OJ)).l-Sjfcb.JI(!i01./|
liOIWIMUM,
THE
LIFE
OF
ALEXANDER NO WELL,
DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S,
CHIEFLY COMPILED FROM
REGISTERS, LETTERS, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC EVIDENCES.
RALPH CHURTON, M. A.
RECTOR OF MIDDLETON CHENEY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
ARCHDEACON OF ST. DAVIDS, AND LATE FELLOW OF BRASEN
NOSE COLLEGE.
SUCH PERSONS WHO SERVED GOD BY HOtY LIVrNG, INDUSTRIOUS PREACHING, AND RELIGIOUS DYING, OUGHT TO HAVE THEIR NAMES PRESERVED IN HONOUR, AND THEIR HOLY DOCTRINES AND LIVES PUBLISHED AND IMITATED. Jer. TaYLOR.
OXFORD,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR:
Sold by F. C. and J. RiviNGTON,and J. White, London; J. Parker, Oxford ; and Ford, Manchefter.
I8O9.
IMPRIMATUR.
J. PARSONS,
Coll. Ball, Vice^Can. Oxon,
13''° Feb. 180^.
TO
THE RIGHT REVEREND,
THE
LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S.
MY DEAR LORD,
In requefting Your favourable ac- ceptance and patronage of the follow- ing pages, there is one circumflance, which encourages me to hope, that they may not prove altogether unin- terefting to Your Lordfhip. The deli- neation of the life of Dean Nowell, famed for his Three Catechifms, and perhaps alfo the compiler of our Church Catechifm, necefTarily includes a fketch of the hiftory of Catechifms ; a mode
A 2
iv DEDICATION.
of inftru^tion, of which Infpiration it- felf feems to have afforded the firfl hint or outHne ; and which, after va- rious learned labours in the fervice of Literature, has been adopted by Your Lordfhip in the caufe of religion.
But whatever want of intereft, or other defefts, may be found in this attempt to do juftice to the chara6ler of the laft furviving Father of the Englifh Reformation, I fhall ever re- joice in the opportunity, thus given me, publicly to acknowledge Your Lordfliip's peculiar and unmerited goodnefs to the author, in collating him, in the kindeft manner and to- tally unfolicited, to the archdeaconry of St. David's ; a fiation endeared to the inquirer into our national antiqui-
DEDICATION. v
ties, as having been held by the cele- brated Giraldus Cambrenfis, to whofe Itinerary, recently edited with unri- valed fplendor, polierity is indebted for one of the earlieft authentic ac- counts of the Principality of Wales.
With trueft fentiments of refpe6l and gratitude, for pafl favours and conftant kindnefs, I am ever, my dear Lord,
Your Lordfhip's
moft obliged and faithful humble fervant,
R. Churton.
Middleton, near Banbury, Feb. 13, I8O9.
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in 2010 with funding from,
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PREFACE.
IHE Author of the Fairy Queen, diffident of his own merits, dedicates his labours to Queen Elizabeth, '' to live with the eternity of her fame." Of this never-dying fame one of the brightell parts was the wifdom fhe fliewed in encircling her throne with a con- ftellation of fage and virtuous Counfellors; fortifying the State and replenifhing the Church with fuch men as Burghley, Bacon, Egerton, Smith, and Cooke ; Parker and Grin- dal. Cox, Aylmer, Sandys, and Jewell.
Of thefe illuftrious Statefmen and diftin- guifhed Prelates, whofe lives have, mod of them, been defcribed at large by no incompe- tent hands, I prefume not to fpeak, further than to pay them a palTing tribute of refpecft, when the tranfad:ions, in which they were engaged, require their names to be mentioned. In the Dean of St. Paul's I have feleded one, who though he did not lland in the forefront and head of affairs, was a conllant friend and counfellor to mod of the oftenlible agents
a4
viii PREFACE.
and directors of public bulinefs ; and from the laft years of Henry VIII. till the clofe of the reign of Elizabeth, was not only an atten- tive obferver of the fwiftly changing fcenes, but bore an efficient part in the progreffive Heps of the Reformation, and final eltablifh- ment of the Church of England. A portion of time abounding with events of equal mag- nitude and intereil can fcarcely be found in the whole compafs of our annals : near a century has elapfed fince the period has been reviewed and exhibited, as combined with the lives of any of the great ad;ors in this facred drama ; and the life of Nowell, one of the bell mirrors to difcern the true fpirit and temper of the age and character of the Re- formation, never has been difplayed in that full and diftind: light, which his various me- rits juftly demand, and which exifting mate- rials, efpecially if they had been collected and arranged before the irreparable lofs of the ancient documents and papers of the family % might readily have fupplied.
The common epitomes of the life of Now- ell, difperfed in various colledions of biogra- phy, are little more than tranfcripts or tranf-
> Seep.jSj. n,".
PREFACE. ix
latians of the Latin epitaph, infcribed on his monument in St. Paul's ; and, what is more to be lamented, where attempts have been made to fill up the outline there given, the additions have refted on no good authority, and often prove, on examination, to be to- tally erroneous. Better hopes were conceived from what appeared to be a plain reference in the margin of Fuller's Church Hiftory : '' D. Lupton in his Life." No repofitory, however, public or private, was found to contain the book ; nor was any friend, within the com- pafs of my inquiries, able to inform me whe- ther any fuch work exilled. In a bookfeller's fhop at Coventry I had the good fortune, after many years of fruitlefs fearch, to ob- tain the firft clue to the difcovery of what I fought for. A copy of the Common Places of Wolfgangus Mufculus, tranflated by John Man, Warden of Merton college, with an Admonition to the Reader, by the pen (as is fuppofed) of archbifhop Parker, contained a note in the hand of a former proprietor of the book, pointing to " A neat Effigies of this venerable Divine and Proteflant Re- former, in a fmall duodecimo volume, called " The Hiflory of the modern Proteftant Di- vines, printed at London by J. Okes, 1637,
3tii PREFACE.
the centre a female figure feated on a throne, on her head a radiated crown, on her bread: " Sion," or the Church. On the dexter fide, an elderly man (Lupton himfelf, as Mr. Granger thinks) fitting in an elbow chair, a pen in his hand, and a book before him ; beneath, a fliip Itruggling with the waves : on the finifi:er, a phenix (typical of the re- furrecftion) and a fliip in harbour ; with ap- propriate mottos.
Lupton, who was the author of feveral other curious works % which are now fcarce, afpires to no higher praife in this perform- ance, than that of having faithfully tranfiated the Lives out of Latin ; but does not acquaint his Reader where the originals are to be found. They are not, as Mr. Greene thought, in Melchior Adamus ; but are all contained, with others, the Englifli (with the exception only of Wiclif ) in the Heroologia of Henry Hol-
* Mr. Beloe (ut fupra) mentions his ^' Emblems of Rarities, or choice Obfervations out of Worthy Hiftories." London, by N. Okes, 1636. and " London and the Countrey carbonadoed and quartered into feveral Charafters." London, by Nichols, 1632. Mr. Granger mentions his Lives of the Fathers, 1640, 4°. with heads engraved by G. Glover, vol. i. 8vo. p. 41. And fee vol. ii. p. 181. Donald Lupton, M. A. (the fame perfon, I prefume) was prefented by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to the Vicar- age of Sudbury, Middlefex, May 27, 1662,, which was void by his death before May i, 1676. Newcourt, i. 744.
PREFACE. xiii
land ; and the foreigners in Yerheiden, who has alfo a Life of Wiclif, Cranmer, and Bale. " The effigies," Lupton fays, meaning thofe in Verheiden, " were taken to the Ufe," fome by Albert Durer, " and the others by that famous Henry Hondius ; only I delired to have them done in lelTer plates, for the bene- fit of the buyer." The Engliih heads are copied, on the fame reduced fcale, from the neat and genuine portraits in the Heroologia, which were engraved by Crifpin Pafs and his lifter Magdalen ^.
The life of Nowell in this choice little vo- lume, which had fo long been the object of anxious curiofity, was found, on infpe^lion, to be of fuch a nature as rather to increafe, than fatisfy, my wilbes. It was not exempt from common miftakes ; and though enlarged from the Latin (as the others alfo are occa- fionally comprefled or expanded) furnifhed nothing new, beyond a lingle, but intereft- ing, anecdote. Veneration therefore for the memory of one, whofe munificence I had fo long participated as a member of Brafen Nofe College, and refped: for the Society, to which, in life and in death, he was fo great an orna-
^ Granger, i. p. 139. 314.
xiv PREFACE.
ment and benefadlor, prompted me to try whether the materials, which I had already incidentally amalTed in a courfe of years, while I was in purfuit of another object, might be fo far enlarged, as to furnifli, in a fuccindl volume, a more jufl and accurate account, than the friends and admirers of the good Dean of St. Paul's had hitherto been obliged to accept. The refult of this expe- riment is now, with all deference, laid before the Public ; and to the narrative itfelf I would at once gladly fend the Reader, but that two or three preliminary circumftances, which it feems an indifpenfable point of duty in me to mention, will not, I truft, be deemed an unpardonable trelpafs on his patience.
To acknowledge with gratitude favours received is a talk as plealing as it is necef- lary ; and the franknefs of communication and obliging afliftance, which I have expe- rienced, on this as on former occalions, from individuals eminent in rank and diftinguiihed by learning, as well as from Societies of highell refpecftability, will be matter of moft gratifying reflection to me as long as I live. I would call this the Humanity of letters, did I not hope, that it has a more facred and auguft origin, and flows without noiie
PREFACE. XV
from a heart repleniflied daily with the peren- nial dew of heaven.
To the Right Reverend the Dean, and to the Right Reverend and Reverend the Refi- dentiaries of St. Paul's, mj bell thanks are due for permiflion to examine, without re- ftricftion, the ancient Records and Muniments of the Chapter ; and I am much obliged to their intelligent Regiltrar, Mr. Hodgfon, for affording me every facility in the free and frequent ufe of the favour fo liberally granted. From thefe authentic documents many fa6ls and dates have been afcertained, relpecfting the immediate object of my inquiries; and I have alfo been enabled, from thefe and other fources, to bring forward fome circumftances in the hiftory of St. Paul's, connedled with my fubjedl, which, if not altogether new, are not however generally known.
A writer, quoted more than once in the following pages, calls London " a light to the reft of England ;" and in contemplat- ing the Deans of St. Paul's, when we behold in that ftation Colet, Nowell, Overall, Donne, Sancroft, Stillingfleet, Tillotfon, Sherlock, Seeker, and Newton (for I will not intrude upon living merit) we fee a phalanx of learned men, an alTemblage of pious and exemplary
xvi PREFACE.
Divines, fuch as no other church in the kingdom can parallel. Nor is it unworthy of remark, that the bifliops of London and arch- bifliops of Canterbury, who, from proximity of lituation, may alfo be regarded as lumina- ries in the London hemifphere, have generally maintained the fame pre-eminence, in refpecft of other Englifh prelates, whofe diocefes lie at a greater didance from the metropolis.
But I mull not deviate from Nowell ; nor forget one, whofe family has, in more than a lingle inftance, been conneded with the Nowells. Richard Heber, Efquire, once my pupil, and always my friend, has kindly contributed an engraving of the Dean's ute- rine brother, John Towneley, Efquire, and favoured me with the fight of many rare books from his large and highly curious col- lection ; and fupplied many uleful hints from his own well-informed and generous mind.
Biography, which looks back into times at all remote, is neceflarily connected with pa- tents and charters; and, in fearching for tliefe treafures, my wifhes have been always met by John Kipling, Efquire, of Overftone, Northamptonfhire, Clerk of the Rolls, with an alacrity and zeal, which the moft intimate friendlhip could not furpafs. It is honourable.
PREFACE. xvii
when thofe, whofe ftores are iiiexhauftible^ and who in confequence are open to frequent felicitation, give without fparing.
The Britifli Mufeum is an inftitution, which reflects the higheft honour on a great and affluent nation. The Burghley Manufcripts, which have lately been repofited there by the well-judged munificence of Parliament, though culled by the indefatigable Strype and by others, ftill afford a rich harveft to the antiquary and biographer. The new let- ters of Nowell in that colle6lion (for fome of them have already appeared in the volumes of Strype) are certainly among the moll valu- able of his remains ; and there are a dozen letters or more by his nephew Whitaker^ addrelTed, as moll of Nowell's are, to Lord Burghley, the common friend and patron of both, which have never, I believe, been no- ticed in print.
Irir the extenfive Library of my excellent friend and neighbour, John Loveday, D. C. L, of Williamfcot, abounding particularly with books of Englifh antiquities, fraught with innumerable references and notes (chiefly by the hand of his incomparable father, the late John Loveday, Efquire, of Caverfliam) and in the quick mind, exad: judgement, and
b
xviii PREFACE.
retentive memory of the worthy Proprietor, I find a ready anfwer to every quellion, a fatisfadory folution of every difficulty or doubt, vv^hich might obftru6t or retard my progrefs.
But the pains, w^hich, for a number of years, have been bellowed in colleding fcat- tered notices of the good Dean of St. Paul's (if indeed the endeavour to inveftigate de- parted merit " labor potius quam voluptas appellanda fit") would be amply compen- fated, had they procured me no other remu- neration, but the friendftiip and correfpon- dence of the Hiilorian, now, by the judicious feleAion of the Archbilhop of Canterbury, the Vicar, of Whalley, in Lancafiiire. De- fcended from a filler of Dean No well, and inheriting, from the eldell offspring of that match, the manfion where the Dean's fa- vourite nephew, the celebrated Profellbr of Cambridge was born. Dr. Whitaker feels a lively curiofity and interell in whatever re- lates to his two illullrious kinfmen ; while, by his own habits of fiudy, and excurfive refearches into the antiquities of the neigh- bourhood, he is eminently qualified to elu- cidate the hiftory of thofe who have adorned it. He was fo obliging as to look over
PREFACE. xix
thefe papers, when the greater part of them, as yet unaccompanied with notes, was other- wife in fome forwardnefs for the prefs ; and there is fcarcely a page, which has not been corrected by his flrictures, improved by his judgement, or enriched by his ample com- munications.
How fhall I mention, and yet how can I forbear to mention. One, who, for almofl half a century, has been the encourager and patron of every literary undertaking, the exemplar, father, and friend of antiquaries ? Till he had palTed the age of man, Mr. Gough polTelTed an underftanding, which in vigour and extent of powers was equaled by very f^Wf and in activity and exertion left all competition far behind. Having honoured me with his notice, our acquaintance was gradually matured into friendlhip ; and, dur- ing feveral years of fweet remembrance, fcarcely a week pafled without a letter from Enfield, and fcarcely a letter came without fome hint or allufion to Nowell. He perufed my papers, and, with the partiality of a friend, wifhed to fee them in print ; and he may perhaps fee them, but if he does, there is too much reafon to fear it may be " Ipfe fui fuperftes r We do not inherit a
b2
XX PREFACE.
frame of adamant; and it is no caufe of furprife, but of infinite regret, if frequent and numberlefs epileptic feizures have cloud- ed one of the brighteft gems, that ever was lodged in a mortal calket. It has been my lot, through the mercy of heaven, to wit- nefs fome of the clofing days of fome of the befl men, that ever added lullre to the Englilh name ; but never was I m.ore deeply affected, than in one of my lateft vifits at Enfield. A life of humble, but ardent, un- ofientatious piety and charity is not unre- warded. The harbingers of diflblution had already alarmed every one, excepting him only to whom their errand was. It was truly delightful, and yet pierced the inmoft foul, to fee with what lieady compofure and cheerfulnefs he difcourfed of an event, which he regarded as near at hand, and longed for its approach ; and, when I left him, he faid with as much pleafantnefs, as if he was dif- mifling me to my apartment for the night, " Remember my laji dying words .'"
Thefe have been the principal fources of intelligence, and thefe are fome of the inva- luable Friends, to whom the Reader owes whatever he may find of entertainment or information (if indeed he finds any thing of
PREFACE. xxi
either) in the following memoirs. It only remains to befpeak, if I might, his favourable indulgence towards the author, who has ar- ranged the materials, and laid them toge- ther. But here what fhall I fay ? No one ever forgives a foolifh book ; yet whatever faults or imperfections may be found in the volume, which is now, not without folicitude, fent into the world, it may tend, I hope, to pro- pitiate or to difarm the feverity of criticifm, when it is known, that the whole was writ- ten and revifed, not in retirement, which the Mufes love, not in the fhade of Academic bowers, but amidll the conftant and arduous, though plealing duties, of a populous parifli and large family.
P. S. March lo. The ingenuous Reader will pardon me, I trull, if in the foregoing preface, the revifal of which has been de- layed by necelTary avocations and deep for- row, I neither cancel nor alter what was written, however feebly, with truth and af- fection, while two of the kindeil and heft of friends were living. But alas ! what is life ! Three days after the preceding pages were
b3
xxii PREFACE
fent to the prefs, I received information, that on Monday evening, February 20, it pleafed God to releafe Mr. Gough from his great fufferings ; and on the morning of Saturday, March 4, Dr. Loveday, in full vigour at the age of 66, funk under a painlefs malady of only eight days ! Each fell alleep w^ithout a pang or a llruggle. Each left inftrucftions to be interred in the cemetery of the church, which they conftantly frequented 5 Dr. Love- day at Cropredy, near Banbury, Oxon ; Mr. Gough at Wormley, Herts, and the follov^ing epitaph, written by himfelf five or fix years ago, and containing matter that might fill a volurpe, to be infcribed in the church.
[ xxiii ]
Hunc prope parietem Reliquias fuas condi voluit
RICARDUS GOUGH,
antiqua ftirpe ortus ; ex heroibus qui in bellis Gallicis et civilibus claruere gloriam, ex mercatoribus Stapulas Calefiae Indiaeque orien- talis divitias, deduxit : Patriae amorem, erga Reges fidem, Legum Antiquitatumque patriae peritiam, ex atavis conlanguineifque derivatam,
conftanter coluit ;
Hafce inveftigandi cupiditatis innatae
teftimonia habeto
Topographiam Britannicam,
Gulielmi Camdeni Britafiniam renovatam,
Monumenta Sepulchralia Magnce Britannice,
Abi, Le6torj nee vanitatis inlimules.
Obiit XX die menfis Februarii, A. D. mdcccix.
-^tat. Lxxiv.
CONTENTS.
SECT, I.
JNAMEand family of No well. Birth and education of Alexander Nowell. Fellow of Brafen Nofe college. Mailer of Weftminfter fchool. Prebendary of Weft- minfter. Chofen M. P. for Loo. Efcapes into Ger- many. - - - - - -- p. I.
SECT. II.
Account of exiles. Difputes at Frankford. No well's mo- deration. - - - - - - p. 21.
SECT. TIL
Acceffion of Elizabeth. Return of exiles. Laurence Nowell, Dean of Lichfield. Vifitation of the kingdom. Nowell one of the commiflioners. Archdeacon of Middlefex. Re6lor of Saltwcod, Prebendary of Can- terbury. Preaches at the Crofs. Prebendary of Weft- minfter. Dean of St. Paul's. Slandered by papifts. His brother Robert NowelL - - - p. 36.
SECT. IV.
Si. Paul's fpire burnt. Bifliop Pilkington and Nowell preach in confequence. His nephew Whitaker edu-
xxvi CONTENTS.
cated by him. Sword agalnft Swearers dedicated to him. Recommended for Provoft of Eton. Queen of- fended by him. Re£lor of Hadham. Fond of angling, Izaak Walton's account of. - - - p. 59.
SECT. V.
