bword proper; pomel and Iiilt gold, the blade 
 broken, and encircled by a wreath of cypress ; from the 
 wrist a representation of the said medal, in commemoration 
 of the battle of Waterloo, pendant bj ■ ribband, as in the 
 arms. Motto — "Decorum pro patria roori;" above the 
 crest — " Bello dextra." 
 
 A miniature of the subject of this memoir, painted by 
 Bennett, is in the possession of William Joyner Ellis, Esq. 
 his relative, Berkeley, Gloucestershire. 
 
 Richard Cooksey, 
 A Native of this county, the son of Holland Cooksey, 
 Esq. was born at Braces Leigh, 1761. He was first edu- 
 cated at Eton School, then, I believe, at Oxford ; and, af- 
 terwards choosing the profession of his father, entered the 
 Temple. Mr. It. Cooksey was the author of a volume of 
 Poems, 8vo. 1796. In 1788, he published Proposals for a 
 History of Worcester by subscription, in one volume, from 
 the Collections of Dr. Nash ; and also a similar Proposal 
 for the Lives of the Chancellors Somers and Hardwicke. 
 This History of Worcester, I believe, was never printed. 
 For an account of the latter work, see page 541 of this 
 work, article Holland Cooksey. He died in London, in 
 March, 1798.
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 Ednod, 
 
 (Add at page 72.) Was originally a monk of Worcester, 
 and became, through the interest of Bishop Oswald, the 
 first abbot of Ramsey Abbey. In 1005, he was promoted 
 to the bishopric of Dorchester ; he is sometimes called 
 Bishop of Lincoln, but that by way of anticipation, for 
 the bishopric was not removed from Dorchester to Lin- 
 coln till after the Norman Conquest; Ednod was a cele- 
 brated architect, and was killed, while attending the armv of 
 King Edmund, at the fatal battle of Assendum. See Ben- 
 tham's Ely. 
 
 Thomas and Matthew of Worcester, 
 
 (P. 19, after Evesham.) Were artists, employed about 
 the year 1300, as painters, to decorate the chapel of St. 
 Stephen's, Westminster; the former, at .5d.; the latter, at 
 4fd. per diem. 
 
 John Wickliffe. 
 
 (Add to p. 28, before article Peverell.) This cele- 
 brated father of the Reformation had a prebend in Wor- 
 cester Cathedral.* In Worcester Cathedral Library is a 
 smaller copy of his Bible and New Testament than the 
 one at St. John's College, Oxford, given by Bishop Laud. 
 It is written in a different hand from Laud's MS. This also 
 is said to have been of Wickliffe's penmanship, together with 
 a copy of the Vulgate, corresponding to it, the copy, it is 
 said, from which Wickliffe translated, and written in the 
 same hand with the translation. He was born 1324, and 
 died 1384. 
 
 * I regret that I have unfortunately mislaid the authority for this, which I 
 remember considering as undoubted. He died before the dates of the list of 
 Prebendaries in the History of Worcester commences.
 
 584 
 
 "William of Worcester, (p. 31, add) was also called Win. 
 Boloner : he was a native of Bristol. — See Fenn's Original 
 Letters. 
 
 Bray, (p. 38, 1. 10) yet Mr. Lysons says that Eton Bray 
 was granted to Sir Reginald in 1513, it having been forfeited 
 by attainder. Mr. L. also says, Sir Reginald was possessed 
 of Haynes. In the south aisle of Eton Bray church is a 
 fragment of stone-work, richly carved, and ornamented with 
 the Royal arms, and devices of Sir Reginald Bray. — See 
 more in Ly sons' s Bedfordshire. In the 12th of Henry VII. 
 a tax was levied upon the English to appease a tumult in 
 Scotland, when the Cornish men rose, and refused to pay 
 it, laying the charge of this exaction on Sir Reginald Bray 
 and Merton, Archbishop of Canterbury. — Hall's Chroni- 
 cle, p. 477- In the reign of Henry VI. the fee-farm rent of 
 Bedford, payable by the burgesses to the Crown, being 
 then 4G1. per aim. was remitted in part for a time, on a re- 
 presentation of the poverty of the town. By the intercession 
 of Sir Reginald Bray, when he was prime minister to Henry 
 VII. it was permanently reduced to 201. per an. some sub- 
 sequent time to 161. 5s. 8d. — Lysons. In 1513 (this must be 
 a mistake in the date, he died in 1503,) he became possessed 
 of Totenhoe, Bedfordshire, by a grant from the Crown. The 
 manor of Standon Hussey,Beds. in the Wiltshire part of the 
 parish, at one period belonged to Sir Reginald Bray, and was 
 bequeathed by him to William, Lord Sandys, who married 
 the only child of his brother John. 
 
 Bonnor, (p. 50, first line, add) was a Native of the 
 county, (p. 51,1. 5) George Savage was reported to have 
 had seven illegitimate children by three different women. 
 (1. 22) An entry in the register of Dereham, Norfolk, cor- 
 roborates his being the illegitimate son of Savage. — See also 
 Granger's Letters, p. 85. Query, at what time was he re- 
 gistered? (1.15, add) had. (p. 56, 1.6) It must not how- 
 ever be forgotten that Bonnor had the merit of inviting to
 
 i 
 
 England the celebrated Hadrian Junius, one of the most 
 eminent scholars of those days ; and although he had not 
 the means of assisting him on his arrival in England, he v\as 
 in consequence introduced to the celebrated Earl of Surrie, 
 who maintained him in his house as his physician, with a 
 liberal salary. — See Nott's elaborate Life of the Earl 
 of Surry, pp. xl. xliv. Ixi. and Ixii. Sir John Harrington 
 tells us, that when Bonnor, to vex him, was shewn a wood- 
 en print in Fox's Book of Martyrs, representing himself 
 whipping Thos. Henshaw, he laughed at it, saying, "A 
 vengeance on the fool, how could he get my picture drawn 
 so right :" A large wooden chair, in which he is said to 
 have passed sentence upon heretics, was placed a few years 
 ago in a shrubbery near rulham Palace ; on this circum- 
 stance Mrs. H. More has exercised her poetical talents. — . 
 See Ly sons' s Fulham and Malcolm's An. of Lond. p_110. 
 See lines on Bonnor in the Harleian Miscellany. 
 
 Sandys, (p. 66, add) When possessed of the See of Lon- 
 don he was a benefactor to the hamlet of Highgate, Middle- 
 sex, by enlarging the free grammar school and chapel, found- 
 ed by Sir Roger Cholmondeley. (p. 67, I. 1, Hawkeshead, 
 add) See the foundation charter in Habingdon : he was Pre- 
 sident of St. John's, Camb. — Vide Habingdon. The cha- 
 pel adjoining the school of Highgate is said, in an inscrip- 
 tion put up against the west end in 16S2, to have been built 
 by Edwin Sandys, Bishop of London, in loQo, as a chapel 
 of ease for the inhabitants of Highgate. Here is certainly a 
 mistake ; Grindail was Bishop of London in that year, and 
 his arms are in one of the windows with chose of Sir Ro- 
 ger Cholmondeley ; the latter it appears certainly erected 
 the chapel, the inscription on the front being erroneous. 
 Lysvis's Buckinghamshire, p. 667. When Bp. of London, 
 Sandys, with the consent of the vicar of Hillingdon, granted 
 a licence to the inhabitants of Uxbridge to bury their dead 
 in the chapel at Highgate. — See also Granger, v. 1, p. 206. 
 Bishop Sandys was spoken of as one of the translators of 
 
 4 r
 
 580 
 
 • 
 
 Queen Elizabeth's, or Parker's, bible, and wrote a vol. of 
 sermons. Mr. Dyer is under a mistake when he says, Bi- 
 shop Sandys died Bishop of Norwich in 1618. Overhall, 
 Bishop of Norwich, who succeeded .leggon, died in 1619; 
 the style of his sermons exceeds, says Mr. Drake, ( Hist, of 
 York) any thing I have met with among the writers of his time. 
 
 Richard Steward, Preb. of Worcester, 1628, 
 (P. 70, after Talbot, add) And Provost of Eton Coll. 
 Dec. 28, 1639, enjoyed in succession the Prebends of Wor- 
 cester, Salisbury, and Westminster, the Deanries of Chi- 
 chester, St. Paul's, and Lincoln, and was one of the King's 
 Chaplains and Clerk of the Closet. He is described as being 
 a poet, an orator, an able divine, and an eloquent preacher. 
 On account of his loyalty he was deprived of his prefer- 
 ments, and took refuge on the Continent. In his last ill- 
 
 . . . 
 
 ness, at Paris, he was visited by Charles II. after his escape 
 
 from the battle of Worcester. He died Nov. 15, 1651, 
 and was buried in a cemetry in the suburbs of St Germain. 
 See a hymn written by him in his last sickness in Acker- 
 mann's History of the Public Schools, article Eton Coll. 
 p. 52. 
 
 Montague, (p. 89) published a splendid edition of the 
 works of King James. Mr. Dyer, in his History of Cam- 
 bridge, is surely incorrect when he says Montague died Bp. 
 of Worcester: he was translated to Ely. — See Bentham. 
 
 Berkeley, (p. 112) He did not erect the hospital. — 
 See an important correction of Green, &c. on this matter, 
 at p. 313. 
 
 Nash. (p. 117) See more of him in the life of Dr. Nash. 
 
 James Dalton (insert at p. 131) 
 Was the author of " A strange and true Relation of a 
 young Woman possessed with the Devil, by the name of
 
 587 
 
 Joice Dove), dwelling at Bewdley, near Worcester." — 
 Lond. 1647, 4to. 
 