Preaches before Queen and Parliament, 5 Elizabeth (1562-3.) Prolocutor of Convocation when xxxix Ar- ticles and fecond book of Homilies were framed. Writes a Homily on the Plague, 1563. Sonnet by B. Googe addrefTed to him. Revifes rules of Tunbridge School. Difpleafes the Queen in his Lent fermon. Warm Difputes about clerical drefs : Nowell's pacifi- cation. - _ - - - - p. 84.
SECT. VI.
His Reproof of Dorman's Proof. Confutation of Dorman and Sanders. Verfes on Cooper's Thefaurus. Preaches twice at the Crofs. Mountjoy Houfe granted to the College of Advocates. Preaches fuccefsfully in Lan- caftiire. Attends Afcham on his death bed, and preaches at his funeral. Death of his brother, Robert Nowell. Whitaker dedicates to him his Greek Tranflation of the Prayers of the Church. His fears and advice in confequence of French perfecution. Sir John South- worth in cuftody with him. Guardian of Triftram Mitchell. - - - - - - p. ii5.
SECT. VII.
Pra6lice of catechizing in primitive Church. Difufed in dark ages. Revived at the Reformation. Cranmer's Catechifm. Edward Vlth's Catechifm. Catechifm of
CONTENTS. xxvii
H. Stephens. Nowell's largeft Catechifm. Abridge- ment or Middle Catechifm. Both tranflated, into Eng- lifh by Norton, and into Greek by Whitaker. Smalleft Catechifm. Two firfl: enjoined by the Canons of 1571 and 1603. Commended by Cooper, Whitgift, and others. Largeft reprinted by Bifliop Randolph ; and both by Bifhop Cleaver. - - - p. 151.
SECT. VIII.
Verfes on Jewell. Founds a School at Middleton, Lanca- fliire, and fcholarftiips in Brafen Nofe college. At- tends the Duke of Norfolk at his execution. Paris maf- facre. Cartwright's Admonition to Parliament. Hor- rid principle of Puritans and Papifts. Two foreign Ana- baptifts burnt. Verfes on Parkhurft's Juvenilia, and verfes in them to Nowell. Baret's Alvearie. Book of prefbyterian difcipline. Specimen of puritan language. Nowell recommends Richman to be Mafter of Mag- dalen college, Cambridge, Intercedes with bifhop Cox for one of his tenants. Mediates in a difpute of Sir Thomas Grefham. Death and charafter of Laurence Nowell. -,-_-_ p. 1^8.
SECT. IX.
Several books dedicated to him. Manchefter college re- founded : Nowell one of the firft Fellows ; his nephew Wolton firft Warden. The plague in London. Stubbs's libel of Gaping Gulph : his right hand cut off: writes feveral things of credit. Churchyard on the Earthquake 1580 dedicated to Nowell. Memorable licence of non- refidence. His works prohibited and his life threatened at Rome. Conference with Campion. His Spital fer- mon. Advice requefted in a contribution for Geneva. Archbifhop Grindal's legacy to him. Petitions for his brother Towneley. - - - p. 240.
xxviii CONTENTS.
SECT. X.
Whitney's Emblems : two of them to Nowell. Prevents Chancellor fliip of St. Paul's being given to a layman. Preaches on defeat of the Armada. Collated to prebend of Tottenham, St. Paul's. Refigns Hadham. Treafurer of contributions to Cambridge. Preaches at the funeral of Lady F. Sidney, and of Lady Burghley. Verfes by T. Newton. Canon of Windfor. Archdeacon Mullins dies. Refidentiaries of St. Paul's more in number for- merly, and, as feems, not in the patronage of the Crown. Recommends Whitaker for Mafterfliip of Tri- nity. Chofen Principal of Brafen Nofe college; and created D. D. with precedence. Death and chara6ter of Whitaker. - - - - , - P- 287.
SECT. XL
Mrs. Frankland great benefaclrefs to both Univerfitiesi Nowell overfeer of her will ; fettles her benefafilions to Brafen Nofe college. Recommends Hilkiah Crooke to be fchoolmafter at Colchefter. Care for his friends and domeftics. His Will. Death and burial. Monument and portraits. His widow, Elizabeth Nowell, his fole executrix. Her Will, and children by her two former hufbands. Miftakes corrected ; chara6lcr of Now- ell. p. 335,
CONTENTS. XXIX
APPENDIX.
J. Pedigree of Nowell, - - ?• 3^9«
I[. Lines by Nowell on Bucer, - p. 391.
III. Memorable letter to Mr. Abel at Strafburgh, p. 392.
IV. Letter of No well to Archbifhop Parker, 1562, p. 398.
V. Sonnet by Googe to Nowell^ - p. 400. VL Infcription on the Palace at Ely, - p. 401. VIL Some paflages of Poinet's (or Edw. Vlth's) Cate-
chifm and Nowell's compared, p. 403.
Vin. Account of " Preces et Catechifmus in ufum antiquse et Celebris Scholee D. Pauli," includ- ing Nowell's fmalleft Catechifm, p. 407.
IX. Extracts from Nowell's fmalleft Catechifm, p. 410.
X. Letter of Nowell to L. Burghley concerning his
own and his brother Robert's benefadlions to Brafen Nofe College ; with extracts from two other Letters to his Lordftiip, and from one to his Secretary Mr. Hickes, - p. 420.
XI. Letter to Mr. Egerton, Solicitor General, after-
wards Lord Chancellor, « - p. 426.
XII. Bedell's Ode on Whitaker, - p. 427. Verfes on Mrs. Frankland's Picture, with her
arms, - - - - - p. 439.
XIII. Nowell's Letter to L. Burghley in behalf of
Whitaker's widow and orphan children, 1595,
p. 430.
XIV. His Will, - - - p. 432.
XV. Wolfey's Dlfpenfation for the marriage of the
Dean's Mother and Charles Towneley, Efquire,
P'437-
THE
LIFE
OF
ALEXANDER NOWELL.
SECTION I.
^HE name and family of Nowell, of one of whom, the venerable Dean of St. Paul's, 1 piirpofe to give a faithful account, are thought to have been of Norman origin. The v^^ord, Nowell or Noel, a corruption of Natalis, indi- cates the fertival of our Lord's Nativity, and likewife a cry of joy appropriate to the feafon ; and, by degrees, came to lignify a convivial cry in general ; in w^hich fenfe it appears to have been in ufe as late as the days of Chaucer ^. Of the occalion, on w^hich the name was allumed, or impofed perhaps on fome one eminent for his feftive talents, there is no tradition ; but whe-
'^ "■ And drinketh of his bugle horn the wine. Beforn him ftant.braune of the tuflicd fwine. And noivel crieth every lufty man." Canterb. Tales^ 11567. where fee Mr, Tyrwhitt's note.
B
2 THE LIFE OF
ther the Chriftmas cry, or the Chriftmas cup, like the waflail bowl {et calices pofcit major es) were the diftin6t meaning, there is no doubt that the covered cups in the family arms al- lude to the circumftance ; and, as heraldry de- lights in fuch devices or parodies, three limilar cups, in the efcutcheon of Butler b, unquef- tionably allude to the name and office of a butler, or cupbearer.
The Nowells probably were followers of the Lacies out of Normandy ; and from that illullrious family, afterwards earls of Lincoln, the fubject of thefe memoirs was, through his grandmother Townley, lineally defcended ; but the firft who appears in the records of their Lancafhire territories was Robert Noell, who is the laft fubfcribing witnefs but one, to the memorable grant by Roger de Lacy of the Villa de Tunleia, to GeofFry fon of Robert, dean of Whalley. This was in the year 1200. About forty years after this period two bro- thers, Adam and William, obtained their firft fettlement in Blackburnlhire ^ ; the former by marrying the heirefs of Stephen de Magna Merlay, the latter by a grant of Little Merlay
*" Dugd. Warw. fcy Thomas, p. 1002. Wood's Hift. and An- tiq. of Oxford, by Gutch, p. 328. 340. App. 242.
^ So Camden and others call the hundred of Blackburn.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 3
from John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln ^. The Dean of St. Paul's was a defcendant of the former branch, when they had added to their patrimony the neighbouring manor of Read, and fixed their relidence there, in the parifti of Whalley and county of Lancafter.
His father, John Nowell, efquire, was twice married. By his firfi: wife, Dowfabel, daugh- ter of Robert Hefketh, efquire, of RufFord in Lancafhire, he had an only fon, Roger Nowell; whofe iflue male, in a direA line, enjoyed the family eftates for more than two centuries. By his fecond wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Kay of Rachdale, he had four fons, Alex- ander, Laurence, Robert, and Nicholas, and feveral daughters. In the reign of Henry VH. he obtained leave of the crown to impark his eftate at Read ^ ; and, in later life, gave a rent- charge in truft, to endow a chantry in the pa- rilh church of Whalley, and in the neighbour- ing church of Burnley f; a delign, which, ow- ing perhaps to the mutability of the times, feems'not to have been carried into eiFed; ; but he who proje6led the pious deed, we may prefume, did not neglect to imprefs the in-
^ Hift. of Whalley by T. D. Whitaker, LL. D. 1800. p. 143, = Ibid. p. 248. ^ Jbid. 249.
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fant minds of his children with congenial principles, to which Providence afterwards gave a better direction.
His fon Alexander, born in 1507 or 1508, was fo named, as appears by the pedigree ^, after feveral of his kindred of earlier days ; but the frequency of the name, among the No wells in later times, is afcribed to juft affec- tion for the memory of the meritorious Dean of St. Paul's, rather than to refpec^ for their more remote anceftors. Read hall, the place of his birth, anciently Rivehead or Riverhead, was pleafantly lituated on the Calder, a tri- butary branch of the Ribble ; and is faid to have been " an extremely convenient and handfome old houfe^." The annexed view of the fouth front fliews the hofpitable man- lion, as it was Handing fifty years ago ; in which the weft end, with the double gable, is thought to have been as old as the early part of the reign of queen Elizabeth ; but the eaft end, of which the ground floor was the cha- pel, appears to have been of later conftruc- tion.
The author of the life of Whitaker, the
'-^ Appendix, No, i.
^ Hift. Whalle/, p. 247. And fee Ciimd, Epp. London, 169 1.
P- 39'
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 5
celebrated ProfelTor of Cambridge, regards the mountainous diftrid of his birth, which was in the fame parifh of Whalley, where Nowell was born, as propitious to genius (agreeably to a remark of Cicero) on account of the rare and fubtle element, which the inhabitants of fuch elevated iituations refpire ^ : and cer- tainly, whatever were the caufe, it was, at this period, " native to famous wits ;" for, befides the eminent author now mentioned, who was nephew to Nowell, his two bro- thers, Laurence Nowell, Dean of Lichfield, and Robert, Attorney of the Court of Wards,
^ Life by Abdias Alsheton, publifhed with Whitaker's Praelec- tions at Cambridge, 1599. Ames by Herbert, p. 1427. in Whi- taker's Works, 1 610. torn, i, 698. and by Melchior Adam in his Decades duse, 1653. p. 163. The paffage alluded to in Cicero is De Nat. Deor. ii. xv. Afsheton was fellow of St, John's college, of which Whitaker was Mafter, afterwards Reftor of Middleton, in Lancafhire, where upon his death (which happened June 29, 161 8) he was lucceeded by his fon of both his names, re£lor of Sladeburn, Com. York. Dr. Whitaker, Nov. 18, i8o^, from an original journal of the Afsheton family. And fee Hift. Craven, p. 26. He alfo informs me (Feb. 9, 1808.) that the faid Abdias Afsheton, while refident in St. John's, was engaged, together with Gataker (firft of St. John's, then fellow of Sidney) and Bedell of Emmanuel (afterwards the moft learned biflaop of Kilmore) in the pious and laudable work of preaching every Sunday in the adjacent country churches, where the people were in want of able minifters. See Biogr. Brit. .We fliall have occafion again to re- fer to the Life of Whitaker.
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6 THE LIFE OF
were highly diftinguifhed by their talents and learning, as the following pages will occafion- ally Ihew.
He was educated at Middleton ^, about fix miles from Manchefter ; but who was his pre- ceptor there, we have not learnt. That his elementary progrefs was rapid, we may rea- fonably prefume, as he was deemed ripe for the univerlity, where however early entrances were then more frequent, at the age of thir- teen ; and refpedting this number a lingular coincidence is mentioned, whether it were the refult of choice, or of accident. He became a member of Brafen Nofe college at the age of thirteen ; he reiided there thirteen years ; and he afterwards bellowed on the fociety thirteen fcholarlhips.
He is faid to have been chamber-fellow with Fox, the martyrologifi; ^ ; and had per- haps the fame tutor, Mr. John Hawarden or Harding, who was afterwards Principal of the college, to whom Fox dedicated a learned work upon the Eucharifl ^. We are alTured, that he was a public reader of logic in the
^ So he himfelf informs us in a letter, which will hereafter be quoted.
• Tanner and Biogr. Brit. art. Fox. ^ De Sacram. Eucharift. Lond. 1563.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 7
univerfity, and taught the famous book of Rodolphus Agricola, which was Ihortly after- wards enjoined at Cambridge by Henry VIII. " when he was in the twentieth year of his age o ; which, if the other accounts of his academical life are accurate, is not a little re- markable ; for, by thofe accounts, he was ilill an undergraduate. There is a myllery in the affair, which the fcanty or imperfect regillers of the time do not enable us to unravel. It was not uncommon, in the early days of the college, for a bachelor of arts to poftpone his fecond degree, in hopes of obtaining a fellow- fhip, to which a mafter of arts was then deemed ineligible ; of which we have an in- ftance in the famous Robert Bolton, born at Brook -houfe near Blackburn in 1572, who fludied ten years in Lincoln and in Brafen Nofe, and was thirty years of age, before he was chofen fellow of the latter fociety, and was then prefently admitted to the degree of Mafter of arts ^. But Nowell, whatever might
" Fuller's Hift. Camb. p. 112. From the ufe of"Rodolph's Logic" (as the book was called) the Topic Le£ture in Brafen Nofe obtained the name of the Rodolph Le6lure, which was not quite forgotten in the laft century. Agricola is mentioned in Humphr. Vit. Juel. p. 267.
° Strype's Ann. i. 206.
* Ath. Oxon. i, 560. F. 163. and his Life, 1633. by Edwatd
B4
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8 THE LIFE OF
be the reafon, deferred his firft degree, till he was of ten or twelve years ftanding ; and then, having been admitted Bachelor of arts. May 2Q, 1536% and eleded fellow of the college ihortly afterwards, proceeded to the degree of Mafter of arts, with the delay of a iingle year only, June lO, 1540'".
To the fervice of God in his church he had directed his intent, ever lince he was lixteen years old ^ ; but it is not known when or by whom he was admitted into holy orders. He was a party by the ftyle of Alexander No well, Gentleman, in the marriage fettlement of his lifter Elizabeth Nowell with Thomas Whita- ker, fon and heir apparent of Richard Whita-
Bagfhaw, who was his pupil in Brafen Nofe, afterwards a Bencher of the Middle Temple, and eminent in the profeilion of the law. Ath. Oxon. ii.315. and Bridges' Northampt. ii. 87. in the ac- count of Broughton, of which Bolton was Re6lor. An original portrait of him on board (once belonging to the family) a ftriking refemblance of the engraving in Fuller's Abel Redivivus, is now (September, 1808.) the property of Dr. Whitaker. His Life is alfo in Morton's Monument of the Fathers and Reformers, 1706. 8vo. p. 66. with a head, better than many in the colledlion, but neither excellent, nor very like Fuller's plate, which is alfo pre- fixed to fome of Bolton's Works. Fuller calls Bagfhaw his " good " friend." Ch. Hift. B. xl.
1 Ath. Oxon. i. F.57.
' Ibid. 63.
* Strype's Annajs, i. p. ?o6.
a'
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 9
ker of Holme, in 1529-30'; which feems to difprove the alTertion in his epitaph, that he died a " nonagenarian" in 160 1-2. For had he been no more than ninety at that time, he would not have been of age at the time of his lifter's marriage ; nor confequentlj, we may prefume, have been enfeoffed with her join- ture. The infcription therefore on his picture in Brafen Nofe college more probably Hates the truth, that he died in the ninety fifth year of his age ; which makes him twenty one and upwards before his filler married. But per- haps the unknown compiler of the epitaph meant to reckon only by decads, and would ftyle him a nonagenarian in any year between ninety and a hundred.
When he quitted the Univerfity, we find him in a confpicuous fituation in the me- tropolis, as Mailer of Weflminfler School ; where that excellent topographer, William Harrifon, was, as he modeflly fays of himfelf, " fometime an unprofitable grammarian un- der him "."
* From the original indenture, dated 3d Feb, 21 H. VIII. in the poffeffion of the Rev. Thomas Dunham Whitaker, LL. D, of Holme, the learned Hiftorian of Whalley and Craven, who is de- feended from this match.
" Holinftied, vol. i. p. 151. 2d ed. 1587. Ath. Oxon. i. 234.
10 THE LIFE OF
This renowned feminary claims Henry VHI. as its founder ; and Nowell was the fecond mafter on the new foundation, appointed in 1543, with the approbation i no doubt, if not by the particular choice of the king, whofe merit as a patron and judge of literature is undifputed. He fucceeded John Adams, of whom the name only is known, and was fol- lowed in 1555 by Nicholas Udall ^, famous, like Bulby in later days, for erudition and flogging. While he filled this important poft, he is faid to have been diligent in teaching his pupils pure language and true religion ; uling for the former purpofe Terence 7, and for the latter St. Luke's Gofpel and the Acfts of the Apofi:les, in the original Greek. At the fune- ral of that lamented and peerlefs prince, Ed- ward VL the prebendaries and other members of Weflminfler abbey, where he was interred, as well as the great officers of flate and others,
^ See lift of Weftm. Scholars. He had before been Mafter of Eton. See Tanner and Ath. Oxon. i. 88. Afcham fpeaks of him as the beft teacher and " the greateft beater" of his time. Works by Bennet, p. 192. where the well known lines of Tufler, who had been educated under him at Eton, are quoted.
y Strype's Ann. i. 206. To this probably Pound, one of the difputants on Campion's fide, alluded, when he faid, " "We know *' you to be a good Terence man." True Report of the Conference, Signat. F iiii. a. penes me.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. ii
had an aflignment of cloth for mourning ; and, whether it were to gratify a national fondnefs for drefs, or whatever might be the reafon, it is memorable, that Belmayne, the French teacher, had more than double the quantity, which was allotted to the more ho- nourable preceptor in the claflics ^.
He had now been a preacher for fome years, having been licenfed thereto by the King, about, the year i550 ; but where he exercifed his ta- lent, we are not particularly informed ; ex- cept that he preached, during this reign, " in fome of the notableft places and auditories in the realm." For fo he himfelf fays, in anfwer to a fcoffing flander of Dorman ; who, notwithftanding he " did right well know" this facft, was not afhamed to fay of him, fif- teen years afterwards, that " of a mean fchool- mafter he was fuddenly become a valiant preacher \"
And here, having mentioned him as a fchoolmaller in London, at the head of the chief feminary in the kingdom, we mull turn,
* " The Frenche Skoolemafter" had 9 yards, the other only 4. See the account of the Funeral by Sir Edw. Waldegrave, Ar- chaeol. xii. 389.
* Confut. of Dorman, p. 22. Strype's Parker, p. 202. Annals i. ao6. Memor. iii. 477. The patent of Edw. VI. licenfing hira to preach has not been found.
12 THE LIFE OF
for a moment, to his brother Laurence Nowell, following at the fame time the fame honour- able and ufeful employment in the country. He was ordained deacon on the ninth of No- vember, 1550, by that excellent and learned prelate, bifhop Ridley ; and is defcribed in the epifcopal regifter ^, as refiding at Sutton Col- field, in the county of Warwick ; where he was Mafter of the Grammar School, founded in 1543, by John Harman or Yeyfey, bifliop of Exeter, who was born in that town, and dy- ing there at the extreme age of one hundred and three, was buried under a fair monument, with his effigies mitred and veiled for the aU tar, in the church of Sutton, to which, as well as to the town, he was a great benefactor ^. The fchool was conferred on Laurence Nowell, Odiober 1, 1546, on the death or cellion of John Savage, the firft mafter ; but he was not fufFered to continue long in quiet pofteflion of it; for articles of complaint were exhibited againft him by the corporation, as patrons of the fchool, in the court of chancery, upon a pretence of negle<ft of duty ; though the real ground of offence appears to have been his
b Extr. Epifc. Reg. Ridley, in the Library of Ric. Gough, Efq, •= See Dugd. Warw, by Thomas, p. 913. &c. The bifhop's effi- gies and other monuments of the family are engraved, p. 917.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 13
zeal for the reformation ; and therefore, on appeal to the King in council, he juftified his charader and condu6t fo well, that letters were ilTued to the Warden and Fellows of the King's town of Sutton, not to remove him from his place of fchoolmafter, nor to give him any further moleftation, or difturbance "*.
Martin Bucer, a man of mild counfel and deep learning, who was invited into England by archbilhop Cranmer, and for a while had graced both our univerlities, died at Cam- bridge, February 28, 155 I . Parker, afterwards archbifhop of Canterbury, preached at his fu- neral % which was attended by the whole uni- verfity ; and the next day, verfes in honour of the deceafed, by Redmayne, Mafter of Trinity college, by Cheke, Haddon, and others, were affixed on the walls of the univerlity church. Noweil was one of thofe, who on this occa- lion paid a tribute of refped: to the memory
^ Kennet's L. of Somner, p. 62. Letter to the Warden &c, Feb. 28, 4th Edw. VI. (1549-50.) Reg. of Council Edw. VI. and fee and correft Dugd. Warw. p. 670. (and ed. ThomaSj ut fupra) where it is faid, he refigned i Edw. VI.
* The fermon was publifhed 5 Ames by Herbert, p. 727. It was alfo translated into Latin, and publifhed at Strafburgh, 1561. Strype's Grindal, p. 201. Bucer was preceptor at Cambridge to Henry Duke of Suffolk and his brother, who prefented to him "' vaccam et vitulum." Humphr. Vita Juelli, 1573. p- 26.
14 THE LIFE OF
of this great reformer, in two copies of Latin verfes ; but as he was not reiident in Cam- bridge, the lines did not perhaps pubhcly appear, till they were inferted, with many others, in a volume of Bucer's works, intitled Scripta Anglicana, publiflied at Bafil in 1577. In the firll of thefe copies he fays, " Bucer was known to Germany and to Britain by the fandity of his life and eloquence of his tongue, and known to the world by his learned writings ; but when he had been known to Cambridge fcarcely an entire year, he was there interred, at once the honour and the regret of the place." In the other he confoles himfelf with the idea, that " Bucer is not extindl, fince his fame lives, and his wTitings live, and he himfelf lives to the world and to God."
Nowell appears to greater advantage, as a claflical fcholar, in profe, than in verfe; nor indeed did the brightefl wits and moll ad- mired Latinifts of Edward's days, Haddon, Afcham, and Cheke, attain to that eafe and elegance of verfification, which feveral others, in many refpecfts inferior to them, afterwards acquired ; but, as thefe verfes of Nowell, if they were compofed, as is probable, at the time of Bucer's death, are, though not a very
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 15
early, yet the iirft production of his pen, which we have met with, it feemed not improper to give the fubftance of them here, and the Unes themfelves in the appendix ^.
John Redmayne or Redman, one of the writers in praife of Bucer, who was nomi- nated Mafter of Trinity college in the charter of foundation, 1546, was one of the firlt pre- bendaries of Weftminfter, on the diflblution of the monatlery. He was related to Cuthbert Tonftal, bilhop of Durham, and, by the en- couragement of that learned prelate, was from his infancy devoted to literature ; which he cultivated firft in Corpus Chrifti college, Ox- ford, under the firll Prelident, John Claymond, a man of lingular erudition and generofity. From Oxford Redman went for a time to ftu- dy in Paris ^, and then fixed himfelf in St. John's college, Cambridge ; coming thither fo adorned with the knowledge of Cicero and the purell authors of antiquity, that Cheke, then a young man there, was fired with emulation ; and in a Ihort time, through their united pains and example, that feminary acquired the fame of being more than a match for a whole
f No. ii.
s Strype's L. of Cheke, p. 197.
16 THE LIFE OF
foreign univerlity ^. Redman applied his ma- tured judgement and learning, with equal pie- ty and patience, for the fpace of twenty years, to the ftudy of the Scriptures and the early writers of the church, intending to compofe a work on the fubje6l of tranfubllantiation. The refalt of his inquiries was fuch as might be expelled, that there was no foundation what- foever for that abfurd dogma, either in Scrip- ture, or in the primitive fathers. He there- fore relinquilhed this and other errors of the Romilh creed, and " with conftant judgement and unfeigned confcience defcended into that manner of belief," which he held, when he affifted in compiling the firft Liturgy of Ed- ward VL which was publiflied in 1549.
We fhould readily conclude, if we had not been exprefsly alTured, that a perfori of fuch " excellent learning and purity of life" would be " highly favoured" and efteemed by Now- ell, himfelf adorned with learning, and '^ ear- neftly bent to the true worlhiping of God." He therefore waited upon Redman in his laft illnefs, delirous to know what was his opinion and belief concerning the " troublous contro-
^ Afcham's Schoolmafter, f. 20. b, ed. 1570. Works by Ben- net, p. 241.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 17
verfies of thofe days ;" profeffing himfelf willing to " receive and approve his v^ords as oracles fent from heaven." The dying con- feflbr, poiTefling a " quiet mind and perfed: remembrance," took a day or two to conli- der of the matters propounded to him by No well ; and then fent for him, declaring himfelf ready to converfe with him on thofe points, and to anfwer truly as he thought, to whatever queftion fliould be alked him, as in the prefence of God.
The particular articles, fourteen in number, twelve of them attefted by Nowell and others, need not be repeated. The fum of them was, that purgatory, the facrifice of the mafs, and tranfubftantiation were groundlefs and un- godly ; that we are juftified, not by our works, but by lively faith, which refts in our only Saviour Jefus Chrift ; that good works " are not deftitute of their rewards ; yet ne- verthelefs they do not merit the kingdom of heaven," which is " the gift of God^"
Dr. Wilkes, Mafter of Chriil's college, Cam-
* Fox's Martyrology, ed. 1585. vol. ii, p. 1360— J364. a ktter by Redman to Latimer, ib. p. 1736. And fee the Life of Redman in Lives of the Compilers of the Liturgy, by Downes, prefixed to Sparrow's Rationale^ p. cxliv. Ath. Oxen. i. 80, Davics' Athe- nae Brit. p. 80,
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18 THE LIFE OF
bridge, and Dr. Young of Trinity college in that univerfity, were prefent at this confe- rence ; of which an account was given by Young, in a Latin epiftle, to their common friend Cheke. Redman furvived this afFe6ting and inllru(ftive interview, which was in the beginning of November, 1551, not many days ; for on the 27 th of that month a prefentation was granted by the crown to Alexander Nowell, Mafter of the King's fchool in Weft- minfter, conferring on him the canon ry in that church, vacant by the death of John Redmayne ^ ; and he was accordingly inllalled on the fifth of December following K
In thefirft parliament of queen Mary, which met at Weftminller on Thurfday, OAober 5, 1553, Nowell was returned one of the Bur- gelles for Loo in Cornwall ; but a committee being appointed, including Secretary Bourne and Story, men famous afterwards in the per- fecutions of this reign, to inquire into the validity of the return, they reported to the Houfe, that " Alexander Nowell being a pre- bendary of Weftminfter, and thereby having a voice in the Convocation houfe, cannot be
*= Rex &c. Alex. Nowell preceptor! Scole noftre Weftm. T. R, ap. Weftm. 27 Nov. 5 Ed. VI, p. 3. Rolls Chapel. ' Le Neve, p. 366.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 19
a member of this houfe ;" and a new writ was directed to be iflued accordingly ^.
In this report of the Houfe there feems to have been fomething inaccurate at leaft, if not diredtly contrary to fa6t. As prebendary of Weftminller Nowell had no " voice in the Convocation ;" for none below the dignity of Deans and Archdeacons were bound to perfonal appearance there ; the reft of the clergy appearing only by their proxies, every chapter chooling one, and the clergy of each diocefe two, to reprefent them ". Thefe how- ever were not times for thofe who were de- lirous of retaining peace and a good confci- ence, to inlift rigidly on their right, againft the prevailing party ; and Nowell withdrew quietly from the honour, of which it is not likely that he was ever very ambitious.
In this retreat from parliament there was perhaps no immediate perfonal danger. His efcape out of England was not efFeAed with- out imminent hazard ; as we have the ac-
"^ Journals, vol. i. p. 27. where Newell is a miflake for Nowell, as appears by Willis's Notitia, vol. ii, p. 92. ed. 1716.
" See a Writ de Pari, tenend. Clauf. 24 Edw. I. m. 7. dorf. (1296) in Prynne's Reg", of Pari. vol. i. Part i. p, 6, notis MSS. in the Library of William Bray, Efq. of Great Ruflell Street, See alfo Gent. Mag. 1802. p. 641.
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count, though lefs circumllantial than might be wilhed, from the quaint pen of Thomas Fuller, in his Worthies of Lancalhire. It hap- pened that he was fifliing upon the Thames, an exercife wherein he much delighted ; and while he was intent upon catching fifh, Bon- ner, underflanding who he was, was intent upon catching him ; in which he had fuc- ceeded, and had fent him to the fhambles, had not Francis Bowyer, at that time a merchant, afterwards Sheriff of London, fafely conveyed him beyond the feas.
ALEXANDER NOWELL, 21
SECTION II.
THESE were days, to which we look back with mingled emotions of grief and admi- ration. We lament that the mofl learned and bell men in the kingdom were driven into exile, or feized and imprifoned, by the perfe- cuting fpirit of popery ; but we venerate the patient magnanimity of the opprefled, and confide in the truth, which, like the faith of the firft ages, was cemented with the blood of martyrs, and conquered by fuffering.
The exiles, in number about eight hundred, were difperfed in various parts of Germany and Switzerland ; but Strafburgh and Frank- ford were the chief places of their refort. From Strafburgh in 1554, Thomas Becon, who had been chaplain to the protestor So- merfet, author of the Pomander of prayer ^, a
P There is a beautiful copy of this very rare book in the Li- brary of the late Sir Roger Newdigate, Baronet, at Arbury^ by Day, 1578. with a wood cut of the author, set. 41. a border of flowers and heads of Apoftles &c. on each page ; with this motto (Ecclus. xxiv. 15.) " Pleafantly do I frnell> as it were Cinamone, and fweete Balme." Black letter ; by the lignatures it leems to be 8vo. but fmaller than 1 2mo. There had been earlier editions of this work; for Wharton's Dream in this fame year 1578 (a
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book of great repute in its time, and of other learned works, addrefled an Epiftle to the Faithful in England '^, exhorting them to pa- tient perfeverance in the truth. There was at Straiburgh a college of Englilh, who had a common table, and devoted themfelves to the purfuit of literature, with great harmony and
book hereafter to be noticed) in the addrefs to the Reader, com- plaining of the ufe of improper books, fays, " They wil have their Palace of Pleafure, the wanton Eplftles of Ovid,- — the bow- get of Merry Demaundes ; — fewe or none will have malfter Beacon's fv^^eete Pomander to fmell unto." The name and ufe of a Pomander, or perfumed ball (fometim'es perhaps inclofed in a filver cafe, as we find a pomander among plate, Coates's Read- ing, p. 222.) as a prefervative againft infeftions, fecm to have been familiar as late as the reign of James I. For in 1610, the plague being at Oxford, George RadclifFe (afterwards Sir George) coufin to Samuel RadclifFe (Principal of Brafen Nofe college, 1614) defcended from Maud Nowell, Dean Nowell's aunt, wrote from Oxford, that his tutor, who was alfo his coufin, Charles Greenwood, the great benefaftor to Univerfity college, " had fent him out of town, if he had defired it, and made him a Poman- der." Dr. Whitaker, July 28, 1807, from the original letter, with many others by the fame handj in the pofTeflion of Richard Henry Beaumont^ efquire, of Whitley Beaumont, Yorkfhircj fometime of Brafen Nofe college, a gentleman whofe various learning and eminent fldll in the antiquities of his country are the leaft part of his merit.
1 Strafburgh, Auguft, 1^54. Ames, p, i J77. Richard Heber, Efq. The author had been in prifon from Aug. 16, 1553, till the 2 2d of March following, and tranflated the 103d pfalm, printed at the end of the volume, as a thankfgiving for his deliverance. His life, with a head, and a lifl; of his works in three volumes, is in Lupton's Modern Proteftant Divines, 1637, p. 3J0.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 23
great ardour. Jewell was here, and Nowell was here, and Poinet bilhop of Rochefter (afterwards of WincheHer) and Grindal and Sandys, afterwards fucceflively archbilhops of York ; nor did the learned laymen, Sir John Cheke, Sir Richard Morifon, Sir Peter Carew, Sir Thomas Wroth, and others, difdain to hear Peter Martyr expounding Ariftotle's ethics and the book of Judges ''. In the fol- lowing year (May 6, 1555.) Grindal, then at Frankford, wrote a letter to bilhop Ridley, to whom he had been chaplain, informing him there were well nigh an hundred Undents and miniliers on that lide the fea, and giving an account of fome of them ^ The letter was a cordial to the pious prelate in his imprifon- ment ; and he fays, in his anfwer, " I enfure you it warmed my hart, to hear you by chaunce to name fome, as Scory and Coxe, and others. And, Syr, feing you faye that there be in thofe parties with you of llu- dents and miniliers fo good a number, now therfore care you not for us, other wyfe than to wilhe that Gods glory may be fet forth by us. For whenfoever God Ihall call
' Humphr. Vit. Juel. 1573. p. 86—88.
^ Letters of Martyrs, by Day, 1564. p. 50. Strype's Mem. iii. 245.
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24 THE LIFE OF
us home (as we loke daily for none other, but when it fhall pleafe God to faye. Come) je, blefled be God, are enoughe through his aid, to hght and fet up again the lanterne of his word in England *."
When the expefed fummons was given, he had two requefts only to make to the Queen ; that the tenants of his fee might be permitted to enjoy the benefit of their leafes, or that the fines might be paid back out of his plate and effeAs " ; and that a poor fifter, who had come to him out of the north, with three fatherlefs children, for her relief, now put out of what he had provided for her, might be mercifully confidered.
" Farewell Pembroke Hall, of late mine own colledge ! — In thy orcharde (the walls, buttes and trees, if they could fpeak, would beare me witnefle) I learned without booke almofi: all Paules Epifl:les, yea and I weene all the canonical Epifl;les, fave only the Apo- calipfe. Of which fi:udy, although in time a great part did depart from me, yet the fweete fmell thereof, I trufte (fays the dying
' Letters, ut fupra, p. 52.
" Ibid, p, 38. There was afterwards a notable law fuit about thefe leafes, and a bill was brought into parliament to make them void, but it did not pafs, Strype's Memor. iii. 58.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 25
martyr) I fhall carry with me into heaven : for the profite thereof I thinke I have felte in all my life '^ !"
Such was this great reformer of our church in the days of Edward the lixth. But we are chiefly concerned with one of a congenial Ipirit and equal learning, who lived to bear a part in the reformation achieved in the reign of Elizabeth.
Scarcely any earthly good is unalloyed with evil. The retirement and fuffering and ftudy, which prepared the exiles to adorn and defend the church of England on their return in bet- ter days, did not in the mean time produce entire concord and unanimity among them- felves. Whittingham and Sutton, and a few more, the firft that fixed themfelves at Frank- ford, were no fooner come thither, than they fhewed themfelves willing to lay afide the very face and appearance of an Englilh church. On the night of their arrival 7, Va- leran Pullan, minifter of the French exiles, waited upon them at their lodging, and in- formed them, that he had obtained a church there in the name of all fuch as fhould come out of England for the golpel, wilhing them
^ Letters, ut fupra, p. pa.
y June 27, 1554. Troubles at Frankford, 1642. p. i, &c.
26 THE LIFE OF
to join his congregation. But as this, becaufe few of them underftood the language (for no other objedion was made) would be of fmall advantage, they prefented a requeft to the magiftrates of the town, that thej might be permitted to have the ufe of fome place, where they might have the word and facraments miniftered in their own native tongue. It was ordered therefore ^, in compliance with their wilhes, that the fame church, which had hi- therto been allowed to the French, fhould now ferve them and the Englilh alternately ; but with this injundlion, that they ihould not dilTent from the French in do6lrine or cere- monies ; willing them further, before they entered their church, to fubfcribe the fame confeffion of faith ; which they all accordingly did.
Their next care was to frame a liturgy, or order of fervice ; but this they difpatched within a fortnight ; for they did little elfe but cancel largely. The interlocutories be- tween the minifter and people, the litany, and the furplice, and many other things were call alide. The general confeflion was altered for " one of more effe6l," and fuited to their
^ July 14. ib, p, 2.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 27
prefent ftate. Inftead of the pfalms and lef- fons for the day ^, with the intervening hymns, they had " a pfalm in metre in a plain tune ;" and this done, the preacher went at once into the pulpit, and, after pray- ing for afliftance of God's Spirit, proceeded to the fermon. Next followed " a general prayer for all eftates, and for our country of Eng- land," with the Lord's Prayer ; then the re- hearfal of the articles of faith, and another pfalm ; and then lallly they were difmilTed with the peace of God. This was the meagre and diforderly form, which they endeavoured to impofe on all the Englilh abroad, and af- terwards to obtrude on the whole church of England.
They wrote a circular letter ^ to the exiles at Strafburgh, at Zurick, at Embden and other places, inviting them to Frankford, where " God's providence had procured them a
^ lb. p. 3. Heylin, Reform, p. 228. fays they had the pfalms and leffons ; but I can difcover no trace of them at this time. In their new Difcipline, afterwards adopted, there were to be affift- ants " to read and expound the chapters." p. 100. There were fome at Bafil, who, like thefe at Frankford, " triumphed in ere6t- ing their church of the Purity 5" of whom Bale fays, " They mock the rehearfal of God's commandments, and of the epiftles and gofpels in our communion, and fay they are mifplaced." Strype's Mem. iii. App, p, 107.
^ Troubles, p. 4—9.
28 THE LIFE OF
church, free from all dregs of fuperflitious ceremonies'' The anfwers, from Embden, where Scory bifhop of Chichefter preiided, from Strafburgh, where Grindal, Sandys, and Haddon had the conftituting of the church, from Home, Chambers, Mullins, Parkhurft, and others at Zurick, were temperate, but firm ; that they would adhere to " the order laft taken in the church of England," and were " fully determined to admit and ufe no others"
Thefe anfwers, as might be fuppofed, gave little fatisfadion ; nor was the matter mended, when Knox, who by his " Firft Blaft" againft all government, and other feditious traces, had made Scotland, France, and England too hot for him, came from Geneva to Frankford, in confequence of a letter from the congregation there, inviting him to be their minifter ^. Other letters palTed, and the breach grew wider ; which Grindal and Chambers, coming
<= From Zurick, 23 061. 15^4. ib. 10 — 12. The anfwers from Embden and Strafburgh (p. 9. 12.) are not given ; no doubt be- caufe they agreed with this from Zurick, and, as the innovators confefled, were " not in fuch fort as they looked for." p. 14.