 Thomas Hunt, (insert at p. 163) 
 A Native of this city, was the son of Henry Hunt : he 
 was born in l6ll, became a student of Pembroke 1628, 
 A.M. 1636; he afterwards went into the country, and 
 taught a private school in Salisbury, then to London, and 
 taught in the church of St. Duustan in the East ; at length 
 being preferred to the mastership of the free school of St. 
 Saviour's, Southwark, did much good among the youth 
 there, as he had done elsewhere. He died Jan. 23, and 
 was buried in the church of St. Saviour. He was the au- 
 thor of Libellus Orthographicus, 1661, and Abecedarium, 
 l6/l, and Abecedarium Scholasticum. — See Wood. 
 
 Sir Thomas Vrouhaet, or Urchard, (p. 164) 
 
 Was the author of a book bearing this strange title, 
 " 'ekzktbaatpon, or the Discovery of a most exquisite 
 Jewel, more precious than Diamonds enchased in Gold, 
 the like whereof was never seen in any age ; found in the 
 kennell of Worcester streets the clay after the Fight, and six 
 before the autumnal equinox, 1651." In this book is con- 
 tained a memorial of sundry illustrious persons of Scotland, 
 serving to vindicate the honour of the nation, &.c. &c. &c. 
 Sir Thomas was a physician, of the house of Cromarty, in 
 Scotland. — See more of him and his book in Sir John Haw- 
 kins's Life of Dr. Johnson, p. 290, 300. Sir Thomas was 
 the author of several other woiks. — See Granger's Biog. 
 Hist, of England, vol. 2, p. 33(). 
 
 Butter, (p. 180) Wood ascribes to Butler, (supposed 
 falsely, as he says, to be by Wm. Prynne,) the work en- 
 titled " Mola Asmaria, or the unreasonable Burdens pressed 
 upon the shoulders of the groaning Nation, &c." Lond. 
 1659, in one sheet, 4to. : the other two letters are from 
 John Audland, a quaker, to Wm. Prynne ; the other Prynne's
 
 588 
 
 answer, in 3 sheets, folio, 1672. — Vide Additions to Wood, 
 
 MDCCL. 
 
 Edmund Pitt, (p. 180) 
 
 An able Botanist, and an Alderman of Worcester,* was 
 the author of a paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 
 the year 1678, on the Sorbus Sativa Piriformis, in which 
 he asks whether a verjuice made of this fruit wotdd not make 
 one of the best acid astringent sauces. An Edmund Pitt 
 lies interred in St. Martin's Church of this city; he is re- 
 corded as an Alderman, dying Sept. 15, 1G88, aged 75. 
 
 In 1656 Edmund Pilt was Mayor of Worcester. 
 
 Thomas Hill, (p. 181) 
 A Native of this county, was born at Knighton ; he 
 was a scholar of Emanuel Coll. Cam. a Fellow, and a noted 
 tutor, minister of St. Andrew's, Camb. thrice rector of Rich- 
 mond, one of the morning weekly preachers in Westminster 
 Abbey ; he set up a lectureship in St. Michael's, All Saints', 
 Camb. and was the author of sermons on Easter Tuesday, 
 1644, arid six sermons, 164Q. < 
 
 John Fell, (p. -210) 
 Afterwards Bishop of Oxford, &c. the son of Dr. Sa- 
 muel Fell, a Prebendary of Worcester, by Margaret, daugh- 
 ter of Thos. Wilde, of this city, was born, says Mr. Chal- 
 mers, at Longworth,t in Berkshire, June 23, 1625 ; but 
 according to Lysons, who copied it from the register, " bap. 
 July 16, 1624." Bishop Fell only belongs to this work as 
 holding the mastership of St. Oswald's Hospital, near this 
 city, which he re-built, says Chalmers's Biographical Dic- 
 tionary, in a sumptuous manner, bestowing all the profits of 
 his income there, in augmenting and recovering its estates. — 
 
 * See Nash's History, vol. 1, p. 11. 
 
 t And by those biographers who only borrow faults from each other, with- 
 out consideration, at Suaning-'well.
 
 589 
 
 See Chambers's Worcester, p. 281. — He is the person al- 
 luded to in the life of his father, (see p. 116) and wrote the 
 life of the pious Hammond. 
 
 Robert Cooler, A.M. (p. 249) 
 A Native, probably, of this county, was the son of a 
 father of both of these names, of Kidderminster, and was, 
 continues Wood, a poor scholar or servitor of Pembroke 
 College; in Lent Term, 1666, took the degree of Arts, was 
 made Fellow of that house by the endeavours of Dr. Hall, 
 the master thereof, whose favourite he always was ; proved 
 a good scholar, preacher, and well skilled in mathematics : 
 at length, by the favour of John, Lord Ossulton, he became 
 rector of some living near Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrev. 
 He wrote " Proportions concerning Optic Glasses," and 
 "A General Introduction to Geography," of much merit. 
 
 William Stephens, (p. 254) 
 A Native, probably, of this city, and born 1649, was 
 the son of Richard Stephens ; he became a batler, says 
 Wood, or semi commoner, of St. Edmund Hall, June, 
 166.3, proceeded in Arts, and was some time preacher of 
 St. Lawrence Hinxey, Oxon, where, by his sedulous en- 
 deavours, he caused the tower to be re-edified by the pa- 
 rishioners ; he was also lecturer of Carfax, Oxon, bachelor 
 of divinity, and rector of Sutton, in Surrey ; he was the au- 
 thor of a sermon preached before the Lord Mayor of Lon- 
 don, which produced, in answer to it, "A true Protestant 
 Bridle," &c. &c— See Wood. 
 
 Ralph Battel, Preb. of Worcester, 16S0, 
 Was born April 11, 1649, and was rector of St. Peter's 
 Church, Canterbury, &c. He died of a nervous fever, 
 March 20, 1712, and was buried in the cemetry of All 
 Saints', Hereford. He published, in 1684 and 1691, " Ser- 
 mons," and " Vulgar Errors of Divinity removed," Lond. 
 1683. ■ — See more of him in Noble's Continuation of Granger.
 
 590 
 
 Jonathan Kimberley, (p. 2.58) 
 A Native, I presume, of this county, was the son of 
 Wm. Kimberley, of Bromsgrove, born in 1651, and en- 
 tered of Peinbioke, of winch lie was afterwards Fellow, 
 entering into holy orders about 1673 ; he became a famed 
 preacher in the University, was minister of Stedham, near 
 Oxford, and afterwards vicar of Trinity Church, Coventry, 
 and chaplain in ordinary to Charles II. He wrote " A 
 Sermon of Obedience for Conscience sake, preached at the 
 Assizes held at Warwick, 1683, Rom. 13, 5," Lond 1683. 
 
 Somers. (p. 260) The apartment where he studied, at 
 Severn Stoke, was probably on the spot now occupied as 
 the Black Farm \ there is, however, but little remains of 
 the old building, except the stable and cellar. 
 
 Michael Laroon, (p. 302) 
 
 A painter of celebrity in his day, died in this city in 1702. 
 — See Lord OrJ'ord's Painters. 
 
 George Walls, Preb. of Worcester, 1694, (p. 310) 
 And rector of Holt, in this county ; he founded some 
 
 alms-houses at Aka, or Rock, in this county, and died 
 
 Sept. 15, 1727. 
 
 Wm Gallaway, M.A. Preb. of Worcester, 1700,(p.317) 
 Was chaplain to the Train of Artillery ; he wrote "A Ser- 
 mon on Death," 1692; "Reflections on Mr. Johnson's 
 Notes on the Pastoral Letter," 1694; and a Thanksgiving 
 Sermon. 
 
 Anne, Countess of Coventry, (p. 322 add.) A polite 
 communication, dated Snitterfield, Nov. 6, 1819, says: — 
 " She left Snitterfield on the death of her Lord, and re- 
 mained absent (where is not known) from that place 16 
 years, and died at Snitterfield, Feb. 14, 1763, at the age
 
 S91 
 
 of 90 ; it is presumed she had remained a widow 53 years. 
 She was so well beloved, that she was termed the good 
 Ladv Aim. Her charity was unbounded: the poor of the 
 neighbouring villages (as well as those of her own) par- 
 took of it : she constantly attended divine service until 
 very near the period of her death, and was never absent from 
 the sacrament. There is now m a chest, in the chancel of 
 the church of Snittertield, a pulpit and desk cloth, and one 
 for the communion table, of her Ladyship's work, which 
 has been thought extremely handsome, and is now in tolera- 
 ble preservation Htr book is unknown here. The Rev. 
 Mr. Jago, {query, the poet) the then vicar, preached a 
 funeral sermon, which is in existence. She was taken to 
 Badminton, to be interred in the family vault, being a 
 daughter of the 3d Duke of Beaufort." Lady Ann Somer- 
 set, 4th dau. of the 1st Duke of Beaufort, was married on 
 May 4, 16Q1, to Thomas 1st Earl of Coventry, and died 
 Feb. 14, 1763. — Collins's Peerage. 
 
 Byrche. (p. 326) I suspect that Dr. Drake, in his Lives 
 of the Contributors to the Guardian, fyc. and who says that 
 the subject of this article was the author of " No. 36," of that 
 work, has mistaken him for some other person. William 
 Bj/rche, and not 'Ihomas Birch, is the subject of this article. 
 
 John Jones, (p. 336) 
 Schoolmaster, of Kidderminster, wrote " The New Art 
 of Spelling," Lond. 1704, 4to. 
 
 ' Charles Trimnall, (p 337) 
 Of a respectable Worcestershire family, was Bp. of Nor- 
 wich in 1707, from which he was translated to Winchester. 
 