^ P. 14. The magiftrates afterwards obliged him to leave Frankford, on account of treafonable paffages in his " Admoni- tion to Chriftians," p. 37. The letter inviting him to Frank- ford was dated Sept. 24, 1554. Strype's Mem, iii. 149.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 29
from Stralburgh, endeavoured to heal by pro- pofing to retain the fubftance of the Englilh liturgy, omitting only fuch ceremonies and things as the country could not bear ^. Tran- quillity was thus reftored for a time, but it did not laft ; for Knox and Whittingham were as averfe to the fubftance as to the circumftan- tials of the Englilh book ; and they now wrote to Calvin f, not becaufe they were inclined to accede to what many defired ^, the order of Geneva, but willing enough to dilgrace the Englifli ritual by his authority. Calvin, in his anfwer, lamented that there fhould exift among them ftrife and difputes, when they ought to be united in their difperfion and common fuf- fering ; but as to the main bulinefs, though he did not go the lengths of thofe that wrote to him in cenfuring the Englifli liturgy, yet he fufficiently exprefled his difapprobation of it ; faying that he faw in it multas tolera- biles ineptias, remains of popifli dregs, and a want of fuch purity as might be delired ^.
^ p. 18. Grindal in his letter of May 6, 15^5 (quoted above, p. 22.) thanks God that the church was then " well quieted by the prudency of Mafter Cox and others, which met here for that purpofe."
f P, 23 — 27.
s P. 21. 30.
^^ From Geneva, 22 Jan, 1555. ib. 28— 30,
30 THE LIFE OF
This letter from Geneva inflamed the oppo- lition, and difputes increafed. At length John Hales, a man of learning and moderation, much refpecfted in the court of Edward VI. addrefled a letter to *' certain perfons that feemed delirous of the peace of the church," wifhing them to meet, and confult how they might heft allay this llrife \ No well, now at Frankford, was one of thefe fons of peace, and, as the account fays, " the mouth for the reft k." Certain decrees or refolutions, rea- fonable and conciliatory, were prefented to the paftor and elders, accompanied with a modeft proteftation, intreating their confent ; but they chofe to refign, rather than fubmit ; and afterwards, when the magiftrates of the town made an order, that they Ihould be re- ftored, the congregation refufed them '.
They had fucceflively two forms of Difci- pline among them, the Old and the New"".
' 26 Jan. 1557. p. 55, 56. Hales probably was of Brafen Nofe, Ath. Oxen. i. 176.
^ P. 62. Nowell had probably not been long at Frankford ; for Fox, in a letter from thence to Martyr (at Strafburgh, as it fcems) fix or eight months at leaft after the commencement of the trou- bles, fends falutations to him among others : " D. Nowellum — falutari cupio." Strype's Memor. iii. App. p. 106,
' P- 75'
" The old Difcipline, p. 94 — 97. The new, p, 97 — 114.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 31
In both there was an exprefs rule, that all per- fons, women as well as men, before they were admitted members of the church, fhould make a declaration or confeffion of faith ; which the new difcipline further required them to fub- fcribe, if they could write ". In this new dif- cipline, alTuming truth of doctrine and the right miniftration of the Sacraments and Com- mon Prayer, as principal ligns and notes of a vilible church, and holding for true dodlrine, full and fufRcient for falvation, what is con- tained in canonical Scripture, and briefly lum- med up, as concerning faith, in the three Creeds, they pledged themfelves to " obferve and keep the form and order of the minif- tration of the facraments and common prayer, as fet forth by the authority of blelTed king Edward of famous memory," but with omif- fion of certain rites and ceremonies, as things indifferent °.
The whole congregation, at this time, feems not much to have exceeded threefcore P ; fifty- feven of whom fubfcribed the new difcipline ; and among them are the names of David Whitehead, Alexander Nowell, Thomas Wil-
n p. 94. 108.
» p. 99.
P Not above 62. March 30. p. 84.
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fon, and John MuUins 9. No well, Daniel Ro- gers, Sir Francis Knolles, and Henry his fon, with twenty others, " were added to the church, the 21 of December, 1557 ;" and, I prefume, alTented to the difcipline ; though none of them feem to have fubfcribed it, but No well only ; who appears to have been at Frankford before "*.
This amended difcipline, in common with the other, coincided in moft points with the prelbyterian form, particularly in appointing two minifters with equal powers ; to which Home, Ifaac, and Chambers obje(fted on many grounds, but principally on the authority of Scripture, and the example of the primitive church ^ To the anfwers, which were ne- ceflarily evafive and unfatisfa6lory, the names of Hales, Whitehead, Nowell, Mulhns, Watts, and Wilfon, among others, are fubfcribed *.
On the death of queen Mary the venerable Miles Coverdale, Knox, Whittingham, Good- man, and others addrelTed a circular letter to Strafburgh, Frankford, and other cities, where
1 p. 114.
' 26 Jan. 1557. (as juft mentioned, p. 29. n. i.) which I fup- pofe muft mean 1556-7 and fo was prior to Dec. i557» « P. 115. » P. 116.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 33
the Englifli refided, exhorting them to unity, and not to contend for fuperfluous ceremo- nies, to the joy of the papifts ^. The anfwer from Frankford, by the fame melTenger who brought the letter, WiUiam Kethe, deferves particular notice. Thofe with whom recon- ciliation was fought, had left Frankford before the letter arrived ; " and as for ourfelves, as we have had no contention with you at all aforetime ; fo we purpofe not (as we truft there fliall be no caufe) to enter into con- tention with you hereafter. For ceremo- nies to contend (where it fhall be neither in your hands nor ours to appoint what fhall be, but in fuch men's wifdoms as fhall be appointed to the devifing of the fame, and which (hall be received by common confent of Parliament,) it fliall be to fmall purpofe. But we truft that both true religion ftiall be reftored, and that we fhall not be burthened with unprofitable ceremonies. And there- fore, as we purpofe to fubmit ourfelves to fuch orders as fhall be eftablifhed by autho- rity, being not of themfelves wicked, fo we
" From Geneva, Dec. 15. p. 160 — 162. William Kethe, a mi- nifter, " was a Scot, endued," as Strype fays, " with a vein of poetry." Memor. vol. iii. 460. where, and p. 441. are fpecimens of his talent, fuch as it was.
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would wilh you willingly to do the fame. For whereas all the reformed churches differ among themfelves in divers ceremonies, and yet agree in the unity of doArine ; we fee no inconvenience, if we ufe fome ceremonies diverfe from them, fo that we agree in the chief points of our religion. Notwithftand- ing, if any Ihall be intruded, that fhall be of- fenlive, we, upon juft conference and deli- beration upon the fame, at our meeting with you in England (which we truft by God's grace will be Ihortly) will brotherly join with you to be fuitors for the reformation and aboliihing of the fame. In the mean fea- fon, let us w^th one heart and mind call to the Almighty God, that of his infinite mercy, he will finifh and eflablifli the work, that he hath begun in our country, and that we may all lovingly confent together in the earneft fetting forth of his truth, that God may be known and exalted, and his church perfectly builded up through Chrifl our Lord. Your loving friends, in the name of the refl of the church, James Pilkington, Edmund Ifaac, Henry Knolles, John Mullins, Alexan- der Nowell," and others ^.
* Jan. 3. 1559 (i. e. clearly 1558-9) p. 163, The "Brief Dif- courfe of the Troubles at Frankford," a fmall quarto, was printed
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 35
We have dwelt perhaps too long on this unfortunate controverfy ; but it was the ori- ginal malady, the firft fpring and occalion of all the difputes, which ever lince have haraf- fed the church of England ; and Nowell, as we have feen, was concerned in it ; fometimes perhaps, for the fake of peace, conceding too much to the prefbyterian party ; but at laft, with equal wifdom moderation and firmnefs, preffing unity in elfentials, and fubmilllon in fmaller matters to authority duly appointed and legally exercifed.
But it is time to look homeward, and fee how affairs are going on in England.
abroad, without the name either of editor or place, in 1575- It appears to have been compiled (p. 81, 82.) by fome one of the fifteen perfons, who were chofen to frame the New Difcipline ; and as it all along favours the prefbyterian party, it was reprinted at London in 1642, and " prefented to the view and confideration of — Parliament, and the reverend Divines of the intended enfuing Aflembly," Both editions, by the kindnefs of the late Mr. Brand, are in my poffeffion 5 the references are to that of 1642. The other, which is more fcarce, is a curious fpecimen of early Ger- man typography. The traft is alfo printed in the Phenix, vol. ii, p. 70, &c.
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SECTION III.
r was the wifdom of Elizabeth, when Ihe alTumed the reins of a kingdom fufFering and diftracfted, to do nothing precipitately. Inllrud:ed in true religion, and refolved from' the firft to encourage and reftore it, fhe deli- berated, in her own mind and with her ex- perienced counfellors, how Ihe might bring about the reformation, which Ihe meditated, with greateft fecurity and beft efFe6t. The proclamation therefore, which announced her acceffion to the throne, ftridly commanded all her fubjecfts to keep themfelves in peace, and not to attempt any alteration or change of eliablifhed ufages. The Litany in Englifhj as ufed in her Majefty's chapel, was allowed, with the epiftle and gofpel, and the Lord's prayer and creed, in Engliih ; and no other prayers or ceremonies permitted, but fuch as were at prefent ufed in the church ; until confultation might be had in parliament, by her Majefty and the three eftates of the realm, for the better conciliation and fettlement of matters of religion.
In the mean time care was taken, that the
ALEXANDER NOWELL, 37
public preachers, efpecially at St. Paul's crofs, fliould be men of prudence and piety, who would move no difputes refpeAing govern- ment. And fo Dr. Bill, the Queen's almoner, preached at the crofs on the funday after her Majefty's acceffion 7 ; and Dr. Cox, re- cently returned from abroad, was appointed to preach at the opening of the parliament % January 23, 1559-60.
But though the learned exiles were called to preach before the Queen and other public auditories, they were for fome time fufFered to remain in a poor neglected condition ; nei- ther reftored to their former preferments, nor otherwife provided for ; fo that, as Dr. San- dys lamented to Parker, they were not fo bare in the time of their exile, as now on their return ^.
It has been faid, that Nowell was " the firlt that returned from foreign parts'^;" but this account, if it did not originate, as perhaps it did, in a mere miftake, feems not to be corred:
f Strypes Ann. i 3^. 112.
' Ibid. 56,
a Ibid. 131. with 56.
^ Donald Lupton in his Life of Nowell. In the engraving of Nowell's epitaph in Dugd. St. Paul's (p. no.) I fufpeft " redu- cum i," which is certainly a blunder, and probably ought to be " reduci," was read " reducum primo/* and of courfe tranflated " the firft of thofe that returned."
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in point of fad. For as he was at Frankford, and apparently not haftening home, on the third of January ^, Sandys and Grindal, who reached London on the day of the Queen's coronation ^, which was the fifteenth of that month, and Cox and others probably, mull have returned before him. Whatever was the exad; time of his arrival, his brother Laurence, who had alfo been abroad, obtained prefer- ment before him ; for he was inftalled Dean of Lichfield on the 29th of April, 15 59. His predeceiTor in that dignity was John Ram- ridge, D. D. of Merton college, a zealous pa- pifl:, who was made dean in the firfi year of queen Mary, and leaving England without any compulfion, on the acceffion of Elizabeth, being much troubled at forefeeing the altera- tion of religion, he went into Flanders ; where, wandering about in great difcontent, he was accidentally met by thieves, who robbed and murdered him ^.
The new Dean was entrufi:ed by Sir Wil- liam Cecil with the education of the young earl of Oxford, his ward (who afterwards married his beloved and accomplifhed daugh- ter, Anne Cecil ;) and on profped of leifure
<= See above, p. 34. n. x.
"^ Fox's Martyrs, ii. p. 2089. b,
e x\th. Oxon. i. Fafti 67. Harwood's Hift. Lichf. p 182.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 39
when he was about to be releafed from his honourable charge, he fubmitted a propofal to the Secretary, exprelTed in very elegant Latin, offering to frame and prefent to him an exa(ft map of England. Such a gift, in thefe days, might feem hardly worthy of the acceptance of a great and learned llatefman; but in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, when the art of engraving in this country was in its infancy, and an engraved map pro- bably could not be procured, if the learned Dean, a complete mafter of his pen, was able to achieve his wifhes, and to delineate the whole kingdom and the feveral counties with greater clearnefs and accuracy, than had hi- therto been done, the work might be, as he confidently hoped, no defpicable monument to be dedicated to the name of his illufirious patron, and to remain in the royal cabinets, a valuable document for his fuccelTors in of- fice, while the Britilh empire fliould endure f.
The bufinefs of that important parliament, the firfi: of Elizabeth, in which the adls of uniformity and fupremacy for the fettlement of religion were pafled, was principally ma- naged by the lord Keeper Bacon, conformably
*■ See the original in tile Burgliley MSS. Brit. Muf. vol. vi. No. ^4. in June 1568.
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to the wifhes of the Queen and his own faga- cious maxim, " Let us wait a httle, that we may have done the fooner ^." It was dilTolved on the eighth of May ^ ; and fliortly after, a? appears by a paper of fecretary Cecil's, Nowell was fixed upon, with Parker, Bill, White- head, Pilkington, Sandys, Jewell, Becon, and others, to be promoted to the chief prefer- ments then vacant K
And here it may be proper to advert to an original letter, which, though it does not mention Nowell, refers to tranfad:ions in which he was concerned, and throws confi- derable light on the Hate and occurrences of thofe days. It is dated at London, May 28, 1559, and addreffed to Mr. Abel at Straf- burgh, one of the learned and liberal mer- chants of London, who had contributed to the fupport of the exiles ; and, by the impor- tation of books and otherwife, greatly pro- moted literature and the reformation''. The
s Biogr, Britan.
^ Strype's Annals^ i. 68.
' Ibid. p. 154.
^ Humphr. Vit. Juel. p. 90. Parkhurft addreffes one of his epigrams to him : " Cum perpetuo me amaveris,
Abele mi chariffime" &c. p. 108. He fubfcribes a letter, Sept. 29, 1556, with Edwin Sandys and others, endeavouring to make an end of the " forrowful contro- Terfy" at Frankford, Troubles of Frankford, p. 149.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 41
writer, who does not fubfcribe his name, as his hand was well known to his friend, had recently been at his new benefice in Kent, '' by the fame token that he was robbed of his gown and cap at Gad's hill" — one proof, by the way, that our immortal bard did not, even in fmall matters, lofe fight of truth and probability, when he made Gad's hill the fcene of the depredations of his valorous knight.
The chief particulars in the letter are thefe : that Mr. Grindal preached at the crofs on Whitfun monday, which was the firfl: fer- mon that had been there fince Chrifi;mas, except two at Eafter; and in his fermon, tt^e lord Keeper and the whole Council being prefent, he proclaimed the refl:oring of the book of king Edward ; whereat as well the lords as the people made, or at leaft pre- tended, a wonderful rejoicing. There was no bifhop, nor canon of St. Paul's, prefent ; and as the penalty for not receiving the new fervice book was not to take place till mid- fummer, therefore St. Paul's and certain other churches liill kept their popifh fervice; but the greater part in the city were reformed.
From the very beginning of the Queen's reign plots were formed againft her; and con-
42 THE LIFE OF
jurers ' did incredible mifchief, in abuiing her fubjecfts, and pretending to foretel, that fhe Ihould not live long. In conlequence of fome charge of this fort it feems to have been, that on friday in Whitfun week " a prieft, a po- pilh merchant, was carried to the tower for uttering words againft the Queen's majeftj," faying " that flie Ihould not long continue."
There was fhortly to be a vifitation of the whole realm by her Majefty's authority ; and Sir Anthony Cook, Mr. Goodrich, Dr. May, Dr. Cox, Dr. Haddon, Mr. Wroth, with my Lord of Bedford, Lord Mountjoy, and Dr. Wefton, lately chancellor to bifhop Coverdale, now dean of the arches, were to be vilitors, and alfo the Queen's commiflioners for all ccclefiaftical matters ; to whom others were to be added, making the whole number four- teen.
Some of thefe names are not elfewhere found among the Queen's visitors, and were not perhaps adually appointed ; and Nowell, who was one of the number, is not here mentioned. Separate commiffions were iflued
1 See Strype's Ann. i. 7, 8. 44. A prieft, with others, was fet in the pillory for conjuring, 1561. ib. 269. And the frequency of thefe praftices occafioned an aft againft conjurations in 1562. ib. 311.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 43
for diftind: parts of the kingdom ; in one of which, dated July 22, 1559, Nowell was in- cluded, with the marquis of Northampton, the earls of Rutland and Huntington, Sir Wil- liam Cecil, Sir Ambrofe Cave, Thomas Bent- ham, D. D., Fleetwood the lawyer, Stephen Nevinfon, LL. D., and others, to vilit the dio- cefes of Oxford, Lincoln, Peterborough, and Lichfield "^.
The defign of thefe vilitations was to de- liver the Queen's Injundlions, to fee that re- gifters were duly kept, that altars and images were removed and defaced ; to inquire what books of the Scriptures had been burnt, and how many perfons put to death, or impri- foned, for religion, in the late troubles ; to reftore ejeded minifters, to adminiller the oath of fupremacy, and to injoin the ufe of the new fervice book. And the efFeA of the visitation, in advancing the reformation, was fo great, that, throughout the whole king- dom, the commilTioners made returns of not more than one hundred and eighty nine of the clergy, who refufed compliance ".
The letter writer fays, Mr. Horn (after- wards bilhop of Wincheller) preached at the
™ Strype's Ann. i. 167.
" Ibid. 159. 164. 172. App, 58.
44 THE LIFE OF
crofs on Trinity funday, and made an excel- lent fermon againfl Antichrill's vicar. On tuefday in that week the French ambaffadors arrived, and were received very honourably at the court at Wellminller. They were prefent at the Engliih fervice in her Majefty's chapel, and when Ihe had taken an oath in confirma- tion of the peace, they were fealled by her Highnefs with fuch folemnity as was fcarcely ever feen. Philip's amballador, count Feria, with his fuite, departed the fame day ; but his confort, a lady of great piety, whom he had married in England, did not choofe, as we learn ellewhere ^, to accompany her hufband and leave her native country.
° From " The Life of the Ladie Jane Dormer Duchefle of Fe- ria," a manufcript in a very fair hand, by H. Clifford, dedicated to Charles Dormer, Earl of Carnarvon, and Baron of Wing, whofe " valiant father — died in the battle of Newbury this year 1643." It is enriched with fom.e fine drawings, particularly a beautiful one of the Duchefs with a black veil thrown back, a book in her right hand and beads in her left, copied 1802, froni an original painting of 1572,31 Catefby in Northamptonfhire, where fhe is ftyled, " Vidua D. Gomifii Sueres Defigueroa y Cor- dova, Feriae Ducis, get. fuae ^S" She was daughter of " Sir Wil- liam Dormer, one of 6 Knights of the Bath to queen Mary of hlejfed and pious memory" p. 8. only Ion of Sir Robert Dormer by his wife Lady Jane Newdigate, p. 15. Her mother was Lady Mary Sydney, iifter to Sir Henry Sydney, lord Lieutenant of Ire- land &c. The MS. was lately in the hands of Mr, Howlett,
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 4^
Mr. Springham, another London merchant, a patron of the exiles, came home with his wife and company on the wednefday before this letter was written, and on the day of its date Mr. Barlow preached at the crofs, who was named to be bifliop of Chichefter, as were Scory for Hereford, Parker for Canter- bury, Cox for Norwich, and Bill or White- head for Saliibury. Some of the bifhops, as York, London, Lichfield, and Carlifle, had difmiffed their fervants, becaufe, as it was thought, they intended to refign their bilhop- rics : " I pray God," fays the writer, " there come no worfe tidings to England. The greater part of the monks of Weftminller have changed their coats already."
From the writer's falutations to his friends abroad, it is probable, that he himfelf had been an exile ; but who he was, it were, I fear, fruitlefs to inquire ; for it was not Jewell, to whom, after laborious refearch, it was once afcribed ''. For the accurate bifhop Jewell
Alderman of Coventry. A provifo in favour of the Duchefs of Feria;, 13 Eliz. 1571. Dewes, f. 179. b.
' By the late John Loveday Efq. of Caverfham. The letter is now in the hands of his fon, John Loveday, D. C. L. of Wil- liamfcot near Banbury. See a copy of it, App. No. iii.
46 THE LIFE OF
wrote a fmall and very beautiful hand '' ; but this anonymous letter is in a hand totally dif- ferent, llrong and coarfe.
Cardinal Pole, archbifliop of Canterbury, died on the day of the demife of queen Mary ; but conliftently with the careful deliberation already noted >■, whereby the reign of Eliza- beth was diftinguilhed from the hafty mea- fures of Mary's court, as well the metropo- litan as other churches, fome void by death and others by deprivation, were fuffered to continue for fome time without pallors. At length however Parker, mild and comely % grave, learned, and devout, was pitched upon to be archbifliop of Canterbury, and was con- fecrated in Lambeth chapel, December 17, 1559; where, four days afterwards, he con- fecrated Grindal bifliop of London, Cox of
1 As appears by his letters among Abp. Parker's MSS. in Ben- net College, Cambridge.
' P.^6.
» The learning judgement and talents of the archbifhop are univerfally known. Of his perfonal appearance Afcham, who knew him well and had feen him prefide at Cambridge, fays, " The Vice Chancellor (at Louvain is) more like in apparel and port to our prieft of Horningfhire, than to the comelinefs of M. Dr. Parker." Letter from Auglburg, Jan. 20, 1551-a. Works by Bennet, p. 371.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 47
Ely, Sandys of Worcefter, and Merrick of Bangor. Nowell was chaplain to Grindal, and preached the confecration fermon ^, on the very feafonable and appolite text, " Take heed therefore unto yourfelves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghoft hath made you overfeers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchafed with his own. blood." Ads XX. 28.
Preferment now began to flow in upon him. On the firfl; day of the new year, 1559-60, Grindal collated him to the Arch- deaconry of Middlefex ". On the third of February the Archbifliop collated him to the rectory of Saltwood, with the annexed chapel of Hythe, in Kent ^ ; and on the fourteenth of the fame month to a prebend of Canterbury ^. The archdeaconry was void by the deprivation of William Chadfey, D. D. who had been
' Strype's Ann. I. 156.
" Extr, Reg. Grindal, in the pofleffioa of R. Gough Efquire. Newcourt, i. 82,
"" Reg. Parker {.341. Of the fine old Caftle at Saltwood (part of which was thrown down by an earthquake in 1^80, Stow's Chron. 680.) fee an account, accompanied with four views, in Gent, Mag. 1S02. J089. a view of Hythe church, ib, looi. Saltwood church and .part of the Caftle, Ib. 1805, ma with 1012.
y Reg. Parker i. 541. b.
48 THE LIFE OF
chaplain to Bonner, and was Prefident of Corpus Chrifli college in Oxford, and canon of Chrift Church ^ ; from both which he was eje6led, probably, as others were, for refufing to take the oath of fupremacy. Salt wood was vacant for the fame reafon, by the deprivation of Nicholas Harpsfield ^, celebrated for his Ikill in theology and hiftory, who was one of the difputants at Weftminfter, in the begin- ning of this reign, on the Roman catholic fide, when they were fo foiled the firft day, that they refufed to continue the difputa- tion b.
The prebend of Canterbury was vacant by thfe deprivation of Robert Collins, probably the fame perfon who was commilTary to Car- dinal Pole, and was inftalled as his proxy archbifhop of Canterbury c. The regilier ftates, that the prebend was in the gift of the arch- bifhop, by virtue of a royal patent of Edward VI. granting to archbifhop Cranmer and his fuccelTors the patronage, which they ftill en- joy, of three prebends in the church of Can- terbury, of which this was one. John Bale,
* Ath. Oxon. i. 136.
^ lb. 214. Newcourt i. 153.444.
•» Strype's Ann. i. 87 &c.
« Ath. Oxon. i. 121.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 49
the laborious compiler of the lives of Englilh writers and of other learned works, particu- larly againft the church of Rome, had been admitted to another iiall in the fame cathe- dral, a few days before, by royal prefenta- tion \
Nowell preached at the crofs on the tenth of February this year ; at which time a per- fon did penance for bigamy ^. This was be- fore the beginning of Lent. During Lent the new bifliops, and other eminent confefTors and fufferers of Mary's days, took their turn at the crofs, before noble and crowded audito- ries ; and conciliated great refpedl, as Strype obferves \ to what was called the new reli- gion, and to the perfons of the clergy, newly appearing out of their banifliment and recelles, fhining with clear confciences and holy zeal for truth. Now alfo, firft at the court, and more publicly at the crofs on pailion funday, Jewell made his famous challenge, that none of the peculiar and difcriminating dogmas of popery could be proved, either by warrant of Scripture, or by authority of the fathers or
^ Reg. Parker, ut fupra. * Strji-pe's Ann, i. 199. ^ Ibid. 201.
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50 THE LIFE OF
councils, during fix hundred years from the birth of Chrift^
Nowell refigned Saltwood within the year, and was fucceeded by Stephen Nevinfon ^, LL. D. prebendary of Canterbury, and com- mifiary general to the archbiihop ; by whom he was deputed, with Nowell and other com- miffioners, about autumn, 1560, to vifit the church and the diocefe of Canterbury, and the church and diocefe of Rochefter K The in- junctions for this metropolitan vifitation, re- fpecling refidence, fermons, the holy commu- nion, and other matters of ecclefiaftical difci- pline, drawn up by the commiHioners, were revifed and approved by the archbifhop ; and are preferved among his other invaluable ma- nufcripts in Bennet college, Cambridge ; a monument at once of his own care, and of the wifdom of thofe, to whom he delegated his vifitatorial authority ^.
By a patent, dated at Wellminfter, June 2 1 , 1560, the queen eredled the monaftery of St.
8 Humphr. Vit, Juel. p. 12.4. Heylin's Reform, p, 303. Strype's Ann. i. 20 1.
^ Reg. Parker, 347,
^ Strype's Parker, p. 72. 75. 93. 136. L. of Grindal, p. 50. 192.
•^ MS. Parker cxx. 8. Injunftions by— Alexander Nowell &c, Sept. 1560.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 51
Peter's, Weftminfter, which the monks had lately quitted \ into a collegiate church ; and Nowell had the honour of being named, in the charter of foundation ^, the firll preben- dary of the feventh ftall ; which he refigned the year following, and was fucceeded in it by John Hill, B. D. of Chrift Church, Ox- ford ". The ftatutes, on this new foundation, were compiled by Dr. Bill °, the queen's al- moner, who was the firft Dean.
William May, LL. D. Dean of St. Paul's, counfellor to Edward VI, and one of the com- pilers of his firil: liturgy, having been ejected from his deanery by queen Mary, v/as rellored by Elizabeth, and was afterwards ele<9:ed arch- bilhop of York, but died Augufi; 8, l56o, be- fore he was confecrated. " This eminently pious and learned Dean was fucceeded by another eminently pious and learned man, Alexander Nowell''." The Queen's letter to the chapter on the occaiion, dated November 1 1 , is couched in thefe words : " As well for his "godly zeal, and fpecial good learning, and
' See ab<5ve, p. 4^.
™ Rymerxv. p. 590. Newcourt i. 49. " Ath. Oxon. i. F. 90. Newcourt i. 436. n, m. and ^%6. * Strype's L. of Cheke, p. 10. ^ Strype's Ann. i. 205. and fee Newcourt i. 47. E2
52 THE LIFE OF
other lingular gifts and virtues, we thought good to commend him unto you, as one, whom we, of a lingular good will and hearty affection towards that church, would have preferred unto the Deanery thereof." Accordingly his friend and fellow exile, John Mullins, one of the relidentiaries, having appointed tuefday, November 27, for the day of election, he was by the faid Mullins, Gabriel Goodman (after- wards dean of Wellminller) Alley, bilhop of Exeter, Thomas Watts, William Saxey, and other prebendaries, duly eledled ^ ; and made his entrance into the choir the fame day, when Te Deum was fung, and the organ played. The billiop of London confirmed the eledlion December l ; and on the third of that month, collated him to the prebend of Wildland in St. Paul's % vacant by the depri- vation of John Morwen, noted for his pro-
^ Strype's Grindal, p. 38. The terms of the letter were not words of courfe, but fele6l and appropriate, as is evident by com- paring it with the letter recommending Nowell's fucceffor^ Dr. Overall (Chaplain in Ordinary and Profeffor of Divinity at Cam- bridge) " in lome confideration of his learning and other virtues inabling him to a place of fuch dignity." Brit. Muf. MS. Sloane, 8j6. f.47.
■■ Reg. Decan. et Capit, D. Pauli, Nowell i. f. 52. b. &c. Reg, Grindal, 15. b. &c. Strype's Grind. 38, Annals i. aoj.
' Reg. Grind. Newcourt i. 215.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 53
found knowledge of divinity and Greek, who had been private inftru6tor to Jewell in Cor- pus Chrifti college, and bore this memorable teftimony to his merit, " That, though a he- retic in faith, in life he feemed an angel ^
The learned exiles, according to Ridley's prophetic wiih ", had a principal hand in re- ftoring and advancing the reformed religion ; and, among them, Nowell, ready at every call of duty, bore a conltant part. He preached at the crofs on the third funday after Epiphany ; on which occalion a paflage of his fermon was much talked of, and grofsly mifrepre- fented by the papifts ; who had the confi- dence to charge him, even in print, with having faid. That " it would do him good to raze his buckler upon a papift's face." To this he was forced to anfwer, and faid, " It was a falfe lye ; and that he had rather go a thoufand miles about, than to be put to that neceflity to fave his life by fuch hard means ; and have his own face razed ten times, than he would once raze another man's face ; or hurt any Chriftian man : fo little good would it do him."
' Humphr. Vlt. Juel. p. 25. Of Morwen fee Ath. Ox. i. 82. and Newcourt i. 147. " See above, p. 24.
E 3
54 THE LIFE OF
The truth was this, he preached upon the epiftle of the day ; in which are the words, " Avenge not yourfelves ;" and after he had declared, that we may not avenge ourfelves, he obferved that the common old tranflation had it, that we fhould not defend ourfelves. And hereupon he moved this queftion, " Whe- ther a Chriftian man might defend himfelf." Whereunto he anfwered by thefe words : In cafe we be, by any magiftrate or officer, or at the commandment of the prince, by any man wronged, I know no defence, but patient fuf- fering. For no true Chriftian hath any hand to lift up againll the prince. But in cafe a thief would fet upon me by the high way, where I could have no help at the magiftrate's hand, I would, if I were able, defend myfelf ; and rather than I would be llain, I would, if I could, maim him. For to kill the thief, who, being in that caufe flain, fhould a thou- land pounds to a penny be damned, would be moft horrible. Yea, faid he, if any pri- vate perfon, without authority of office, or commandment of the prince, fiiould quarrel with me, and call me heretic, thief, or would invade me forcibly, I would lift up my buck- ler hand, and rather than he fhould kill me, I would lay my buckler upon his face, if I
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 55
could, though it were rough with ftuds, and had a pike in the middle : fpeaking (as he faid in his vindication) thofe words only in cafe of faving his own life, if he could no other- wife do it ^."
It will readily be admitted, that the good Dean fully vindicated himfelf from this foul afperlion, and carried the Chrillian doctrine of fubmiflion and non-refiftance quite as far as is jull or neceflary. But the alteration of manners, for the better furely, which has long taken place, makes fome illuftration of the paHage requisite. No one now, in the pulpit or elfe where, would talk of '^ razing his buckler" on the face of a robber that af- failed him ; but, till the days of Ehzabeth or later, it was almoft as common to wear wea- pons of defence, as to wear clothes. When Dr. Sandys, vice-chancellor of Cambridge, in the beginning of queen Mary's reign, fat in the chair to confer degrees, and perceived fome violence attempted, he " groped to his dagger ;" and, being a man of great courage, had difpatched fome of them, if Dr. Bill and others had not prayed him tq hold his hand/,
* Strype's Annals, i. 236. y Fox, ii. p, 2087.
E4
56 THE LIFE OF
Stow informs us % that every ferving man, from the bafe to the beft, carried a buckler at his back, which hung by the hilt or pomel of his fword, which hung before him ; and that thirty or forty, thus accoutred, ufed to fight in Smithfield, particularly on fundays ; and yet httle harm was done, as thruiling was not then in ufe. The bucklers, an article in every haberdaffier's tliop, were about a foot broad, with a pike of four or five inches. The fword and buckler, about the 20th of Elizabeth, gave place to the rapier and dag- ger ^ ; when fiiurdy apprentices ufed to wear long daggers at their backs or fides, and to carry the water tankard, to ferve their maf- ters, from the Thames and the common con- duits ^. The length of the rapiers, and about the fame time the depth of the ruffs, increaf- ing, a proclamation was iffued againft them ; and grave citizens were tlationed at the gates of the metropolis to cut the ruffs, which were above a nail deep, and break the rapiers' points, if they exceeded a yard.
^ Stow's Chron. by Howes, 163 i. p. 1024. and 869. b.
^ Stow, ut fupra. And fee Gervafe Markham's remarkable challenge to Sir John Holies, firft Earl of Clare, in 1597. " with my rapier and dagger — to fight in our Ihirts and waftcotes." Gent. Mag. 1803. p. 1004.
^ Stow, p, 1040.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 5/
Such were the times, when Nowell Ipoke fo familiarly of a buckler, rough with iiuds and fharpened with a pike. He preached be- fore the Queen, February IQ ; and made a godly fermon, and had a vaft and honourable audience ; and again, at court, March ig. Some of the other preachers at this time, in Lent and at Ealler, were Skamler biiliop of Peterborough, Pilkington biihop of Durham, Horn of Winchefter, Grindal of London, Cox of Ely, the archbilhop of Canterbury, arch- deacon MuUins, and bifliop Jewell. For, as Strype obferves, it was the wifdom of the prefent governours to put up, from time to time, able, learned, difcreet, and aged men, to be teachers of the people at thefe folemn and great alfemblies ; who commonly made it their bulinefs to prove and evince the pre^- fent proceedings in religion ; and, as occalion ferved, to lay open the errors and corruptions of that religion and worfhip, which was now lately rejected \
About this time we meet with the firft certain notice of the Dean's brother, Robert Nowell. He was employed, in the firft year of the Queen, as counfel for the patentees of
' Strype's Ann. i. 246, 247, L. of Grindal, 48.
58 THE LIFE OF
certain lands, parcel of the eftates of the bi- fhop of Winchefler, when their rights were fecured by ad: of parliament ^. After this, by a patent bearing date February 8, 156o-], the Queen conllituted him her Attorney Ge- neral of the Court of Wards, for life ^ ; and it w^as probably on account of the bufinefs, which the entrance upon this new office brought with it, that, being appointed Lent Reader of Gray's Inn this year, he did not now read^; but did, on being re-chofen, in the autumn following. His arms were for- merly in one of the fouth windows of the hall in Grays' Inn ^.
^ Dewes' Journals, 1682. f. 50 — 52. " Mr. Noell" here, no doubt, means the Counfellor of Grays' Inn, as the Dean alfo is called " Noell," f. 58. b. ^9. where his fermon before the Queen and Parliament is mentioned. I have not however noticed this, till I could fubjoin to it the patent, in which he is defcribed by both his names.
« Pat. 8 Feb. 3 Eliz. p. p. Rolls.
^ Orig. Jurid. p. 294. The eminently accurate author makes a flight miftake in faying, " Pq/lea Attorn. Gen. Cur. Ward." &c. for he was already in poffeflion of the office. See the preceding note.
£ Dugd. ib. 305.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 59
SECTION IV.
1 1 ^HIS fummer, wednefday June 4, 1561, -^ the fpire of St. Paul's fuddenlj took fire, and was burnt down. The caufe of the con- flagration has been variouflv reported ; but it fhould feem, that the Vera hifloria^\ minutely detailed in the epifcopal regifter, by an eye witnefs, ihould have precluded fome late at- tempts ^ to afcribe the cataftrophe to the care- leflnefs of plumbers in repairing the leads ; for the writer of that account affures us, that neither plumbers, nor other workmen, had been employed about the church, for fix months before, and that the fire was occa- fioned by lightning.
Between the hours of one and two in the afternoon there was an immenfe crafii of thunder, and mofl; awful lightning ; by which
^ Reg. Grindal, f. 23. Stow alfo, a contemporary witnefs, gives a fimilar and circumftantial account of it as " fired by lightning," in his MS. collections. MS. Library, Lambeth, No. 306. In Chaloner De Rep. Anglorum, 1579, p. 344-348. are verfes " De templi D. Pauli — conflagratione."
" Traje6lu horrendo qua pafla t^fulminis ignes"
' See Dugd. St. Paul's, ed. Maynard, p. 135 — 137 from Hey- lin's Reform, p. 312.
ao THE LIFE OF
the fouth-weft pinnacle of St. Martin's, Lud- gate hill, was thrown down, and burft through the roof of the church. And certain perfons on the Thames, and others, who were in the fields, affirmed, that they faw a long fiiream of fire ending in a point, which feemed to enter into the fpire of St. Paul's on the eafi: fide. Between the hours of four and five Peter Johnfon, the biftiop's regiltrar, who records the accident, and others with him, perceived a fmoke iiTuing from below the globe on the top of the fpire ; and in a moment a flame burfi; out, and environed the fummit of the fpire, like a crown. In quarter of an hour the brafs eagle, with the crofs which fup- ported it, and the golden ball or globe, which ufed to be fo much admired, fell on the fouth tower. The lord mayor and aldermen, the bifhop of London, whofe houfe adjoining the cathedral on the north- wefl: was with diffi- culty faved, the Keeper of the great feal, and the lord Treafurer, came and confulted what might be done ; and in the evening they were joined by the Lord Clinton, admiral of the fleet ; who was difpatched by the Queen from Greenwich, as foon as flie faw the fire. At ten the fury of the flames abated, and the wind having become moderate, and veering
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 61
from the call to a more favourable point, by great providence no lives were loft, nor houfes deftroyed, though the embers were carried as far as Newgate market and Fleet ftreet.
On the funday after this melancholy difaf- ter, the bifliop of Durham at the crofs ex- horted men to repentance and fubmiftion to legal authority ; bidding them regard what had happened as a warning to all, not as a judgement on any individuals, or particular clafs of men. He took occalion alfo to con- demn the inveterate and fliameful pradice of walking, talking, quarreling, and fighting in St. Paul's, in time of fermon and prayers ; and refuted the groundlefs calumny of thofe, who interpreted the event as a mark of divine vengeance, on account of the change of reli- gion ; reminding them of heavier calamities, which had befallen the kingdom and its ca- pital, during the times of fuperftition ; as in the firft of Stephen, when the cathedral and great part of the city were burnt, from Lon- don bridge to St. Clement's in the Strand^.