 Rev. Charles Dodd, 
 A Catholic minister resident in this county, whose true 
 name was Hugh Tootel, (and of whom Mr. Chalmers, 
 the only protestant biographer who has noticed him at
 
 592 
 
 all, declares he knows but very little, derived from Mr. 
 Berrington's preface to the Memoirs of Panzani), was 
 born in 1072, in the neighbourhood of Preston. IJe was 
 confirmed by the Catholic Bishop Leyburn, September 
 13, 1687, at Euxton, or Exton Chapel, the property of the 
 Daltou, and now, it is believed, of the Anderton family. 
 Having studied the classics in England, probably under the 
 Rev. Christopher Tootel, presumed to have been his 
 uncle,* of Lady Well, or Fernyhalgb, he went to Douay 
 College, in UJ88, where he arrived July 23. lie had then 
 completed his sixteenth year, and immediately began philo- 
 sophy. In July following he publicly defended logic ; phy- 
 sics, March 8, 1690; and universal philosophy in July of 
 the same year, on the Kith of which month he took the 
 college oath ; and, on the 22d of September, received the 
 minor orders at Cambray, from James Theodore de Bayes. 
 He studied part of his divinity under Dr. Ha warden, af- 
 ter which he was admitted in the seminary of St. Gregory, at 
 Paris, where having gone through the usual course of phi- 
 losophy and divinity, he passed bachelor of divinity in that 
 faculty. During what was called the vacation, preparatory 
 to the licence, he returned to Douay, where he arrived De- 
 cember 18, 1697, and remained the greater part of 1()98, 
 about which time he came on the mission, and had the 
 charge of a congregation in Lancashire. In 1718, he was 
 again at Douay, collecting materials for his Church History 
 of England, in which he was very ably assisted by the Rev. 
 Edward Dicconson, then vice-president of the college, and 
 professor of divinity ; and by Dr. Ingleton, of the seminary, 
 at Paris. On his return to England, he was recommended 
 by Bishop Stonnor, in August 1 722, to Sir Robert Throck- 
 morton, Bart, as a proper person to assist Mr. Bennett, 
 alias Thompson, alias Temple, in the charge of the congre- 
 gation at Harvington, in this county ; and, on his death, in 
 Sept. 1726, he succeeded him. It was here that Mr. Dodd ar- 
 
 * See some account of this person in the " Catbolicon" for Oct. 1816.
 
 593 
 
 ranged his materials, and finished bis "Church History, from 
 1500 to 16SS," the first volume of which was published in 
 1737; the second, in 1739; and the third, in 1742. The 
 expense of publication was, in a great measure, defrayed 
 by Edw. Duke of Norfolk, Sir Robert Throckmorton, Bart. 
 Cuthbert Constable, of Burton Constable, Esq. Thos. Gif- 
 ford, of Chillmgton, Esq. Bishops Stonorand Hornyhold,&c. 
 The house is still shewn in Wolverhampton where he resided, 
 during the printing of it, for the purpose of correcting the 
 press. Mr. Chalmers, in his Biog. Diet, says, it was pub- 
 lished " with the place of Brussels, but evidently from the 
 type, Sec. printed in England;" this, however, it is pre- 
 sumed, from the severity of the penal laws against printing 
 by Catholics, could not be the case. " Having had repeat- 
 ed occasion," says Mr. C. " to consult this work, we are 
 ready to acknowledge our obligation for information derived 
 from this history, which cost the author the labour of thirty 
 years ; and we agree with Mr. Berrington, that it contains 
 much curious matter, collected with great assiduity, and 
 many original records. The author's style, when the sub- 
 ject admits expression, is pure and unincumbered, his nar- 
 ration easy, and his reflections just and liberal, at least as 
 much as can be expected for an undisguised zeal for a cer- 
 tain train of opinions, and certain views of history. His 
 materials, perhaps, are not well arranged, and he was him- 
 self, we are told, so dissatisfied, as, with his own hand, to 
 copy this voluminous work into two or three different forms, 
 This history remained for many years almost unknown ; and 
 we can remember when it was sold almost at the price of 
 waste paper. Its worth is now better ascertained, and the 
 last copy offered for sale, belonging to the Marquis of 
 Townshend's library, was sold for ten guineas.* " The vir- 
 tues and talents of Mr. Dodd," adds Mr. Chalmers, " were 
 eminent, and his labours in the range of literature wereinces- 
 
 * Berrington's Preface to the Memoirs of Panzani, where Dodd's share 
 
 4 c 
 
 in that work is acknowledged
 
 59 I 
 
 sunt and manifold." Mr. Butler, in his Historical Memoirs 
 of English Catholics, Vol. I. p. 331, informs his readers, 
 "that Mr. Kirk, (editor of "The Principles") Catholic 
 pastor at Lichfield, is now preparing a new edition, to be 
 greatly enlarged, and continued to the present times, of 
 Dodd's Church History, — a work more interesting to the Ca- 
 tholic body, or a person better qualified to doit justice could 
 not have been selected, and, it is hoped, that it will meet with 
 encouragement; the work is important, and a better editor 
 cannot be imagined." 
 
 Mr. Dodd died on the 27th February 1742, old style, 
 and was buried March 1, at Chaddesley Corbet, in this 
 county, in which parish Harvington is situate. Mr. Dodd was 
 a laborious missionary, and an indefatigable writer ; for, be- 
 sides his Church History alluded to, he wrote 2. The His- 
 tory of the English College at Douay, by R. C. Chaplain to 
 an English Regiment, 1713. This was answered by a Mo- 
 dest Defence of the Clergy and Religious. Mr. Dodd never 
 owned this, or the following work, yet there is no doubt he 
 was the author of both. 3. The Secret Policy, &c. in Let- 
 ters to a Provincial, called The Provincial Letters. 4. The 
 Free Man ; or, Loyal Papist, MSS. 5. A Treatise on 
 Providential Allegiance, MS. of the same tendency with the 
 former, but more connected and finished. In 1716, was 
 published, by P. R. Doctor utriusque Juris, a Roman Ca- 
 tholic System of Allegiance in favour of the present 
 Establishment, very similar in plan and reasoning to the 
 Treatise, &c. and perhaps by Dodd. 6. Certamen utrius- 
 que Ecclesia?, by Chas. Dodd, 1724, thin 4to. 7. Flores 
 Cleri Anglo Catholici, thin 4to. 8. Part of the First Ca- 
 tholic Remains, or a Catholic History of the Reformation 
 in England, MS. folio, p. 191 ; and 9. Part 2 of Catholic 
 Remains, or the Lives of English Roman Catholics, Cler- 
 gy, Regular and Laymen, from 800, MS. folio, pp. 748. 
 10. Introductory History, MS. folio, p. 157 ; it only comes 
 down to the year 600 ; this was the first form and 
 draft of his Church History. 11. An Historical and Cri-
 
 595 
 
 tical Dictionary, comprising the Lives of the most eminent 
 Roman Catholics, from 1500 to 16S8, with an Appendix 
 and Key to the whole, p. 1280, MS. 3 vols. 1. folio ; the 
 lives are much enlarged, and the records are written at 
 the bottom of the pages, but the whole is different from the 
 printed edition. 12. An Apology for the Church History of 
 England, being a Reply to a quarrelsome Libel entitled A 
 Specimen of Amendments, by Mr. Constable, under the 
 fictitious name of Clerophilus Alethes, Svo. 1742. 13. The 
 Sincere Christian's Guide in the choice of Religion, a post- 
 humous work of Mr. Goter, published by Dodd, who wrote 
 the preface. 14. A Confutation of the Latitudinarian Sys- 
 tem, by Mr. Goter ; Dodd prepared it for publication, and 
 wrote the preface and notes; MS. folio. 15. Christian In- 
 structions, general and particular, delivered in 80 Dis- 
 courses, methodised by way of Sermons, MSS. folio, p. 370. 
 16. The Creed, Lord's Prayer, Commandments, and Sa- 
 craments, explained, MS. in 4to. p. 238. 17. A Treatise 
 of Three short Catechisms ; 1st, for New Converts; 2d, 
 for Illiterate Persons, and 3d, forYoung Communicants, MS. 
 4to. p. 16. 18. An Abridgment of Christian Doctrine, with 
 an easy Explication of the Creed, Commandments, Sa- 
 craments, &.c. and of several things belonging to Divine 
 Service, MS. 4to. p. 30. The following are MSS. ex- 
 cepting Nos. 19, 51, 52: — 19. Pax Vobis, an Epistle to 
 the Three Churches, Lond. 1721, in imitation of Pax Vo- 
 bis, or Gospel and Liberty, of Robert Brown, a Scotch 
 Priest. 20. Compendium Historicum Ecclesias in Anglia, 
 ab. anno 1500, p. 336, in Eng. 4to. 21. History of the 
 Reformation down to Geo. I. in 21 books, 4to. p. 292. 
 
 22. An English Historical, Geographical, and Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Dictionary, down to the Reformation, fol. pp. 278. 
 
 23. Remarks on Dr. Middleton's Letter from Rome, fol. 
 pp. 22. 24. A long Dissertation on Protestant Ordination, 
 pp. 78, large fol. 25. Catholic Proofs and Protestant Ob- 
 jections, fol. 26. A Polemical Dictionary, pp. 176, 4to. 
 27. A Philosophical and Theological Dictionary, in 44 Nos.
 