^ Reg. Grindal, ubi fupra. See alfo a " Cronicle" printed by Thomas Marflie, 1561. Ames, ed. Herbert, 851. Bifhop Pilkington's fermon on the burning of St. Paul's gave rife to a pamphlet by Morwen already mentioned, p. 52, who had been chaplain to Bonner, which was printed and caft about in the
62 THE LIFE OF
The next fun day dean No well preached an excellent fermon at the crofs, the lord mayor and aldermen and moft of the companies be- ing prefent, and a great audience beiides. Whofe fubjed:, fays Strype, no doubt was the rueful fpediacle of their cathedral lying in afhes ; and he exciting them, with all his rhetoric, to fet upon the reparation of it Accordingly two days after, the lord mayor and common council appointed a committee, men of ability and vigilance, to overlook the work, in purfuance of a previous refolution to grant a levy of three Fifteens, to be raifed within the city, towards the rebuilding of the church and lleeple, with all convenient fpeed K The Dean and chapter on this occa- iion contributed the fum of 1361. 13s. 4d- and
{Ireets of Weft Chefter (Strype's Ann. i. 278.) with this title, " An Addicion with Appologie to the caufes of the brinnynge of Paules Church," reprinted, together with the bifhop's fermon and a Confutation of the libel by the faid Bifhop, 1563, by William Seres. Herbert, ib. 696.
^ Strype's Ann. i. 268. In the Dean's fermon on this occafion perhaps it was, that he related of archbifhop Courtney, that having collefted great fums for the rebuilding of Paul's crofs, when it was overthrown by an earthquake in 1382, he applied the money to his own ufe. Pennant's London, 1790, p. 433. But as no authority is cited for this anecdote, fo much to the dif- credit of that munificent prelate^ I have not ventured to give it a place in the text.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 63
like wife, with the bifhop's approbation, fold various articles of fuperfluous plate, to enable them to defray one moietj of 220 1. which the bifhop and chapter had jointly bound themfelves to pay to Chriliopher Trapp, al- derman, for lead ufed in covering the crofs- roof of the north '' yle," leading towards Pater Noller row '^. There was alfo, in aid of thefe refources, a general contribution throughout the province of Canterbury, in confequence of a letter from the Queen to the archbilhop, under her privy lignet, for that purpofe".
Grindal, biihop of London, vilited his ca- thedral in April, I56l, the Dean and other members giving their attendance ; and there being much to be done, not only in difcipline, but, after the fire, in repairing the church, the vifitation was continued, at intervals, till the middle of November, 1562, when the bufi- nefs was concluded ; an explicit renunciation of the pope and his fupremacy, by a pre- fcribed form, having been previoufly fub- fcribed by the Dean and chapter °.
About this time William Whitaker, the
"* Reg. Nowell r. 139. b.
" Reg, Parker, f. 231, WilkinsConclI. T* iv. 226^
• Strype's Grindal, 59 — 62.
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future ornament of the univerfity of Cam- bridge, having acquired the elements of gram- mar at Burnley in his native parifh, where Hargrave v^as mafter, came up to London ; and was kindly entertained by his uncle at the Deanery of St. Paul's, and put imder the tuition of Cook, the learned mailer of St. Paul's fchool ^. His mother was Elizabeth Nowell, the dean's filler, who was married, as we have already noted '^, to Thomas Whitaker of Holme, in the year 1530, and furvived her marriage the wonderful period of feventy lix years ^.
A book was publilhed about this time, which, though now extremely fcarce and little known, was not without fame in its day, and maintained its ground in fucceliive editions for half a century and more. It has been afcribed to Nowell ^ but was in fad: de- dicated to him, and John MuUins and John Walker, prebendaries of St. Paul's ^ It is
P Life by Alheton. See above, p. 5. n. And of Cook, who was patronifed by Burghley his fchoolfellow, fee Knight's Colet,
?'373-
1 Above, p. 8.
" Letter of Dr. Whitaker, dated Holme, Feb. 28, 1807.
^ Tanner in Biblioth,
* Archdeacon Mullins has often been mentioned in tbefe pa- pers. Of Walker fee Newcourt i. 73.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 65
intitled, " A fword againll fwearers and blafphemers, fhewing the lawfulnefs of an oath, and how great a lin it is to fwear falfelj, vainly or rallily ;— enlarged with fun- dry examples of God's judgements upon per- jured perfons and blafphemers of his holy -name." The author, Edmund Bicknoll, in his epilile to the Reader, fays, " The force of papill:ry, God be thanked, is beaten down ; they write not, nor have not what to write. -Our lack of good life is the greateft lofs." And therefore he deiires all good Chrillians -to further this motion, but efpecially his pa- trons by name, having chofen three fuch, that " all other, either learned or godly, will eafily give them the title (beiides their excel- lent univerfal gifts of literature) of diligent and faithful dillributers of God's heavenly myfteries." And, fpeaking of Nowell parti- cularly, as heretofore promoting the reforma- tion, " fo at this time I truil in God his fpirit will work almighty efFecft in him. And the other twain I am fure, in their condition and place, will move and further this Chriftian re- queft." To this there are fubjoined certain lines, the initials of which form the word " Alexander ;" and then follow three qua-
F
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trains, addrelTed to Nowell, and beginning with his name ".
In the Dedication the author fays, " fome faults againft the fecond table, becaufe they concern the commonwealth, are fomewhat duly executed : nay I dare boldly fay, that laws for hawks' eggs'', for covies of par- tridges, and eyes of pheafants ^, are with much diligence obferved and looked unto (and good caufe that fo they fliould.) But this that concerneth God's honour, — this command- ment of the iirft table, concerning the reve- rence of God's own name, is too much neg-
" " Nowell, God fpeed thy tongue. And guide thee with his grace ; That when to preach thy courfe ihall come.
This vice thou maift deface. And as. S. Ridley did
procure the poore fome ioy. When good King Edward did from him
perceive their hard diftreffe ; So God give thee to moue,
That fharp Lawes may deftroy This filthie finne, and thine attempts God blelTe w^ith good fucceflfe." ' Penalty for taking hawks eggs. ^ Eliz. c. 21. f. 5. ^ A bill for the prefervation of pheafants and partridges was read the third time, 9 March, iS Eliz. 1575-6. Dewes' Journ, 257. h.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 67
lecfted." He therefore intreats his patrons, gladly pro felling that he knew, that both in doctrine and life, none laboured more fer- vently than they did, to continue their ear- neft zeal ; and, when opportunity of time and place fliould ferve, to require fome ftrength of law to be ellabliilied againft vain fwearing and perjury. " God is never better ferved than in adverfity. Wealth maketh us wantons, peace breedeth pride ; we have quite forgotten Maiiana tempora. — The pro- feffion of our faith in religion is like unto our foolifh fancy in building. We delight in fhews, in tricks and toys, in cornered win- dows, in tops of chimnies, though the bot- toms be not ^. So we difpute curious unpro- fitable preternecelTary queftions ; not regard- ing the ground and fubftance, which is moll necelTary, as without the which we are not. That your godly wifdom right well confi- dered, when in your ancient reverend age you wrote yet inftru6lions for the tender youth, a work which to your prefence for to com- mend is not fo feemly : it was indeed a ham- mer, a hatchet, a fword, an axe, to beat, to cut, to wound, to deliroy Antichrift and all heretics."
^ Perhaps a mifprlnt for " naught.'' F 2
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Tanner ^ mentions an edition of this book in 1561, which had the acroftics on Nowell, but, it is prefumed, without the dedication and name of the author ; whence he was led to affign it to Nowell. Two copies only of this rare book have met my inquiries, one of the year 1606, in the library at Arbury ; the other, which belonged to the late Mr. Brand, was without date, printed for William Towreolde, by the aflent of Richard Wat- kins ; and therefore not prior to 15 77^ when it was licenfed to Watkins ^, The dedication, as here quoted (fince it alludes to Nowell's Catechifm, which was not publifhed till 1570) is plainly of that date, or not earlier ; about which time the author was prefented by the Dean and chapter of St. Paul's to the vicarage of Horndon on the hill, in the archdeaconry of ElTex S and in 1579 to the redory of Runwell in the fame archdeaconry, by Mar- garet AylofFe, widow. Both hvings became void by his death before November 18, 1585.
In September, 1561, archbifhop Parker vi- lited Eton college, and ejeded the Provoft for
^ Blbliotheca, art. Nowell, Alex. ^ Ames, ed. Herbert, p. 1029.
c June II, 1578. Newcourt, ii. 54^. to Runwell, July 24, 1579. ib. 511.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 69
non-conformity ^ ; on which occafion he re- commended to Secretary Cecil the choice of feveral perfons fit to fupply the place, with this remark, " That, if the Queen would have a married minifter, none comparable to Mr. Nowell." The Secretary confulted the biihop of London upon the bufinefs ; and he too named Mr. Nowell, dean of St. Paul'a, and Mr. Mullins, and Mr. Watts, all of them married. The two laft, added his lordihip, " though they be my chaplains, are fober, honeft, and learned men." He alfo named Mr. Day of Cambridge and others, that were unmarried ; and probably thefe two circum- ftances, his being a Cambridge man (on ac- count of the connexion between Eton and King's college in that univerfity) and a ba- chelor, determined the Queen, who was by no means partial to married clergymen, to fix upon Day. Nor indeed had Nowell or any others (if they were apprized, that their names had been mentioned on this occafion) caufe to think themfelves aggrieved or dif- graced by the preference of Day ; for he was a very polifhed and able fcholar, and, as one of his contemporaries informs us, " had a
* Strype's Parker, p. io^ttJO^, F 3
''irir'^-yi'-
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good plain fafhion of preaching, apt to edify, and eafy to remember •^." He was foon after made Dean of Windfor, and in 1595 pro- moted to the bifliopric of Winchefter. As to his ejected predecelTor in the provoftihip of Eton, his name has entirely eluded my fearch; nor does the tranfaiftion itfelf feem generally known ; for the Regiller of the ^^'.i'^ college has no provoft between Dr. Bill f,
who was alfo Dean of Wellmintfer and died in July 1561, and Day, who was eleAed De- ^^'' «i cemberiS^, the fame year. The unknown provotl therefore, whom the archbifhop re- moved, had a very fhort reign.
In the courfe of the enfuing year, 1562, Nowell was frequently in the pulpit, on public occafions, before large auditories ; but his labours, in one refped:, commenced a little inaufpicioufly. On new year's day, be- ing the fellival of the Circumcilion, he preached at St. Paul's, whither the Queen reforted. Here, fays Strype, a remarkable palTage happened, as is recorded in a great
* Sir I. Harrington's Brief View &c, p. 69.
*■ Elefted Provoll, July 5, 1559. Reg. Regale, Eton, 1774. p. iv, died July 15, 1561, as Le Neve fays, p. 362, or July 20, according to Strype, Ann. i. 270.
s Reg. Regale; and corre6i Le Neve, who has it Jan. 5.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 71
inan's memorials ^, who lived in thofe times. The Dean, having met v^dth feveral fine en- gravings, reprefenting the ftories and paflions of the faints and martyrs, had placed them againft the epiftles and gofpels of their re- fpecftive feftivals, in a Common Prayer book ; which he had caufed to be richly bound, and laid on the cufhion for the Queen's ufe, in the place where ihe commonly fat ; intending it for a new year's gift to her Majelly, and thinking to have pleafed her fancy therewith. But it had a quite contrary efFecft. For llie confidered how this varied from her late In- junctions and proclamations, againft the fu- perftitious ufe of images in churches, and for the taking away all fuch reliques of popery. When ftie came to her place, and had opened the book, and faw the pictures, flie frowned and bluftied : and then fhutting the book (of which feveral took notice) (lie called for the verger, and bade him bring her the old book, wherein fhe was formerly wont to read. After fermon, whereas fhe ufed to get imme- diately on horfeback, or into her chariot, Ihe went ftraight to the veftry, and applying herfelf to the Dean, thus fhe fpoke to him :
* Sir H. Sydney. Strype's Ann. i. 272. F4
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" Mr. Dean, how came it to pafs, that a new fervice book was placed on my cufhion ? To which the Dean anfwered. May it pleafe your Majefty, I caufed it to be placed there. Then faid the Queen, Wherefore did you fo ? To prefent your Majefly with a new year's gift. You could never prefent me with a worfe. Why fo, Madam ? You know I have an aver- lion to idolatry, to images, and pictures of this kind. Wherein is the idolatry, may it pleafe your Majefty ? In the cuts, refembling angels and faints ; nay grolfer abfurdities, pictures refembling the blefled Trinity. ' I meant no harm ; nor did I think it would offend your Majefty, when I intended it for a new year's gift. You muft needs be igno- rant then. Have you forgot our proclama- tion againft images, pi6lures, and Romifli re^ liques, in the churches } Was it not read in your deanery ? It was read. But be your Majefty aftured, I meant no harm, when I caufed the cuts to be bound with the fervice book. You muft needs be very ignorant to do this after our prohibition of them. It being my ignorance, your Majefty may the better pardon me. I am forry for it : yet glad to hear it v^^as your ignorance, rather than your opinion. Be your Majefty aflured.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 73
it was my ignorance. If fo, Mr. Dean, God grant you his Spirit, and more wifdom for the future. Amen, I pray God. I pray, Mr. Dean, how came you by thefe pictures ? who engraved them ? I know not who engraved them : I bought them. From whom bought you them ? From a German. It is well it was from a ftranger. Had it been any of our fubjeds, we fhould have queftioned the mat-* ter. Pray let no more of thefe miftakes, or of this kind, be committed within the churches of our realm for the future. There fliall not."
Though the w hole of this dialogue is given in Strype, it feemed too memorable not to be copied from him. He adds, that this matter occalioned all the clergy in and about Lon- don, and the church-wardens of each parifh, to fearch their churches and chapels : and caufed them to wafli out of the walls all paintings, that feemed to be Romifh and ido- latrous ; in lieu whereof fuitable texts of holy Scripture were WTitten.
The Dean preached at the Crofs three days afterwards, January 4, when one did penance for a cheat, having pretended to be dumb • but the mailer of Bridewell having made him fpeak, he was brought thither, by his
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own mouth to confefs his impollure, and to alk the church pardon.
Nowell alfo fuftained a principal part this year among the Lent preachers at court be- fore the Queen. His turns there were wed- nefday in the fecond week of Lent, and March 11 and 13; and again on the 15th being paHion funday ; for the bilhop of Lon- don, who fhould have preached there, was iick. Sandys and Jewell were fome of the other preachers ; and all thefe fermons at court were on afternoons, that they might not interfere with the fermons at St. Paul's, which were in the forenoon.
He likewife preached one of the Spital fer- mons, on Ealler tuefday, March 31 ; which, with the monday's and wednefday's fermon, was repeated at the crofs on Low Sunday, by Sampfon, dean of Chrift Church, Oxford ; an office to which he had at other times been appointed, on account of his excellent elocu- tion and memory \ The name of Spital fer- mons flill fubfifts in the metropolis ; but at what time the cuftom of repeating thofe fer- mons on the important doctrine of the refur- redion firft began, or when it ceafed, I am
* Strype, ubi fupra.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 75
not informed. In the univerlity of Oxford the practice, which was as early as the reign of Henry VII. was continued till near the clofe of the laft century.
The royal viiitation before mentioned ^ ex- tended to both the universities ; and, mildly as it was conducted, there were fome perfons found in both, who relinquifhed their places and preferments, rather than take the oaths of allegiance and fupremacy. All however, who did thus far comply, did not at once become iincere Proteltants ; which feems to have been the cafe with John Sanderfon, fellow of Tri- nity college in Cambridge, who being obfti- nate in his errors, and bold and infolent in oppoling Dr. Beaumont, Mafter of the houfe, was by him and the whole college expelled from the fociety. Upon this he appealed to the high CommilTioners, by a letter to the archbifhop, who was one of the number * ; and the caufe being called before them, he laboured by all the friendfliip he could make, to have it remitted to Cambridge again, where he was affured of favour, whether his caufe were right or wrong.
' Strype, Ann. i. 167, gives the names of the Commiffioners. The commillion was dated 20 June, i Eliz.
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Nowell, underftanding this to be the na- ture of the cafe, informed the archbifhop of it, fuggelling to his Grace, that if the matter was fuffered to flip out of their hands, there was no further hope of bridling the obftinacy of the papifts in that univerfity ; and, there being two fellows of the fame houfe then in London, he thought it expedient, that they fliould be examined before the high Commif- iioners, and that the controverfy lliould be determined, as equity and truth and the efta' bliftiment of good order in the univerlity fhould require, rather than by fubtlety of law, and defcanting upon terms and words. For, as he goes on to fay, " it is not only in hand whether John Sanderfon fliall be fellow of Trinity college, or not ; but whether there Ihall be any reverence towards the fuperiors, any obedience, any redrefs, or reformation in religion, in that whole univerfity, or no ; whe- ther the truth fhall obtain, or papillry tri- umph*"."
Nowell's letter on this occafion, which is dated " from London, 4 Odobris, 1562," hav- ing never been in print, and being not un- connected with the hiftory of the times, may
*" MS. Parker cvi. 221. p. 534.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 77
be feen in the appendix ". As for Sanderfon, his future fate and the iiTue of this bufinefs are not known. He feems by fome verfes fubjoined to his petition to the archbifhop, not to have been deficient in learning and in- genuity ; but at the fame time not to have wanted a certain fpirit, which if the confci- oufnefs of talents does not engender, it does not always fubdue. For among the reafons for his expullion one was " a ftomachous in- fultinge ageynft the Mailer's charitable admo- nycion ^."
Towards the clofe of the year, his patron, the bilhop of London, collated him to the valuable re<ftory of Great Hadham in Hert- fordfhire, a place memorable on many ac- counts, and in more refpeds than one en-
" A pp. No. iv.
° MS. Parker, ut fupra, p. 540. I fubjoin Sanderfon's verfes to the archbifhop, from the fame MS.
Ite meae lacr}'-mae, verfus properate lugubres,
Ad Maecenatem flebile carmen abi. Voce gemente refer quanta eft anguflia noftra,
Commemora vitae triftla fata meae. Paupertate premor, mlfero fum nudior Iro, Vix uUus fidam pfaeftat amicus opem* Nefcio quid faciam, vel quo veftigia ducam, Si tu non faveas, vir celebrande, mihi. Tu potes huic noftro medicinam adhibere dolori ; Tu potes, oh ! tantum velie, levatus ero.
78 THE LIFE OF
deared to Nowell. It was the birth place of Edmund of Hadham, the father of Henry the feventh p. The bifhops of London had a coun- try houfe here ; fo that, in his reclorial as well as decanal relidence, he would be near his friend and fellow exile, with whom he appears to have kept up a conftant com- munity of intercourfe and counfels ; and when his wife and family were at Hadham and him- felf in town, he was commonly a gueft at his lordlhip's table '^j in his epifcopal houfe adjoining St. Paul's. The river Afh runs through the parifh of Hadham ; and, in this agreeable retirement, he could indulge, un- molefted, his favourite amufement of angling. I know not whether an anecdote, then frefli in memory, concerning Dr. Edmund Bricket,. his immediate predeceflbr in the living, might not alfo recommend it to Nowell. For he too, like the Dean, though without very immi- nent riik of life, had experienced the fury of Bonner's refentment. For when Bonner came to Hadham, upon his vilitation, two hours
P Newcourt 1. 829,
1 Grindal, in a letter to Cecil in 1569, tells him, that the " Dean of St. Paul's was commonly with him at meals, his wife and family being then at Hadham." Strype's Grind, 150. his wife's family by a former hufband, as will appear hereafter.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 79
fooner than was expected, and found no bells ringing on his approach, and that nei- ther the facrament was hanging up in the church, nor a rood fet up, " he fell a raihng and fwearing mofi: intemperatelj," calling the redor ^' heretic and knave, with many other fuch goodly words ;" and at laft, loling all patience, and reaching at the unfortunate reftor to beat him, he mifguided the ftroke, which fell on Sir Thomas Joffelin's ear with great force •■. The meek and placid Nowell, treading the fame fpot, would often revolve occurrences w^hich had paffed there ; not without humble gratitude to the great Dif- pofer of events, who had caufed a purer form of religion to be reftored, and given him, in Grindal, a more chrillianlike diocefan.
Traditional accounts of departed merit, if not combined with fome permanent memo- rial, are commonly fhort-lived and uncertain. The munificent founder of New College in Oxford, known by the magnificence and tafte of his public buildings, is remembered alfo by various edifices of a lefs fplendid, yet ufeful fort, with which he fupplied many of the benefices, which he beftowed on his colleges.
■■ Burnet's Reform, ii. 290.
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At Hadham Nowell built an ample tithe barn, one hundred and ninety feet in length, forty in breadth, and lofty in proportion ; which was furnifhed with two fpacious threfhing floors, and fo well conftruded, entirely of Englifh oak, that it ilill remains in very good condition, commanding the gratitude of fuc- ceflive incumbents, during the lapfe of more than two centuries ^
To enable him the more commodioufly to take his amufement in angling, the fucceed- ing bifhop of London, Edwin Sandys, con- ferred on him a grant of the cuftody of the river, within the manor of Hadham, with leave to take fifh, and to cut down timber to make pits and dams, free of all expence what- foever ^
And here, having mentioned his attach- ment to this honeil and quiet art and recrea- tion of angling, with which Auguflus ufed to relieve the cares of empire ^, one circum- llance connected with it muft not be omitted. Having either accidentally or by defign (for
* Frqm the obliging information of the Rev. Dr. Hamilton, the prefent worthy Reftor of Hadham, F. R. and A. S. Arch- deacon of Eflex, and Re6lor of St. Martin's in the Fields, 1808.
* Reg. Nowell i. f. 460. " Sueton. in Aug. c. 8j.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 81
the accounts vary) left in the grafs, or buried in the ground, a bottle of ale, he found it again, after fome time, " not a bottle but a gun, fuch the found of it when opened. And this (as cafualtj, fays Fuller, is the mother of more inventions than induftry) is believed the original of bottled ale in England ^."
Izaak Walton, in praife of the art of an- gling, mentions fome memorable men, who have been dear lovers of it and ornaments to it. " The firft is Doctor Nowell, fometimes Dean of the cathedral church of St. Paul's in London, where his monument flands yet un- defaced, a man that in the reformation of Elizabeth, not that of Henry YIIL was fo noted for his meek Ipirit, deep learning, pru- dence,^ and piety, that the then parliament and convocation both chofe, enjoined, and trufted him to be the man to make a catechifm ^ for public ufe, fuch a one as fliould ftand as a rule for faith and manners to their pofterity. And the good old man, though he was very learned, yet knowing that God leads us not to heaven by many nor by hard queftions,
'^ Fuller's Worthies, p. 115. Anglorum Speculum or Worthies of Engl, by G. S. Gent. 16S4. p. 43 1 .
y Fuller, ubi fupra, has the fame remark in the fame words 5 whichj in fubftanccj is repeated in Anglorum Speculum.
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like an honeft angler, made that good plain uhperplexed Catechifm, which is printed with our good old fervice-book. I fay, this good man was a dear lover and conftant pracftiler of angling, as any age can produce ; and his cuftom was to fpend belides his fixed hours of prayer, thofe hours which by command of the church were enjoined the clergy, and vo- luntarily dedicated to devotion by many pri- mitive Chrillians : I fay, belides thofe hours, this good man was obferved to fpend a tenth part of his time in angling ; and alfo, for I have converfed with thofe which have con- verfed with him, to bellow a tenth part of his revenue, and ufually all his filh, amongft the poor that inhabited near to thofe rivers, in which it was caught : faying often, ^' That charity gave life to religion :" and at his re- turn to his houle, would praife God he had fpent that day free from worldly trouble ; both harmlefsly, and in a recreation that be- came a church-man. And this good man was well content, if not defirous, that pofte- rity fhould know he was an Angler, as may appear by his picture, now to be feen, and carefully kept in Brafen Nofe college, to which he was a liberal benefadlor, in which picture he is drawn leaning on a delk with
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 8S
his Bible before him, and on one hand of him his lines, hooks, and other tackling, lying in a round ; and on his other hand are his angle- rods of feveral forts : and by them this is written, " That he died 13 Feb. l6oi, being aged 95 years, 44 of which he had been Dean of St. Paul's church ; and that his age had neither impaired his hearing, nor dim- med his eyes, nor weakened his memory, nor made any of the faculties of his mind weak, or ufelefs." 'Tis faid that angling and temperance were great caufes of thefe blef- iings, and I wilh the like to all that imitate him, and love the memory of fo good a man^."
There is fo much naivetd and truth in this character, that I make no apology for laying it entire before the reader. Though not by the hand of a contemporary, it is, I believe, the earliell and moll exacft account, which we have of the good Dean of St. Paul's, and at the fame time furnifhes no improper in- trodudion to an obfcure fubjed:, which we are prefently to inquire into, the hiftory of Catechifms.
Complete Angler, ed. Sir J, Hawkins 1760. p. 40, G 2
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SECTION Y.
^'^HE fecond Parliament of queen Eliza- -«- beth, which met at Wellminfter, Janu- ary 12, 1562-3, is mentioned as memorable on feveral accounts, efpecially for the fplen- dor and magnificence, with which the Queen appeared at the opening of it, as particularly defcribed by a contemporary writer '''. Her Majefty came on horfeback, appareled in her mantle, open before, furred with ermine, and her kirtle of crimfon velvet, clofe before, and clofe fleeves, but the hands turned up with ermine, and a hood hanging low round about her neck of ermine ; over all a collar fet with rich ftones and other jewels, and on her head a rich cawl. At the north door of the abbey
* Sir S. Dewes (in his Journals, ed, Bowes, 1682. p. 58, b.) gives the fame account of the Queen's drefs &c. without pointing out the fource of his information. It is copied^ almoft ^verbatim, from a MS. in Caius College, Cambridge (No. 1 183 old Library, 64 new Library) where it ftands as an introdu£lion to Nowell's fermon ; for which reafon I have fuffered it to retain its place, abridging only what the MS. and Dewes relate more at large.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 85
fhe was met bj the Dean of Weftminfter and the Dean of the chapel royal ; and St. Ed- ward's llafF, with the martlet in the top, was delivered to her ; her arm for the bearing thereof affifted by the baron Hunfdon, the canopy borne over her by Charles Howard, efquire, and five knights ; her train borne up by Lord Robert Dudley, mafter of the horfe, and Sir Francis KnoUes, vice cham- berlain. When her Majefty, thus royally at- tired and attended, had proceeded to the tra- verfe, near the table of adminillration, and taken her feat, the fpiritual lords fitting on the north fide, and the temporalty on the fouth, the litany in Englilh having been fung, the Dean of St. Paul's began his fer- mon, praying firft for the univerfal church of Chrift, for the Queen, and the three eftates of the realm. The text was, " Ofier ye the facrifice of righteoufnefs, and put your trufi: in the Lord." Pfal. iv. 5. and as this pfalm is thought to have been compofed, as that w^hich precedes it is exprefsly faid to have been, when David fled from Abfalom, the difcourfe opens with a fhort view of the re- beUion of that beloved but ungrateful fon.- Abfalom and his counfellors, not trufting in the Lord, but in themfelves, came to ruin ;
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but David profpered ; for he neither neglected nor confided in ordinary and reafonable means, but put his truft in God. The words, fpoken by a prince, are a monition to princes and to others in authority, to excel in wifdom and virtue, as they do in ftation ; fuggefting to them, that, according as they imitate the ir- religious fon, or the pious father, they may expeA the fuccefs of the one or the other.
He then adverted to fome prevailing evils, as pride of apparel, excefs of diet, the neg- lect of divine worfhip, and profanation of the Lord's day. The natural clemency of the Queen was very evident ; for never, in this realm, had been feen a change fo quiet, and fo long a reign without blood. But now royal clemency Ihould be converted into juf- tice, not for the fake of punifliing any man, who kept his opinions within his own breali, but to reftrain fuch as dilTeminated mifchief, whether againll the fafety of the Queen, or the truth of religion. It were well alfo, if, as in France, fome fharper laws were devifed againft adultery ( — a dejideratum ftill in our criminal code) and feverer punifliment in the cafe of murder, than for limple felony.
Our prefent happinefs (continued the preacher) efjpecially when compared with the
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 87
miferable eftate of France (then fufFering by intelline commotions, by famine, and the plague b) was matter of joy and gratitude ; and as the Queen, greatly to her honour as well as coft, had lately aided her neighbours of Scotland, although before her enemies, againft the French ; and now had entered upon wars in France, to difappoint the de- vililh deligns of the fame her known and inve- terate enemy ; it fhould be well forefeen to go through with it vigoroufly, and all fhould contribute largely and willingly. It was alfo advifable, even in time of peace, particularly for younger brothers, to ferve in foreign wars, to gain experience ; nor fhould that now be forgotten, which at the fuppreffion of abbeys would have been a wife meafure, to referve two houfes in every county, one for the re- ward of foldiers, and the other for fcholars. We fhould then have been fupplied with learned fcholars and good foldiers.
As to the fcarcity of provilions and high price of corn, it was no wonder, when it was conlidered, that the good laws in maintenance
b Haddoni Epp. p. 285. Strype's L. of Sir T. Smith, p. 88. And fee " Deploratio belli civilis in Gallia excitati anno 1562," by Sir T. Chaloner, in his mifcellaneous verfes, fubjoined to his work De Rep. Anglorum, 1579. p. 334.
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of tillage were not executed ; and by the in- creafe of pafture, where there ufed to be " twenty feveral houfes for the Queen's fub- jeds to inhabit in, now there remaineth only a fhepherd and his dog ^.
•^ The expreflion, though flriking, is natural ; and therefore, notvvithftanding we find it in feveral authors, it is not certain that they copied one from another, Latimer in his firft fermon before the king, printed in this fame year 1562, complaining of grafiers and inclofers as hinderers of the king's honour, as it " ftandeth in the greate multitude of people," fays, " For where as have ben a greate many of houfholders and inhabitauntes, there is now but a Jhepheard and his dog." f. 29. b. In 1597, Nov. 5. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Francis Bacon, fpeaking in the Haufe of Commons againft inclofures, has the fame remark of " a fhepherd and his dog." Dewes' Journals, where fee alfo the fpeeches in 1601, on repealing the ftatute for the increafe of til- lage, f. 674, 675. I know not whether Sir T. More led the way in thefe complaints ; but he fpeaks in the fame ftrain, that " Englifh fheepe" are "^ devourers of men," that noblemen and gentlemen " leave no ground for tillage ; they inclofe all into paftures 3 they throw downe houfes ; they plucke downe townes, and leave nothing ftanding, but onely the Church to be made a flieephoufe," Utopia, p. 34. ed. 1639. which is quoted from the Latin by Gataker in his fermon on the Armada, 1626, p. 22. Among. the Harley Pamphlets is one (No. 174.) dedicated to the King and Parliament (probably about 1550.) fhewing " The de- caye of England, onely by the great multitude of fhepe." Ames, p. 746. In a fermon at the crofs on Trinity funday, 157 1, by .E. B. the preacher fays, "■ I do know wher of late there hath bene viliag.es, wherein diuers families haue bene norifhed— and now all arc wrung out, and turned out, and all is annexed to the deraayne of one man to mainteine an ynfatiable CDrmorant."
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 89
On this difficult fubjecft, which will meet us again, the worthy Dean efpoufed the popular and plaufible fide of the queflion ; which a more enlightened and comprehenlive policy feems at length to have proved to be more fpecious than true. In a general view, what .is moll advantageous to the individual is moft beneficial alfo to the public ; and land not equally fuited to all purpofes i§ beft applied in that way, in which it will be moll pro- ductive. Where the profpedl of fuccefs in pafture, or by the plough, is equal, and the cultivation of courfe entirely optional, as on a large fq^le muft be the cafe in numberlefs in- liances,; there an increaling demand, in one way or the other, will increafe the cultiva- tion, arid bring a larger ftock to market : and, certainly, that the complaint, which has fub- filled for ages, of paliurage increafing to the ferious diminution of the fupply of grain, is altogether groundlefs, we have this unanfwer- able proof, that when, a f^w years ago, corp and other articles of fubliftence were enor- moufly dear, wheat and other forts of grain returned to nearly their former level, long
Signal. B. ii, ed. i576.-penes me. Laftly, Wharton in his Dream, 1578 (of which more hereafter) fpeaks of thofe, who "By hedging of the commons in robd a common wealth."
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before the meat in the Ihambles, or any other article connected with grazing, expe- rienced any material reduction of price.
From this view of public manners, and po- litical wants, the preacher proceeded to a point of greater delicacy, the Queen's mar- riage ; which he endeavoured to recommend, as well from the confideration of the general difmay and forrow, which overwhelmed the nation, when her Majefty was lately affliAed with licknefs, as from the common uncer- tainty of human life : to which latter reflec- tion he was led by a walk, which he chanced lately to have taken, in the church where he now fpoke, furveying the tombs of her Ma- jefty's mofl noble anceftors, thofe of the longed and thofe of Ihorter reign alike laid in the dull. Muling on thefe things, and forefeeing, in his judgement, the ruin of his country, he had been difpofed " to pafs away thefe his old years, meditating himfelf in the Lamentations of Jeremy." But then again, when he heard of the calling of this Parlia- ment, he was thereby encouraged, hoping and not doubting, but there would be fuch order taken, and good laws eftablilhed, as Ihould again ere^t up the decay of the common weal. " And thus befeeching God, that this
ALEXANDER NOWELL. gi
aflembly of the two Houfes may v/holly to- gether offer up a facrifice of righteoufnefs and thanklgiving, and proceed forward with making of good laws, then I doubt not but your Majeliy Ihall to our comfort long reign over us, and the Nobles with their ilTues con- tinue 'r
If the preacher, in this difcourfe, fliould be thought to encroach a little on the province of the fenator, it will be recolleded, that though the times were now paft, when the clergy, as almoft the only competent perfons in point of learning, generally filled the chief offices in the Itate ; yet the examples were recent and approved, when Latimer and others recommended from the pulpit fuch matters, efpecially touching religion and good man- ners, as feemed to require legiflative redrefs and regulation ; and of the particular points, to which No well adverted, there were not a few, which foon afterwards, and partly per- haps in conlequence of his fuggellion, actu- ally engaged the deliberative wifdom of par- liament.
It is not likely that Nowell was taxed, as
^ MS. Caius Coll. Cambridge, No. 1183 old Library, No. 64. new Library.
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he is reported to have been fometimes, with flattering the Queen in this fermon ; in which if he praifed her well known and princely clemency, he at the fame time, in her royal prefence, fuperbly as flie was attired, did not fcruple to cenfure excefs of apparel. We may however mention here the plea, which, when he was thus accufed, he was wont to urge in his own juflification ; that, " he had no other way to inftrud: the Queen what flie Ihould be, but by commending her %" as if Ihe already was what he wiflied her to be. And of this allowable practice and addrefs, which her Majefty wanted neither difcernment to inter- pret, nor ingenuity to acknowlege \ we per- haps have an inftance in the foregoing dif- courfe ; when, noting the care and anxiety of a man dying before he has made his will, and fet all things in good order, he added, " even fo, no doubt of it, was and is the Queen's Majefty much troubled for the fuc-
"« Fuller's De4. of Life out of Death, a fermon on the recovery of an honourable perfon, 1655.
*■ Thus when the Speaker, Sir Thomas Gargrave, had com- mended the Queen, in his fpeech at the opening of the Parlia- ment, I Eliz. the lord Keeper Bacon, by her command, " gave him her hearty thanks, as for a good exhortation to her Highnefs, to become fpch a ope as you have commended her for." Dewes' Journ. f, 16. h.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 93
ceflion of this crown." Whether herMajeily did, or, in thefe her youthful days, did not yet, feel much concern about a fuccelTor to the throne, the nation at large had a vaft Hake and intereft in the queftion ; and it was the more natural to prefume the royal breaft not unmoved with this folicitude, " as her fweet words and fweeter deeds ^" (as one fays of her) were fuch as won the hearts and affections of all who faw her.
The Convocation this fame year was alfo memorable; being that famous fynod, in which the Articles of Religion were revifed and fubferibed. The archbilhop of Canterbury, with the bifliops and clergy of his province, met in St. Paul's, January 13, when the li- tany, then commonly a diftin6t fervice, was chanted in Englifli, and a Latin fermon preached by Day, provoll of Eton, on the appofite words of St. Peter, " Feed the flock of God, as much as in you is, — not by con- ftraint, but willingly h," The bifhop of Lon- don adminiftered the holy Communion ; and when they had withdrawn into the chapter
^ Sir I. Harrington, Nugae Antiq. i. 61.
^ I Pet. V. 2. See tlie A6ls of this Convocation in Synodus An- glicana, p. 154 &c. Strype's Ann. i. 315. Heylin's Reform.
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houfe, the archbifhop, in a lliort but eloquent fpeech, opened the bulinefs, ftating the op- portunity which was then afforded, with the approbation and good wilhes of the Queen and of others, for reforming what might be thought to require reformation, in the church of England ; and concluded with directing thofe of the lower houfe to choofe a Prolo- cutor, and to prefent him there on the enfu- ing faturday, recommending to them efpeci- ally the Dean of St. Paul's. He was accord- ingly elected, and prefented by the clergy in a body, being introduced between Goodman, dean of Weftminller, and Sampfon, dean of Chrift Church, Oxford, with a Ihort fpeech by the former, in commendation of his talents and virtues. The Prolocutor, in an elegant fpeech, declared himfelf little fit for the office, but not unwilling to accept it ; and the arch- bifhop, after conference had with his brother biftiops, by their unanimous confent, in a neat fpeech approved and confirmed the election.
In the next fellion, adjourned to Henry VHth's chapel in Weftminfter abbey, for the convenience of the bifhops in attending par- liament, the Prolocutor informed the upper houfe, that certain papers, concerning mat- ters to be reformed, had been fubmitted to a
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 95
committee of the lower houfe, to be revifed and reduced into order and exhibited in the next felTion ; and likewife that the Articles of Edward YI. had been delivered to another committee, chofen for the purpofe, to exa- mine and conlider them, and, as they fliould fee occalion, to correal and amend them; thefe alfo to be exhibited in the next felTion. The Articles, thus produced, feem to have en- gaged the attention of four enfuing fellions ; and then, on the 29th of January, they were unanimoufly fubfcribed by the upper houfe.
On a fubfequent day, Feb. 5. Jewell, bifhop of Sahlbury, Bentham of Lichfield, Davies of St. David's, and Alley of Exeter, were, by the unanimous confent of the upper houfe, ap- pointed to examine a book called " The Ca- techifm ;" but whether it was Nowell's, as is moll: likely, or fome other, is not faid. After conference about a fubfidy, the Prolocutor being fent for, he, with fix others of that houfe, produced the book of Articles, before fent from the bifliops, and now fubfcribed by fome of the members of the lower houfe, re- quefting, with the confent of that houfe, that all, who had not yet fubfcribed, might be obliged to do fo, either publicly in their own houfe, or, on refufal, before the biihops :
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whereupon it was unanimouilj ordered, that the Prolocutor fliould, in the next feffion, de- liver in the names of all thofe, who continued to withhold their fubfcription. At the time appointed, which was five days afterwards, fome had complied, and fome had not ; fo the former order was repeated, and thofe who' had hitherto demurred, no doubt, fubfcribed ; for the title to the Articles, as they were foon after publifhed, exprelfes, that they were " agreed upon by the archbifhops and bifliops of both provinces, and the whole clergy, in the Convocation holden at London, in the year 1562."