 596 
 
 28. Barrier between Church and State, 4to. pp. SI. 29. 
 Lives of Penitents in the Deserts, and of other Saints, 4to. 
 30. Remarks on Hoadley's Preservative, 4to. 31. The 
 Principles and Practices of the Court of Rome, pleading 
 for the present Establishment of Government, 4to. 32. An 
 Historical Essay in favour of Providential Allegiance, 4to. 
 33. A Theological Essay in favour of ditto, 4to. 34. Ge- 
 neral Claim of Allegiance, 4to. 35. A Description of a 
 large Floating Island, by Capt. Wrangle, 4to. p. 31. 3d. 
 A complete Abridgment of Divinity, 4to. pp. 79- 37. An- 
 swer to Dr. Sherlock's Vindication of the Corporation and 
 Test Acts, 4to. pp. 22. 38. Answer to Law's First 
 and Second Letter to the Bishop of Bangor, 4to. pp. 48. 
 39- The Protestant Expostulator, 4to. pp.32. 40. The 
 Layman's Manual of Controversy, 4to. 41. A Disclaim of 
 Popish Orders on Nonjurors, 4to. 42. A Brief Chrono- 
 logy of Men's Lives and Actions, 4to. 43. The Dissenter's 
 Claim to Places of Trust justified, 4to. 44. Retractions of 
 Dr. Burnet, 4to. 45. Remarks on his Romance called 
 " History of his own Times," 4to. 46. Historical Account 
 of Visions, Prophecies, &c. 4to. 47- Life of Dr. Oliver 
 Buckridge, Vicar of Bray, 4to. 48 Controversial Letters, 
 8vo. 49. Sermons for all the Sundays in the year, 8vo. 
 50. Catechistical Instructions on the Creed, Decalogue, 
 &c. 51. Annals of the Reign of Henry VIII. &c. a very 
 thick 4to. 52. Ditto of the Heptarchy, Normans, &c. 
 53. Authors Unmasked, Rejected, and Vindicated. 54. 
 Consecrators of Parker not true Bishops, 8vo. 55. English 
 Biography. 56. Controversial Collections, thick 4to. 57- 
 Historical Catechisms of the State of Religion in England. 
 
 58. Origin arid Change of Governments in 1 ngland. 
 
 59. Dictionarium Etymologicum undecim Linguorum. 60. 
 Controversial Gleanings, in Verse, from various authors. 
 61. Atheist's Denying a Deity. 62. Annals of Henry VIII. 
 James, and Charles II. Svo. 63. The Humours. 64. 
 Remarks on Dr. Fiddes' Divinity. The above list of his 
 works, with other particulars, is copied from a Life of
 
 597 
 
 Dodd, in the Catholicon, which says, " I send some frag- 
 ments from the port folio of Rev. C. Dodd : each article is 
 written on a distinct piece of paper, and without any other 
 connexion than what is derived from the running title, " The 
 Freeman, or Royal Papist:" this is common to them all. 
 They were probably only some of the heads of a work 
 which he had in contemplation about the year 1719, when 
 proposals were made, and terms offered, to the English Ca- 
 tholics on the part of the Government of George I. by Se- 
 cretary Craggs, upon which " they might obtain some li- 
 berty, and security to their religion." In ascribing all these 
 works and lucubrations to Mr. Dodd, I have been guided, 
 Mr. Editor, partly by public opinion, and partly by the 
 MSS. being all in his own hand writing, which cannot ea- 
 sily be mistaken. Of these, some are in a finished, and 
 others in an unfinished state." 
 
 Edward Combe, M. A. (p. 344) 
 
 Rector of St. Martin's, Worcester, 1 690, was author of 
 Sermons on Prov. xiv. 34, 1708, 4to. ; Sermon on Luke 
 vii. 36, 50, 1720, 4to. ; Farewell Sermon, on Acts ii. 32, 
 1717, 8vo. 
 
 Wm. Brampton, or Bramston, D. D. Prebendary 
 of Worcester, 1713, (p. 347) 
 Was rector of St. Christopher, Bread-street, London : 
 he was the author of several sermons. 
 
 Thomas Good, A.M. (p. 348) 
 Rector of Astley, in this county ; author of a Sermon on 
 the Blessedness of Peace Makers, 1715. 
 
 Crnsius. (p. 362) A small oval portrait of this gentleman 
 hangs in the gallery of the Charter-house. From a whim- 
 sical thought, in allusion to the original destination of this 
 foundation, he is represented in the habit of a Carthusian 
 monk, and makrs a very respectable appearance. But there
 
 *9£ 
 
 is nothing in his countenance that should lead us to suppose 
 his back had been lacerated with an hair shirt or lashes 
 from leathern thongs, nor that his body had been supported 
 by fish and roots. The rosy English divine predominates 
 over the melancholy, mortified Carthusian. A wag has 
 written under the painting, 1765, 
 
 " His face and dress so aptly fit, 
 He surely was a Jesuit." 
 
 Dr. Crusius resigned his mastership in 1769, and died at 
 Chapel, at the age of 74. — Vide inscription on the pave- 
 ment of the Charter-house, where is also an inscription to 
 "Ann Crusius, 1782, aged Off'. — Malcolm's London. 
 
 Lovett. (p. 363, add) In Bent's Cat. 1811, is Lovett's 
 Thoughts on the Cause of Evil, 12mo. 
 
 Baskerville. (p. 383) Mr. Pye, in his History of Bir- 
 mingham, thus speaks : — " The other is an humble tomb- 
 stone, remarkable as being one of the last works cut by his 
 own hand, with his name on the top of it, of that celebrated 
 typographer Baskerville, but this being neglected by the re- 
 lations of the deceased, has been mutilated, although the in- 
 scription is still perfect, but so much overgrown with moss 
 and weeds, that it requires more discrimination than falls to 
 the lot of many passing travellers to discover the situation of 
 this neglected ge.:i. To those who are curious, it will be 
 found close to the wall, immediately under the chancel win- 
 dow. This precious relic of that eminent man is deserving 
 of being removed, at the expence of the parish, and pre- 
 served with the greatest care withinside the church. Mr. 
 Baskerville was originally a stone-cutter, and afterwards kept 
 a school at Birmingham. There is only one more of his 
 cutting known to be in existence, and that has lately been 
 removed and placed withinside the church at Edgbaston. 
 The stone being of a flaky nature, the inscription is not 
 quite perfect; but whoever takes delight in looking at well-
 
 599 
 
 formed letters, may here be highly gratified ; it was erected 
 to the memory of Edward Richards, an idiot, who died 21st 
 September, 1728, with the following inscription: — 
 
 " If innocents are the favourites of Heaven, 
 And God but little asks where little's given, 
 My great Creator has for me in store 
 Eternal joys ; what wise man can have more ?" 
 
 Dr. Johnson, (p. 427) In a short account of the ancient 
 and modern state of Lichfield, 1820, is an account of Dr. 
 Johnson and his father. Of the latter, it appears he attended 
 the principal markets with books. In the Gent's Mag. 
 March, 1820, p 2, 3, 4, is an extract from this work, with 
 his bill of fare to his customers, in which, after mentioning 
 French prints, maps, &c. he says, " To be Sold by Auction, 
 or he who bids most, at the Talbot, in Sidbury, Worcester," 
 &c. &c. In this Cat. dated 1717-18, isanotice, addressed 
 to the Ladies and Gentlemen of Worcester, in which he 
 tells them he has had several auctions at Gloucester, Tewkes- 
 bury, Evesham, &c. &c. 
 
 Orton. (p. 441) It was his advice, Never to use a hard 
 word in a sermon, when an easy one can be found which as 
 well expresses the meaning : this he often recommended to 
 his younger brethren, who, he said, were seldom sufficiently 
 aware what degree of plainness the lower classes of mankind 
 required. 
 
 Hurd. (p. 446, 1. 20) Having given Dr. Johnson's opi- 
 nion of this learned man, it may be proper to state what 
 Dr. Parr also has said of him : — " I have known him for 
 many years ; there is not a cranny in that man's skull but is 
 full of brains." 
 
 Hastings, (p. 501) In 1 820 the East India Company voted 
 a statue to his memory. — See testimonies of esteem for Mr. 
 H. from the inhabitants of Calcutta, &c. in Gent's Mag. 
 April 18, 1820.
 
 LIVING AUTHORS, &c. 
 
 OF WORCESTERSHIRE; 
 
 Including those who have resided, as well as those who are residing 
 
 in the County. 
 
 Agg John. According to the Calendar of Living Au- 
 thors, published by Colburn in 1 8 1 (5, was bred a bookseller 
 and publisher at Evesham ; he was the author of several 
 works of a local nature. — See work quoted above. 
 
 Baker James. — A brief Narrative of the PVench In- 
 vasion at Fisguard Bay, 1797 ; Picturesque Tours through 
 Wales and the Marches, 1 792 ; Select Landscapes, Views, 
 &c. .unfinished. 
 
 Bullfinch , was an attorney of this city. — Au- 
 tumnal Reflections. 
 
 Butt Rev. John Martin, A.M. late student of 
 Christ Church, Oxford, (see an account of his father at 
 p. 523) was born at Stanford Court, in this county, now 
 rector of Oddingley. — The Revelation of St. John compared 
 with itself and the rest of Scripture, 8vo. 1 804 ; A Com- 
 mentary on the Prophecy of Daniel relating to the 70 Weeks, 
 l8mo. 1807 ; A Commentary on the Last Vision of the 
 Prophet Daniel, being a Sequel to the preceding, l8mo. 
 1808 ; the Divinity of the Apocalypse demonstrated by its 
 Fulfilment, l2mo. 1809; Translation and Re-print of Pot- 
 ter's (No. 666) Theophilus. 
 
 Booker Dr. Luke, vicar of Dudley, in this county, and 
 rector of Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire, of which coun- 
 ty he is also a magistrate. — The Highlanders, a Poem, 4to. 
 1787 ; Poems on Subjects Sacred, Moral, and Entertaining,
 
 60 1 
 
 3 vols. 18mo. 1788; &c. &c— See Chambers's Malvern, 
 p. c 253. — Since which, Dr. B. has published Malvern Guide, 
 various Sermons, Addresses, Discourses, &c. — See Calen- 
 dar of Living Authors for a short account of Dr. B. 
 
 Best Thomas, minister of the chapel at Cradley, near 
 Stourbridge. — A True State of the Case, or a Vindication 
 of the Dissenters from the Misrepresentations of the Rev. 
 R. Foley, M.A. in his Defence of the Church of England, 
 8vo. 1795. 
 
 Broad John, Chaddesley Corbett. — The Worcester- 
 shire Farmer. 
 
 Bate Henry. The reader will find a long life of this 
 gentleman in the Public Characters; wth a list of his works, 
 containing several dramatic. — See also Cal. of Authors. 
 
 Barnes M. J. — The Lawyer Forsaken, or Devil's 
 Farewell, 1791. 
 
 Boughton Sir Charles Wm. Boughton Rouse, 
 of Rouse Lench. — See Cal. of Authors. — Substance of an 
 Address to a Parochial Meeting held at Chiswick, to consi- 
 der of the Propriety of a Voluntary Contribution for the 
 Defence of the Country, 8vo. 1793. 
 
 Card Rev. Henry. — See Cal. of Authors and Cham- 
 bers's Malvern, 255. 
 
 Cameron Rev. Charles Richard, M.A. son of the 
 late Dr. Cameron, perpetual curate of Donnmgton-wood 
 Chapel, Salop. — Sermons, on the Death of Nelson, on the 
 Connection between the Work of Man's Redemption and 
 the Divine Agency, preached at the University of Oxford, 
 1808; and some publications without his name. 
 
 Cooper Rev. E. Droitvvich. — Elegiac Poetry, in blank 
 verse; The Elbow Chair, a Rhapsody, 1759; Bewdley, a 
 Poem ; and Lines on Malvern Spa. 
 
 Cawood Rev. John, M. A. perpetual curate of Bewd- 
 ley. — Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Rev. John Greig, 
 1819. 
 
 Carpenter Benjamin, minister of the Dissenting 
 Chapel, Stourbridge. — Letter to the Rev. R. Foley, rector 
 
 4 a
 
 002 
 
 of Old S win ford, in answer i<> the Charges brought against 
 tie Dissenters of Stourbridge, 8vo. 1792; a Liturgy, con- 
 taining Forni9 of Devotion for each Sunday in the Month, 
 l2mo. 1794; Sermons ; The Cap Fit f ,ed, (see anonymous 
 authors.) 
 
 Carpenter J. farmer, of Chadwick Manor, in this 
 county. — A Treatise on Practical and Experimental Agri- 
 culture. 
 
 Dibdin Rev. Wm.— The Law of the Poor Rates, by 
 J. F. D. of Lincoln's Inn ; Analysis of the Rights of Per- 
 sons. Worcester, printed for the Author, Jan. 1800. 
 
 Digby Rev. Wm. M.A. Prebendary of Worcester. — 
 A Sermon preached at the Cathedral Church at the Triennial 
 Meeting of the Three Choirs, 1818. 
 
 Davis T. land surveyor, Eastham. — Eastham Hill, Wor- 
 cestershire, a Loco-Descriptive Poem, with Explanatory 
 Notes, to which is added, an Appendix, containing Ob- 
 servations on the Deluge, and Solar Heat. Printed at Mon- 
 mouth, 1706. 
 
 DarwallMrs. (late Miss W'hately). — Poems, 1760. 
 
 Edmondson Rev. John, pastor of the Wesleyan Me- 
 thodists, Worcester, was born at Keighley, in the West 
 Riding of Yorkshire, March 27, 1767, and was invited to 
 be an itinerant preacher, at the age of 19, by the late Mr. 
 Wesley ; he was afterwards stationed at Epworth, &c. and 
 about 1815 was made Secretary to the Foreign Missions of 
 the Society. — A Concise System of Self Government on the 
 Great Affairs of Life and Godliness, 181 6, 8vo. 
 
 Ewing Harriet, of Powick. — Dunrie, a Poem, 8vo. 
 
 Faulkner Rev. W.. A.M. rector of St. Andrew, and 
 master of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. — Strictures 
 on the Church Service, Svo. ; a Grammar ; Sermon ; ditto on 
 the Death of George III. 
 
 Foley Rev. Robert, of Oriel College, Oxford, and 
 Rector of Old Swinford. — A Defence of the Church of Eng- 
 land, in a series of ten Sermons, preached at Old Swinford, 
 ] 795 ; A Letter to Dr. Priestley, in answer to the Appen-
 
 603 
 
 dix, No. 9, p. 197, of his publication entitled "An Appeal 
 to the Public," &c. 1793. 
 
 Gresley Sir Roger. — A Letter addressed to the Gen- 
 tlemen Commoners of Worcestershire on the Danger of In- 
 novation to a Government, &c.5vc. 1817; Monody on the 
 Death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, 1817. 
 
 Harris Henrietta, the wife of an apothecary of Wor- 
 cester, who removed to Gloucester. — Poems, 1 805. 
 
 Hebb Christopher, surgeon. — A Translation of Cor- 
 visart on the Heart, 8vo. &c.— -See Chambers's Worcester, 
 p. 368. 
 
 Hastings Charles, M.D. — A Treatise on Inflam- 
 mation of the Mucous Membrane of the Lungs, 1820, 8vo, 
 
 Hudson Richard, Esq. — Observations on the Origin 
 and Effects of the Test Acts, with some Hints for the Con- 
 sideration of the Clergy, 1790. 
 
 Hobson John, dissenting minister, Kingswood, Wor- 
 cestershire. — Discourse on Prayer, 8vo. 1787; Remarks on 
 Geo. Croft's Sermon; The Test Laws Defended, 8vo 1790. 
 
 Jesse Wm. — Parochalia, a Discourse preached at Bewd- 
 ley Chapel. 
 
 James Rev. John Thos. son of the late Dr. James. 
 — See p. 345 of this work, note. 
 
 Knapp Miss, a daughter of the late Rev. Primatt 
 Knapp, of Powick, at present a teacher of a native family 
 in Russia. — Anecdotes of Heraldry and Chivalry, 4to. 
 
 Lewis S. Lowesmore. — New General and Commercial 
 Directory for the City and County of Worcester, 1820. 
 
 Malden Jonas, M.D. physician to the Worcester In- 
 firmary and the Tewkesbury Dispensary. — Remarks on the 
 Cow Pox, designed for general reading, in which the uni- 
 versal adoption of Mr. Bryce's Test is strongly recom- 
 mended, 1820. 
 
 Mence Rev. Samuel, son of the late deputy clerk of 
 the peace for this county, now of Highgate. — Sermons. 
 
 Moseley Walter Michael, Esq. of Wvnteidine. 
 Essay on Archery, 8vo. 1792.
 
 004 
 
 North, Bishop of Worcester, 1774, ami in 1781, trans- 
 lated to Winchester; he was born in 1741, and is the young- 
 est son of the first Earl of Guilford. 
 
 Oldxall Wm. Russell, barrister-at-law, son of the 
 late rector of St. Nicholas, in this city. — On Crimes and 
 Misdemeanors, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Parkes Samuel, F.L.S. a native of Stourbridge, in 
 this county. — The Chemical Catechism, 1806, &c.8tc. &c. 
 — Vide Calendar of Authors. 
 
 Plumptre Rev. Joiix, M. A. Prebendary of Wor- 
 cester, 1787. — Ecloga Sacra Alexandrii Pope, vulgo Mes- 
 sia dicta Greece reddita ; Accedit etiam Graece inscriptio 
 sepulchralis ex celeberrima Elegiaj Thomas Gray, 4to. 1796; 
 the Elegies of R. Pedro Albenovanus, with an English Ver- 
 sion, 12mo. 1807; this was anonymous; he also edited 
 Divine and Moral Precepts for the Conduct of a Christian 
 towards God and Man, by John Hamond, father of Dr. 
 Henry Hamond, published from the original MS. 12mo. 
 1810. 
 Page Rev. J. of Upton-upon-Severn. — Sermon. 
 
 Philip Dr. Wilson, M.D. — The following isa correct 
 account of his works : — 1. An Experimental Inquiry into the 
 remote Cause of Gravel, Edinburgh, 1 792 ; 2. An Expe- 
 rimental Inquiry into the Modus Operandi of Opium and 
 Tobacco on the Living Animal Body, Edinburgh, 1795; 
 3. A Treatise on Febrile Diseases, including the various Spe- 
 cies of Fever, and all Diseases attended with Fever, in 4 
 vols. London, 1803 ; 4. An Analysis of the Malvern Wa- 
 ters, with Observations on their Medicinal Effects, London, 
 1S05 ; 5. An Essay on the Nature of Fever, being an At- 
 tempt to ascertain the Principles of its Treatment, London, 
 1S07 ; 6. An Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of the 
 Vital Functions, with some Observations on the Nature and 
 Treatment of Internal Diseases, in part re-published from 
 the Philosophical Transactions, with the Report of the In- 
 stitute of France on the Experiments of M. le Gallois, and 
 Observations on that Report, London, 1817; 7. Two Pa-
 
 605 
 
 pers in the Philosophical Transactions for 1815, on the 
 Principles on which the Action of the Heart and Blood Ves- 
 sets depend, and the relation which they bear to the Nervous 
 System ; 8. A Paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 
 1817, on the Effects of Galvanism in restoring due Action 
 to the Lungs ; 9. A Paper in the 7th volume of the Medico- 
 Chirurgical Transactions on Dyspeptic Phthisis ; 10. A Pa- 
 per, on the Laws of Excitement, in the Annals of Philo- 
 sophy, vol. 12. ; 1 1. A Paper, on the Agency of Galvanism, 
 in the Journal of Science and the Arts, vol. 8 ; various other 
 Papers in the three last works, and in the Edinburgh Medi- 
 cal Journal, the Medico-Chirurgical Journal, Medical Re- 
 pository, and other periodical works. 
 
 Porter W.J. A.M. head master of the College School, 
 Worcester, and chaplain to Lord Viscount Fitzwilliam. — 
 Two Anthems, a Sanctus, and two Single and Double 
 Chaunts, 1793; A Selection of Psalm Tunes for the Use of 
 Parish Churches, 2d ed. 1812; A Selection from the New 
 Version of the Psalms of David,* including the 100th Psalm 
 and part of the 104th, from the Old Version, for the Use of 
 Parish Churches, 2d ed. 1812; he also published, Cathe- 
 dral Music, in score, composed by Mr. Samuel Porter, (his 
 father) a scholar of Dr. Maurice Green, and 47 years or- 
 ganist of Canterbury Cathedral, who died in 1810, aged 77 
 years (see Gent.'s Mag.); also several detached pieces, by 
 himself. 
 
 Price Rev. H. — Funeral Sermon preached at Bewdley. 
 
 Pattington J. — Sermons. 
 
 Richards John, Esq. — Consequences of returning to 
 the Old Standard of the Paper Currency, by Philopatris 
 Vigorniensis. 
 
 Rudd Rev. E.. M.— Reflections on Malvern, 1814, 
 (corrected.) 
 
 Ruff Humphrey — Published Cheltenham Guide, 
 1804. 
 
 * Tbey are arranged so as to correspond, in general, with some part of the 
 service appointed for the day.
 
 006 
 
 Russell Wm. curate of Pershore. — A Few Hints for 
 the Consideration of Methodists and otlicr Dissenters, in 
 Answer to the Remarks of Mr. Jos. Benson, of Manches- 
 ter, in the celebrated Sermon by Dr. Tatham, 1793; A 
 Calm Reply, &c. 1794. 
 
 Sandford William, surgeon. — On the Medicinal 
 Effects of Wine and Spirits, 12mo. — See Chambers's Wor- 
 cester, p. 367. 
 
 Steers H. — Elegy on the late Francis, Duke of Bed- 
 ford, 4to. 1802; iEsop's Fables New Versified, from the 
 best ed. in 3 parts, 1803 ; Leisure Hours, or Morning 
 Amusements, Poems, f. c. 8vo. 1811. 
 
 Sanders Wm. clerk of St. Oswald's Chapel, born 1730. 
 — True Philosophy in the Word of Cod, the Certainty of 
 which is explained in a Deduction from the Four Days' 
 Wonder at the Creation, with other Remarks. 
 
 Savigny John Horatio. — Description of a Portable 
 Apparatus for the Recovery of Persons apparently Drowned, 
 8vo. 1 790 ; Engravings, representing the most approved 
 Modern Instruments used in the Practice of Surgery. 
 
 Sherwood Mrs. — Numerous Publications for Juvenile 
 Readers. 
 
 Valentia Lord, educated at Upton-upon-Severn and 
 at Stanford. — Voyages and Travels, in India, the Red Sea, 
 and Abysinia, 3 vols. 4to. 1809, 2d ed. 6 vols. 8vo. and 
 1 vol. 4to. of plates, 1811. — See Calendar of Authors. 
 
 Worthington Richard, M.D. of Worcester, and a 
 dissenting minister. — Letters to the Jews, 8vo. 1787; Dis- 
 quisitions on several Subjects, 12mo. 1787; Thoughts on 
 the Manifesto of the French to all States, 8vo. 1792; Trea- 
 tise on the Dorsal Spasm, 8vo. 1792; Sermons, to which is 
 affixed, a Short Discourse on the Divinity of Christ, 8vo. 
 1793; Address to a Disingenuous Writer in the Monthly 
 Review, 8vo. 1794; Remarks on the threatened Invasion, 
 and a Proposal for the Relief of the Sick Poor, 8vo. 1804; 
 Address to the Practical Farmers of Great Britain, recom- 
 mending a Change of System in the Mode of Cultivating
 
 (J07 
 
 Tillage Land, 8vo. 1810; Sequel to the Address, 8vo. 
 1812; Invitation to the Inhabitants of Great Britain to 
 manufacture Wines from the Fruits of their own Country, 
 8vo. 1812. 
 
 Wall Martin, M.D. a Native of Worcester, bred at 
 New College, Oxford, proceeded M.A. July 2, 1771, 
 M.D.April 9, 1777, elected Clinical Professor 1787- — 
 Medical Tracts of Dr. John Wall, 8vo. 1780; Disserta- 
 tions on Select Subjects in Chemistry and Medicine, 8vo. 
 1783 ; Clinical Observations on the Use of Opium in Slow 
 Fevers, 8vo. 1786; Malvern Water, being a Re-publi- 
 tion of Cases formerly collected by John Wall, MD. and 
 since illustrated with notes by his son, 8vo. 1806; he had 
 also some curious Papers in the Transactions of the Man- 
 chester Literary Society. 
 
 Warter Thos. M.A. rector of Cleobury North, and 
 of Astell Botterall, Salop. — Charity Sermon preached at 
 Bewdley, May, 1787. 
 
 Whyte Wm. Peter, F.S.A. of Worcester. — Obser- 
 vations on the Nature, Causes, Prevention, and Cure of 
 Gout and Rheumatism, 8vo. 1S00, and several Articles in 
 Young's Annals of Agriculture, and the Commercial and 
 Agricultural Magazines. 
 
 Williams John. — On the Climate of Great Britain; 
 and several articles in the Trans. Horticultur. Soc. 
 
 Further Additions to Deceased Characters. 
 
 Harris Robert, President of Trim Coll. Oxford, born 
 1578 in Gloucestershire, resided for some time in this city; 
 he wrote Sermons and Pious Treatises. — See Chalmers's 
 Biog. Diet. 
 
 Nabbs Thomas, Poet, died 1645 ; secretary to some 
 person in this county. 
 
 Hand I. author of Poems, humorous and sentimental ; 
 he was a compositor in the Office of the Worcester Journal, 
 and died about 1792.
 
 <>08 
 ANONYMOUS. 
 
 The Cap Fitted, or the Sequel of a Vision called " The 
 Triumph of Fashion," by a Clergyman — Stourbridge, 1811. 
 
 A Pastoral Elegy to the Memory of E. Thresher; and 
 Palemon and Lysidas, by the Author of The Squib ; and 
 Elegies on two Young Men who lately died (1784) in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 An Epistle to the Absent Client, with the Author's Ad- 
 dress to Fair British Ladies, 1791. 
 
 A Plain or Easy Introduction to the Principles of Natu- 
 ral and Revealed Religion, with a comprehensive View of 
 the Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian Dispen- 
 sation, intended for young Students in particular, and exhi- 
 biting much of the Substance of Dr. Jenkins's learned 
 Work on the same Subject, by a Clergyman of the Church 
 of England, 2 vols. 6s. 
 
 An Account of the Worcester Institution for the Relief 
 of the Poor, &c, by a Member of the Committee, 1817. 
 
 British Loyalty, 1789. The Lunaticiad, 1787. Poe- 
 tical Address on his Majesty's Visiting Worcester, 1788. 
 Dialogues of the Dead, relative to the Abolition of the Slave 
 Trade. 
 
 G . Character of the Hon. C. J. Fox, a Poem, 
 
 4to. : The Patriot's Vision, 1810; a Monody on the Death 
 of Fox. 
 
 W. P. R. " Piscator." — Severn Salmon, or Spirited Let- 
 ters concerning the Rights of Fisheries, 1811.
 
 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF NAMES. 
 
 Those with the letter n affixed, are Native 
 
 s of this County. 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 Bentley 314 
 
 Cameron, Th. 
 
 364 
 
 Abbott 
 
 88 
 
 Bernard!— re. 302 
 
 Cameron, Chas. 
 
 367 
 
 Abingdon, see } 
 
 Berkeley, Row. 85 
 
 Cantelupe 
 
 16 
 
 Habingdon 
 
 \ 
 
 Berkeley, Sir > 108 
 Rob.— re. \ 586 
 
 Canynge 
 
 36 
 
 Adulf 
 
 7 
 
 Cardale 
 
 448 
 
 JEthelhun 
 
 4 
 
 Berkeley, R. 501 
 
 Carpenter 
 
 30 
 
 Alcock, J. 
 
 SI 
 
 Bilson ' 80 
 
 Chandler 
 
 316 
 
 Alcock, T. 
 
 36 
 
 Blandford 184 
 
 Charlet 
 
 98 
 
 Aldewine — re. 
 
 11 
 
 Blackburn, Artist 503 
 
 Chyrton De 
 
 21 
 
 Aldington 
 
 503 
 
 BIois,de 16 
 
 Claridge 
 
 254 
 
 Aldred 
 
 8 
 
 Blount— -re. 195 
 
 Clarke, C. 
 
 468 
 
 Alhune 
 
 3 
 
 Blower, Miss — re. 575 
 
 Clarke, J. 
 
 468 
 
 Allen 
 
 99 
 
 Bonnor — re. 50-584 
 
 Clements, Capt. 
 
 561 
 
 Andrews 
 
 506 
 
 Boraston — re. 347 
 
 Clifford 
 
 27 
 
 Ashe 
 
 457 
 
 Bosel 1 
 
 Cobham 
 
 21 
 
 Alured 
 
 13 
 
 Bourgchier 29 
 
 Collet 
 
 576 
 
 Ashmole 
 
 193 
 
 Bourne — re. 64 
 
 Collier — re. 
 
 207 
 
 B 
 
 
 Bowles, W.— re. 248 
 
 Compton,orTheale63 
 
 Babington 
 
 83 
 
 Bowles, H. 249 
 
 Conant 
 
 154 
 
 Badland 
 
 225 
 
 Bradshaw 99 
 
 Constantiis 
 
 15 
 
 Bagnali 
 
 183 
 
 Brampton 597 
 
 Cooke, S. 
 
 254 
 
 Baker 
 
 431 
 
 Braunsford,W. 22-23 
 
 Cookes — n. 
 
 226 
 
 Bakewell — re. 
 
 369 
 
 Bray, Reg.--w. 38-584 
 
 Cooksey, H. — n. 
 
 541 
 
 Baldwin 
 
 13 
 
 Brian, Reg. 24 
 
 Cooksey,Rd. — n 
 
 .582 
 
 Ballard 
 
 59 
 
 Bright— re. 97 
 
 Coombe 
 
 597 
 
 Barksdale, C. 
 
 164 
 
 Brightegus 7 
 
 Cooper, J. 
 
 215 
 
 Barlow, J. 
 
 47 
 
 Bristow — re. 80 
 
 Cooper, R. — re. 
 
 589 
 
 Barlow, T. 
 
 207 
 
 Bromley, Sir T. 77 
 
 Coventry, T. — re. 
 
 104 
 
 Barnet 
 
 24 
 
 Brooke 338 
 
 Coventry, Sir W 
 
 . 211 
 
 Baron — re. 
 
 302 
 
 Brooker 364 
 
 Coventry, i> 
 Couutess£ 
 
 322 
 
 Barrett 
 
 575 
 
 Broughton 358 
 
 590 
 
 Baskerville J. 
 
 ) 369 
 S 508 
 
 Brown, T. 28 
 
 Coverley, de 
 
 253 
 
 — re. 
 
 Brown, R. 237 
 
 Cox 
 
 70 
 
 Battel 
 
 589 
 
 Bullingham,N.—re. 68 
 
 Croft 
 
 134 
 
 Baxter, R. 
 
 181 
 
 Bullingham, J. 79 
 
 Crowther 
 
 159 
 
 Baxter, B. 
 
 182 
 
 Burford, de — re. 25 
 
 Crusius 362-597 
 
 Bayly, L. 
 
 96 
 
 Burnet, Mrs. 311 
 
 D 
 
 
 Baylies, M. D. 
 
 448 
 
 Bushell— re. 120 
 
 D'Abitot 
 
 9 
 
 Beale 
 
 134 
 
 Butler,S.—n. 164-587 
 
 Dalton 
 
 393 
 
 Beard 
 
 348 
 
 Butt, D. D. 515 
 
 Dal ton, J. 
 
 586 
 
 Beauchamp — a 
 
 1. 27 
 
 Byrche 326-591 
 
 Daniel 
 
 71 
 
 Bell— re. 
 
 47 
 
 C 
 
 Dawes 
 
 308 
 
 Benson 
 
 116 
 
 Calfhill 68 1 
 
 Deacle— re. 
 
 243
 
 INDIA". 
 
 Dee 
 
 De Laune 
 
 Denebert 
 
 Derham — n. 
 
 Digby 
 
 Dodd, Rev. 
 
 Doharty 
 
 Doolittle — n. 
 
 65 
 339 
 3 
 305 
 502 
 591 
 343 
 222 
 
 Doughtie — n. 126 
 
 Du Bois. Lady 515 
 
 Dugard, W.— n. 151 
 
 Dugard, R.— n. 153 
 
 Dunstan 4 
 
 DuDster — n. 551 
 
 E 
 
 Eadbert 3 
 
 Earle 133 
 
 Eathored 3 
 
 Eden 383 
 
 Ednod 583 
 
 Eedes 81 
 
 Egwine 2 
 
 Ellis 70 
 
 Ellis, Col.— n. 577 
 
 Elstob 346 
 
 Estcourt 336 
 
 Evans 515 
 
 Evanson 478 
 
 Evelyn 206 
 
 Evesham, E. 19 
 Evesham, Hugh 
 
 — n. 
 Evesham, S. de 
 
 F 
 
 Faccio 325 
 
 Falkner 429 
 
 Farley — n. 131 
 
 Feckingham — n. 73 
 
 Fell H6 
 
 Fell, Bp. 588 
 
 Fitzralph 14 
 
 Flavel, J.— re. 214 
 
 Fletcher 79 
 
 Fleetwood 138 
 
 Florence — re. 12 
 
 Foley— re. 187 
 
 Foley 471 
 
 Foote, Sam. 458 
 
 Ford 201 
 
 Fountain 502 
 
 Fownes — re. 93 
 
 Freake 77 
 
 G 
 
 Gainsborough 18 
 
 19 
 
 Gallaway 590 
 
 Garbet 440 
 
 Gardiner 44 
 
 Gulden 147 
 
 Gentleman 536 
 
 Germano 18 
 
 Ghinucciis 44 
 
 Giffard 17 
 
 Giles— re. 107 
 
 Glanville 235 
 
 Good 597 
 
 Goodhall 384 
 
 Goodinge 536 
 
 Goldsborough 82 
 
 Green 507 
 
 Greisley 208 
 
 Grey, de 15 
 
 Gwynne, Archt. 504 
 
 Gygels, J. 37 
 
 Gygels, S. 37 
 
 H 
 
 Habingdon.T. 90 
 
 Habingdon,W.> 14 
 
 — n. J 
 
 Hales, de 17 
 
 Hall, J. 114 
 
 Hall, T.— re. 159 
 
 Hall, J. 228 
 
 Hamond 150 
 
 Hancock, Artist 485 
 
 Hand 607 
 
 Hanmer 101 
 
 Hanyball 49 
 
 Hare 324 
 
 Harley, J. 70 
 
 Harley, R. 316 
 
 Harris, R. 607 
 
 Hastings, War.) 486 
 
 — re. S 599 
 
 Hawford 59 
 
 Hawkins 513 
 
 Haynes 162 
 
 Heath 58 
 
 Helme 101 
 
 Hemingus 14 
 
 Hemenhale 23 
 
 Herbert, SirH. 310 
 
 Hickman — re. 139 
 
 Hicks, F.— re. 98 
 
 Hicks, T.— re. 129 
 
 Hicks, G. 246 
 
 Hill, Thos.— re. 588 
 
 Hodges— re. 132 
 
 Hodges, M. 325 
 
 Holbech 46 
 
 Holdsworth 133 
 
 Holland, S. 69 
 
 Hoper 62 
 
 Hooper — n. 240 
 
 Hopkins, G. — re. 205 
 
 Hopkins.W. — n. 249 
 
 Hornyhold, Bp. 427 
 
 Hough 255 
 
 Hughes 469 
 
 Hunt, T.— n. 587 
 
 Hurlstone, or ) on 
 
 HuddlestoneS ^ U0 
 Hurd 442-599 
 
 1 
 
 Inge 44 
 
 Ingmethorpe 63 
 
 Isaac 503 
 
 Jackman 79 
 
 James, D. D. 541 
 
 Jeffries 457 
 
 Jenner 348 
 John of Malverne 19 
 
 Johns 247 
 
 Johnson, R. 63 
 
 Johnson, Bp. 368 
 
 Johnson, Dr. > 427 
 
 S. \ 599 
 Johnson.T. Archt 469 
 Johnstone, J 
 
 M. D. 
 
 Johnstone, ) _„ 
 
 jun.M.D.--«.$ 5 
 
 Joliffe 68 
 
 Jones 591 
 Jukes, Artist — n. 540 
 
 Juxon 108 
 
 K 
 
 Keck, Architect 485 
 
 Kelly— n. 87 
 
 Kimberley — n. 590 
 
 Kinewold 4 
 Kyderrainster 
 
 — n. 
 
 L 
 
 Lake 96 
 
 Lamplugh 214 
 
 Lane, Mrs. 200 
 
 Langford 532 
 
 Laroon, Artist 590 
 
 Latimer 45 
 
 Lavington 347 
 
 Laughton 302 
 
 Lavamon — n. 20 
 
 473 
 
 46
 
 INDliX. 
 
 Lech mere 
 
 Leclimere, E. 
 
 Leoffius 
 
 Lewis 
 
 Lister 
 
 Littleton 
 
 339 
 
 -n561 
 
 7 
 
 79 
 
 236 
 
 33 
 
 327 
 
 394 
 432 
 
 Littleton, Jas. 131 
 Littleton, Ad. — n.210 
 
 Livingus 7 
 
 Lloyd, Bp. 216 
 
 Lloyd 221 
 
 Longworth 76 
 Lovett 363-598 
 
 Lowe — n. 29 
 
 Lowe 301 
 
 Lucas, T). D. 540 
 
 Lychfield 45 
 
 Lynn 24 
 Lyttelton, G. 
 
 — n. 
 Lyttelton, Bp 
 
 — n. 
 
 Lyttelton, Thos. 527 
 
 M 
 Mackenzie, M.D. 349 
 
 Madox, Bp. 356 
 
 Malvern, John of 19 
 
 Manwaring 194 
 
 Martial — n. 77 
 
 Martin 362 
 
 Matthew of } 19 
 
 Worcester ) 583 
 
 Mauger 15 
 
 Maund 563 
 
 Maydenston 20 
 
 Meadowcourt 359 
 
 Medicis, de 44 
 
 Meeke 327 
 
 Mildred 2 
 
 Miserimus, or> „ 
 
 Morris \ 6W 
 
 Montague 89-586 
 
 Monteacuto 22 
 
 More 45 
 
 Morley, Bp. 126 
 
 Moore 193 
 
 Morgan 28 
 
 Morton 36 
 
 Morton 223 
 
 Moss 541 
 
 N 
 
 Nabbs 607 
 
 Napleton 506 
 
 Nash, J. — n. 117-460 
 
 Nash, D.D.— n. 459 
 Neale,orSmith> 
 — n. $ 
 
 Neve - 459 
 
 Nicholas 17 
 
 Norfolk 72 
 
 Norhale 13 
 
 O 
 
 Oasland— n. 160 
 
 Odington 14 
 
 Oftfor 1 
 
 Oley 235 
 
 Oliver 181 
 
 Ombreslye de 21 
 
 Onslow 533 
 
 Orlton 22 
 Orton 441-599 
 
 Osbom, Rev. 573 
 
 Oswald 5 
 
 Owen — n. 59 
 
 P 
 
 Padmore 440 
 12 
 26 
 
 Pageharn 
 Pakington — n. 
 
 Pakington, Lady 202 
 
 Pakington ) 203 
 
 family ) (note) 
 
 Palmer — n. 193 
 
 Pardoe 237 
 Parry or ap Harry 84 
 
 Pates 62 
 
 Pedor 69 
 
 Pendrells, The 198 
 
 Peverell 28 
 
 Philips 436 
 
 Pitt, T. 563 
 
 Pitt, E. 588 
 
 Pollard 66 
 
 Polton 28 
 
 Ponty (Artist) 346 
 
 Porter, Endy. 125 
 
 Porter, W. 562 
 
 Potter C. 117 
 
 Potter F. 125 
 
 Price 575 
 
 Prideaux 101 
 
 R 
 
 Randolph 471 
 
 Randulph 15 
 Reginald, or 
 
 Reynolds 
 
 Richard 37 
 
 Roger 13 
 
 Rowland — n. 162 
 
 20 
 
 Russell, Sir W. 118 
 
 Russell 448 
 
 S 
 
 Salway— n. 139 
 
 Sampson 1 1 
 
 Sandby 311 
 
 Sanders — n. 452 
 
 Sandys, E. ? 66 
 
 Abp. S 585 
 
 Sandys, Sir E- n. 94 
 
 Sandys, W. 127 
 
 Sandys, M.—n. 131 
 
 Sandys, E. Preb. 362 
 
 Savage — n. 140 
 
 Senatus 14 
 
 Sheldon— n. 208 
 
 Shenstone 436 
 
 Sheridan, Chs. 524 
 
 Shewring 252 
 
 Silvester 16 
 
 Simon 12 
 
 Skipp (note) 464 
 
 Skinner 155 
 
 Smalridge 349 
 
 Smith, R.— n. 60 
 
 Smith, M. 84 
 
 Smith, S.—n. 115 
 Smith, or ) 
 
 Neale— n. ) 
 
 Smith (note) 475 
 
 Smith, W.—n. 431 
 
 Soilli 14 
 
 Somers, Lord ) 258 
 
 — n. S 39 ° 
 
 Statnpe — n. 156 
 
 Standish 66 
 
 Stewart 586 
 
 Stephens— n. 589 
 
 Stanford 58 
 
 Steynor 238 
 
 St. John 485 
 
 Stillingfleet, Bp. 229 
 
 Stillingfleet, J. 339 
 Stillingfleet, Ed. 361 
 
 Stillingaeet, J. 471 
 
 Stinton — n. 108 
 
 Street, Sir T. 216 
 
 Swaddon 96 
 
 Swadlin — n. 129 
 
 Swift, D. 428 
 
 Swift, T. 538 
 
 Sydney, Sir H. 72 
 
 T 
 Talbot (see Kelly 
 
 327
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Talbot, T. 
 
 71 
 
 Talbot, W. 
 
 309 
 
 Talbot, E. 
 
 427 
 
 Tanner 
 
 364 
 
 Tatfrith 
 
 1 
 
 Taylor, S. 
 
 1G1 
 
 Taylor, I. Artist 479 
 
 TheleorTreale 63 
 
 Theulf 12 
 
 Thomas of > 19 
 
 Worcester > 583 
 
 Thomas, W. Bp. 180 
 
 Thomas, Wm. 336 
 
 Thomson 383 
 
 Thomborough 89 
 
 Thornton, T. 82 
 
 Thornton, R. 99 
 
 Thoresby 23 
 
 Tilhere 2 
 
 Tindal, Wm. 567 
 
 Tinker 70 
 
 Tiptoft— n. 29 
 
 Tombs — n. 135 
 
 Tonson,Jac. 351 
 
 Tottle 468 
 
 Toy— n. 163 
 
 Trapp 131 
 
 Trimnall 591 
 
 Trye (note) 452 
 
 Twittie— n. 124 
 
 V 
 
 Vannes 47 
 
 Vaughan, J. 155 
 
 Vaughan, A. 470 
 
 Vellers 524 
 
 Vernon 322 
 
 Vincent 504 
 
 Urquhart 
 
 U 
 
 587 
 
 W 
 
 Wakefield 26 
 Wakeman, J. — n. 63 
 
 Wakeman, R. > _. 
 
 — *• > 
 
 Wall, G.—n. 83 
 
 Wall, M. D.— n. 384 
 
 Waller 142 
 
 Wallis— n. 25 
 
 Walls 590 
 
 Walsh— n. 317 
 
 Walwyn — n. 549 
 Warmstrey, G.—n. 141 
 Warmestry,T.--M.I83 
 
 Warren 442 
 
 Watson — n. 71 
 
 Waugh 430 
 
 Weaver — n. 185 
 
 Werefriil 3 
 
 Weremund 2 
 
 Wharton (note) 470 
 
 White Sir T. 49 
 
 White, C.—n. 117 
 White, T. or > 
 Woodhop--rc.£ 
 
 352 
 
 118 
 
 236 
 344 
 
 White, R 
 White,T.artist> 
 — n. J 
 
 Whiteway, Mrs. 351 
 
 Whitgift 76 
 
 Whitgreaves 200 
 
 Whitmaye 45 
 
 WickliiFe 583 
 
 Wilfred 2 
 
 Wilfrith 4 
 
 567 
 
 224 
 
 Wilkinson, ar-> 
 
 chitect J 
 
 Williams, G. 66 
 
 William of ) 31 
 
 Worcester $ 584 
 
 Willis, F. 82 
 
 Willis, R.— n. 325 
 Willis 
 Willoughby, 
 
 Architect 
 
 Wilmot 430 
 
 Wilson, T. 69 
 
 Wilson, B. 351 
 Winchcomb,T. de 27 
 
 Winchcorab, H. 503 
 Wilmington, 
 
 F.— n. 
 
 Wilmington, T. 353 
 
 Wittesley 24 
 
 Woddysbury 48 
 
 Wogan 134 
 
 Wolsey, Card. 31 
 
 Wolstan, I. 7 
 
 Wolstan, II. 10 
 Wolstan, de 
 Braunsford 
 
 Woodward — n. 113 
 
 Woolley 362 
 
 Worfield 101 
 
 Worth 343 
 
 Wrottesley 458 
 
 Wyatt 228 
 
 Wyld— 11. 105 
 
 Wynne 336 
 
 Y 
 
 Yarrington — n. 188 
 
 Young 523 
 
 22
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 P. 20 — For Lazamon read Layamon. 
 
 — 26 — Dele the article Wm. Pakington, and see p. 202, note. 
 
 — 94— Sir Edwin Sandys, add D. D. 
 
 — 96 — Dele See Geo. Sands or Sandys 
 
 — 107 (Note) — For Oliver read by Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 — 153 — For Nichol read Nichols. 
 
 — 164 — For Decamerer read Decameron. 
 
 — 178— The account of Mr. Skip is at p. 464, Life of Dr. Nash. 
 
 — 208 — For Balsahe read Balsace. 
 
 — 212 — L. 27 — For then lately, &c. read fled from persecution on ac- 
 
 count of their religion. 
 
 — 236 — For copy read title. 
 
 — 237— For Sillingfleet read Stillingfleet. 
 
 — 266— Dele at 6th 1. " this tract" to " King Charles." 
 
 — 321 — For Ralp read Ralph. 
 
 — 331 — For his play read Phasdra and Hippolitus. 
 
 — 356 — 3d 1. from bot. query, Bradford, Bishop of Chichester. 
 
 — 366 — Note — For Lymphisis read Symphisis. 
 
 — 391— L. \i—dele " all from Dr. W.'s own designs." 
 
 — 414— L. 8— For May 26 read August 28. 
 
 — 464 — Note — For Tintorel read Tintoretto. 
 
 — 541 — L. 9— For Miss Tart read Miss Stors.
 
 Printed by H. B, Tymbs, Worcester Journal Office.
 
 
 ol) 
 
 .-"">■ 
 
 -'•h9 
 
 f£B ' 
 
 .' 
 
 mari 3 
 
 1961* 
 
 m 
 
 m >*i 
 
 
 " A * 18 1980 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 THE LI 'Y 
 
 UNIVEi. [FORNIA
 
 AA 000191 513 1 
 
 3 1158 00543 2389 
 
 iy 
 
 DA 
 670 
 
 7f9C3