A fubiidy and matters of difcipline now engaged the attention of the Convocation ; after which, on the third of March, the Pro- locutor, with Sampfon, dean of Chrill Church, and Day, provoll of Eton, prefented to the upper houfe a book called " Catechifmiis pue- rorum ;" to which, they faid, all the mem- bers of the lower houfe had unanimoufly given their confent ; and they left the book with their Lordfhips; and there, unfortu- nately, it remained without further notice ; for, as far as appears, nothing was from this time concluded, either on the fubjed: of dil- eipline, though diligently profecuted by both
■ ALEXANDER NOWELL. 97
houfes, or on any other. And on the 14th of April the convocation was prorogued, by vir- tue of a vi^rit from the crown.
Of the Catechifm, which thus obtained the fan^lion of the lower houfe, and was by them fubmitted to the upper, we fliall have occalion to inquire more hereafter. With refped: to the Articles of religion, revifed and fettled by this Convocation, the alterations made in them, without departing, unlefs per- haps in a lingle point, from the fenfe or fub- llance of Edward Vlth's Articles, were more numerous and more important, than will, without exadl comparifon, eafily be believed, or has been diftincftly noted by thofe, who have compared them. The Defcent into hell, an article that occaiioned great difpute in thofe days and long afterwards, which before was limited to one doubtful if not erroneous fenfe ', was now left in the general expreffion of the Apoltles' creed, as that is grounded on an equally comprehensive text of Scripturct
' Applying to the Defcent the text of i Pet. iii. 19, 20, The wife archbifhop Parker cancelled this claufe, and moft of the alter- ations feem to have been made by him 5 as appears by a copy of Edw. Vlth's Articles marked by his hand. Strype's Annals, vol. i. chap, xxviii. By whom the new Articles (namely v. xii. xxis, XXX,) were framed, does not appear.
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Six or feven ^ articles, chiefly negative, con- demning errors, then perhaps lefs rite than in Edward's days, were llrock out; four new articles were added, w4th feveral material claufes in others, and the whole comprefled and rendered more clear, and more nearly conformable to the language of Scripture.
During this convocation the fecond book of Homihes, to which the Articles refer, was prepared among the biihops, revifed, and iiniflied ; though it was not yet pubhlhed, but, as Strype fays \ lay till the next year before the Queen, for her confirmation.
Various other matters of inferior magni- tude, though in themfelves not unimportant, were like wife debated in this convocation. It was thought defirable to reftore the jurifdic- tion of the Ordinary over the fites of monalle- ries and other peculiars, within their feveral diocefes ; to devife fome fliarper laws againft fimony and adultery ; and to contrive means for the augmentation of fmall vicarages. But on thefe and fimilar points, fome of them in-
^ Seven in faft ; but the fubftance of one (xlx Edw. VI.) that ** all men are bound to keep the Moral Commandments of the Law," was added to the Article concerning the Old Teftament (Vlth of 1552, Vllth of 1562) " Although" &c.
' Annuls i. 346.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 99
terfering with private property, others deli- cate, and all of them difficult, nothing was done.
Rites and ceremonies alfo were warmly agitated, particularly in the lower houfe ; where No well, the prolocutor, and his bro- ther, the Dean of Lichfield, with about thirty more, chiefly fuch as had been abroad in the late troubles, propofed that fome other long garment fliould be ufed inftead of the fur- plice, or that the minifter ftiould, in time of divine fervice, ufe the furplice only ; that the fign of the crofs fliould be omitted in baptifm, and that kneeling at the holy Communion Ihould be left to the difcretion of the Ordi- nary ; that faints' days fliould be abrogated, and organs removed ^. But others, and the prevailing party, would allow of no altera- tions in the liturgy or rules of Edward the lixth's fervice book (knowing the wifdom, deliberation, and piety, with which it had
™ Strype gives a petition to the upper houfe, figned by Nowell and thirty one more j and then fix articles, on which the houfe divided, 58 for them, and 59 againft them ; many being, de- fignedly as it feems^ abfent. This was Feb. 13, He introduces the petition T^r/?, but without date. Is it not likely to have been after the other had been carried againft them •' Ann. i. ,335— 539-
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been framed) as it was already received and enforced by the authority of parliament, in the firll year of the Queen.
On the day when the convocation was pro- rogued, being the wednefday in Ealler week, Nowell preached the third Spital fermon ; which, with the two former, was repeated according to cuftom, on the funday following, by Bradbridge, dean of Salilbury, afterwards promoted to the fee of Exeter. The m on- day 's fermon was by Horn, bifliop of Win- chefter, who took occaiion to mention the condition of the poor French Proteftants, who had fled from perfecution in their own coun- try; and he raifed fuch compalTion for them, in the breafts of the auditors, that a hand- fome fum was immediately colleded for their relief".
The perfecution in France, by which not fewer than a hundred thouland Protellants were cut off, in lefs than fix months °, was not the only evil, which oppreiTed that un- happy country. The plague (as faid above ^) alfo raged there, and from thence was com- municated to England, where it firft wafted
" Strype's Ann. i. 377* *• Heylin's Reform, p. 323. P See above, p. 87.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. loi
the metropolis, and then the country '^. In this fevere affliction, the piety of the biihop of London fuggefted to him the propriety of preparing '^ common prayers," for the bene- fit of his diocefe ; and he alfo defired the Dean of St. Paul's " to write an homily meet for the time," which was accordingly done ; but upon the motion of Cecil, and '^ by help of Mr. Dean, who was luckily with him" when the Secretary's letters came, he pro- ceeded further, and drew up a form of prayer for general ufe, fending to the Secretary a copy of what was done, before the homily was " fair written ; but of that," he fays, *' ye cannot doubt, knowing the Author ^."
The form of prayer, having been revifed and corred:ed by Cecil and by the archbilhop (who wiflied the collects had been Ihorter^) was fet forth by the Queen's Ipecial com- mandment, July 30, 1563, to be ufed twice a week, with an order of public fall, to be uied every wednefday, during this time of morta-
1 Haddoni Epp, p. 281. 283. 285. 294. 296. Strype's L. of Sir T. Smith, p. 88.
^ Grindal to Cecil, from Fulham, July 30, 1563. Burghley MSS. vol. vi. No. 63. See alfo Strype's Parker, p. 131 — 133,
» Burghley MS. vi. No. 66. Abp. to Cecil, (5 Aug. H 3
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litj ^ : to which the homily was fubjoined, with this title : " An Homily, concerning the Juftice of God in punyihyng of impenitent lynners, and of hys mercies towards all fuch as in theyr afflid;ions vnfaynedly turne vnto hym. Appoynted to be read in the tjane of licknes." It is a pathetic and truly Chriflian difcourfe, confitHng of denunciations againll fin, exhortations to repentance, and promifes of mercy, with examples under each head, chiefly from Scripture, the author rightly judging '' it necelTary that we fhould be in- flru6ted by the doctrine of God's word ;" and he concludes with a common form, exprelfed in an eafy and yet not a common way : " Un- to whom [our Saviour Jefus Chrift] with the Father and the Holy Ghoft, one eternal ma- jeliy of the moft glorious God, be all honour glory and dominion, world without end. Amen."
The bifhop, '^ liaving left the book in fome readinefs," with inftrudions to the printer to
* Lambeth Library, 30. 3. 17. See alfo Ames by Herbert, p. 721. It was reprinted, as " neceffarie to be ufed at this time in like vifitation, July, 1593." ib. 1086. Alcham mentions the " great plague at London, 1563," in the preface to his School- mafler, p. igi-.ed. Bennet.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 103
wait upon the Secretary with it, " fet for- ward for Farnham, carrying Mr. Dean with him "" the next dav, which was the fecond of AugLift. During that month the plague fwept away in the metropohs about a thou- fand fouls a week "^ ; and in the enfuing month, an earthquake, felt in different parts, increafed the general alarm and confterna- tion ^. As the cold weather fet in, the num- ber of deaths abated greatly ; and towards the end of January came forth a form of Thankf- giving, by the bifhop of London, to be ufed in his diocefe, and by others at their difcre- tion ^.
A very elegant little volume, now one of the fcarceft in the Englifh language, confin- ing of Eclogues, Epitaphs, and Sonnets, writ- ten by Barnabe Googe, came out about this time. One of the fonnets, fuperior, as the reft are, in point of harmony to moft of the productions of thofe days, is addrelled to
» Burghley MS. vi. No. 65. Aug. i. Grindal to Cecil, who, no doubt, knew the occafion of his going (as he fpeaks of it with fo much cafe, " I fet forward to morrow" &c.) whether it was to Farnham in EiTex, or Farnham in Surrey, which does not appear.
* Strype's Ann.-i. 434.
y Stow's Summ. p. 615.
^ Ames by Herbert, p. 721.
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Alexander Nowell ; in which the poet makes Apollo and the j\Iufes rejoice at the fuccefs of his lludies, but chiefly commends him for employing his time in the " facred fchools" of theology ^. The Author feems to be the fame Barnaby Googe, who was a relation and retainer to Sir William Cecil ^, and at this time Gentleman Penfioner to the Queen ^ ; and is probably the fame, who tranflated into Englifh the popifli Kingdom, or reign of An- tichrift, written in Latin verfe by Naogeorgius,
* Signat. E. 5. b. fmall 8vo. black letter, Mr. Warton men- tions thefe Sonnets in his notes on the Fairie Queen, i. 219. and Hift. Poet. iii. 449 — 459. where he obferves (p. 451.) that Googe in 1563 noted, that Ifaiah wrote in verfe. The book was publiflied that year, in the abfence of his " deare frend M. Googe," by L. Blundefton, whofe addrefs to the reader is dated, " From my Chambre the .xxvii. of Maye. 1562." It is dedi- cated, " To the ryght worfhipfuU M. Will. Louelace, Efquier, Reader of Grayes Inne." A very neat copy in red Ruffia, gilt, in the poffeffion of Richard Heber, Efquire, was bought at the fale of Mr. Steevens's Library. No other copy is known to exift, but one in Mr. Capell's Shakfperiana, in the Library of Trinity col- lege, Cambridge. The curious reader will not be difpleafed to fee the lines on Nowell, as a fpecimen from a volume fo ex- tremely rare. They are therefore printed in the Appendix, No. v.
^ " Wherein ye write for your cofyn and fervant Bernaby Goge" &c. Abp. Parker to Cecil, 20 Nov. 1563. Burghley MS. vi. No. 81.
*= Strype's Parker, p. 144.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 105
and four books of Hufbandry from the Latin of Herefbachius ^ ; the father perhaps of Bar- naby Googe, mafter of Magdalen college, Cambridge, who was incorporated at Oxford in Augull 1605, when King James was there ; and afterwards, being engaged in a fuit of great property in behalf of his college, and, from his high fpirit and knowledge of the laws, confident of fuccefs, was caft in chancery, and lay long in prifon, for not obeying the order of Lord Chancellor Eger- ton^,
Harding's Anfwer to Jewell, printed at Lo- vain, was brought over into England in the beginning of this fummer ; and a copy of it falling into Nowell's hands, he, when he was preaching at the crofs, four days afterwards ^, read fome pallages of it, and confuted them in the pulpit ; laying open to his auditors cer- tain notable untruths and abfurdities ; wil- ling them, by that example, to give lefs cre- dit to the reli. And he had good reafon for
<^ Ath. Oxon. i. F. 171.
^ Fuller's Hift. Cam. 121.
^ 4. S. after Eafter, 1564. Strype's Ann, i. 451. Nowell him- felf, in a fermon which will be noticed prefently, fays, Harding's book had not fallen into his hands " paft three days, and rather two days than three," when he thus animadverted upon it.
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this, as he faid, becaufe the papifts, who had not read the book, in corners magnified it above the liars : whereby, as he fuggelled, he did in effe6l give neighbours warning to beware of a thief. And, before the year went round, he gave fimilar warning at the fame place, refpecfting another anfwerer of Jewell, protefting in a fermon at the crofs, Novem- ber 19, that " there was not one true word in mailer Dorman's book, lately brought over from bevond the feas ^."
The emperor Ferdinand dying in autumn this year, it was refolved that his funeral Ihould be honourably celebrated in St. Paul's cathedral; which was accordingly performed at the Queen's coll, with great fplendor, the ceremony lalling three days^. The Dean af- lilled in thefe folemnities, the lords and great officers of Hate being the mourners ; and the bifliop of London made fo good and difcreet a fermon on the occafion, that it was deter- mined it Hiould be printed, as it was deli- vered by the preacher, and tranllated into Latin by the ready and elegant pen of John Fox.
g Stow's MS. CoUeftions. Lambeth MS. Libr. 306. ^ 061. I — 3. 1564. Strype's Ann. i. 455. L. of Grindal, p. 99. Stow's Chron.658.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 107
The free School at Tunbridge in Kent, founded by Sir Andrew Judd, Skinner, Alder- man and lord Mayor of London, in the fourth year of Edward YL' feems hitherto not to have been furnifhed with rules. The Skin- ners' Company therefore, patrons of the fchool, caufed certain articles to be drawn up, which they fubmitted to the correction of the Dean of St. Paul's ^. He accordingly perufed and corrected them, and under his own hand Signified his approbation of them ; whereupon the Company laid the corrected copy before the Archbifliop of Canterbury, in whofe dio- cefe the fchool was, requeuing his Grace to perufe and fubfcribe the rules, already perufed and fubfcribed by '* The Deane of Powles." Erafmus and Afcham, men of profound learn- ing and placid manners, w^ere both of them advocates for a gentle and humane mode of education I The good Dean of St. Paul's, of limilar erudition and congenial fpirit, alfo ap- proved of mild difcipline, as his emendations, all on the fide of lenity, evince "\ One injunc-
' Baker's Chron. 1 733- p. 313.
^ MS. Parker cviii. No. 64. p. 403 — 413- Mayia. 6 Eli/,. (1564.) And fee Hafted's Kent, ii. p. 346, 347.
^ Knight's Colet, p. 175. • ™ A fingle inftance may be given. One of the rules was, that
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tion, on a point of higher moment, he judged fit to be added, that all the fcholars, upon the labbath and holidays, Ihould refort in due time to divine fervice, in the parilh church, attended by the mailer or ufher, one or both.
Henry Fillier, citizen of London and Skin- ner, who was feoffee with the founder, and after his deceafe conveyed the eftates to the Skinners' Company, endowed a fcholarihip in Brafen Nofe college, in 1562, the fcholar to be elected by the Skinners' Company from Tun- bridge fchool. The fon of the faid Fifher en- deavouring to impeach the conveyances of the eftates, the endowment of the fchool was fettled and confirmed by a6t of parliament, in the year 1572". The two firft fchoolmafters of Tunb ridge, John Proctor °, who feems to
k
no " remedy for playe" fhould be allowed " above fFower tymes in the yere," The Dean wrote in the margin, " Leave to play once a weke may well be borne with." The word " remedy" In this fenfe occurs in dean Colet's ftatutes of St .Paul's, dated i^iS. (Knight's Colet, p. 362.) " I will alfo that they Ihall have no remedyes" It is the appropriate term, I underftand, at Winchefter for a half-holiday, or remiffion of part of the daily bufinefs of the fchool.
" May 8. MS. Parker, ubi fupra, p. 413. Dewes' Journals, p. 219.
° " A llender hiftorical account of Wiat's rebellion (i2mo. Lond. 1555) was fet out by John Pro6tor, Schoolmafter of Tun-
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 109
have taught there in the reign of queen Mary, and John Stockwood ^, who was probably the firft mafter on the new foundation, were both of them writers.
But to return to Nowell : It was not only his general character, as a man of judgement and learning, but the memory of his fame, as Malier of Wellminfter fchool, that made his revifion and approbation of the rules of this and other feminaries, eftablifhed in his time '^, to be fo much delired. And, upon the fame ground, his friend the Archbifliop, who was now founding a fchool at Rachdale in Lan- caihire, an appropriation belonging to the fee of Canterbury, requefted the fandtion of his naine, together with that of Cox, bifliop of Ely, preceptor to Edward the fixth, and Horn, bilhop of Winchefter ; who accordingly fub-
bridge, perhaps the only particular hiftory of this [Q. Mary's] reign," Hift. Libr. p. 66.
P A fermon at Paules crofs on Barthlmew day, 1578, on A(9:s X. I — 10. by John Stockwood, Scholemaifter of Tunbridge^ and ded. to the Skinners Company. Ames, 982. " An Addition to the proues of Scripture noted in mafter Deeringes Catechifme," by the fame, " minifterand preacher at Tunbridge, 1583." ib. 1098. A fliort Catechifm for Houfeholders, by the fame, " Scholemaifter of Tunbridge," 1587. ib. iioo. See alfo 1032.
^ Particularly, as I am informed, of the Grammar School at Bangor in Cavnarvonfhire ; but thofe ftatutes I have not feen.
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fcribed the original endowment, on the firft daj of the new year, 1564-5 ; and were pre- fent alfo at the dehvery of the charter and title deeds, to James Wouldfenden, clothier, and John Warbarton, merchant, both of Rachdale, proxies for the parifh, June 18, 1571 »-.
It was his misfortune to offend the Queen in his fermon on Afh wednefday, preached before her Majefty at Weftminller this year ^ Some " lewd," and in many places " unhonell" or immodeft, book, had lately come out, which the writer was " not aballied to dedicate to his moft gracious fovereign, et Principi ct Vir- gini.'' The Dean therefore was moved by this " unreverent impudency of the author,'* and by his own " due reverence to his gra- cious fovereign," to fliew at once his " mif- liking of the book, and of the judgement of fome (as he thought) undifcreet fubjecfts," who were pleafed with it. The author, as it feems, had defended fome of the fuperftitious books and cuftoms of popery, which the preacher condemned ; but going one liep too
' MS. Parker, ubi fupra, p. 444. Strype's Parker, p, 182. 52J.
^ 7 March, 1J64-5. Stow's MSS. Lambeth Library, No, 306. Stow calls him " Mafler Newalle Deaaie of Powles." Compare note m, p. 19,
ALEXANDER NOWELL. Ill
far, and expreffing fome diflike of the fign of the crofs^ the Queen called aloud to him from her clofet window, commanding him to retire from that ungodly digreflion, and to return to his text. The worthy Dean was fo diftrelfed and " utterly difmayed" with this unexpected rebuke, that the archbifhop, who appears to have been one of his auditors, " for pure pity took him home to dinner with him ;" as he informed the Secretary Cecil the next day ". The Dean himfelf alfo, on that day, wrote to Cecil, explaining, as here ftated, the true reafon of his adverting to the book in queftion, " which though it fell out fome- what otherwife, than he, fo long accullomed to his Sovereign's gracious patience with him, could well forefee ; yet, what error foever was admitted in the utterance thereof, he enjoyed the teliimony of found dod;rine, and the con-
* I have given this as others have reported it ; but it would feem from Ncwell's own account, that it was not the fign of the crofs, but either the cruciiix (which remained for fome time in the Queen's chapel, Strype's Ann. i. 176.) or other images, that were the object of his ccnfure. For he fays, " My tranfition was from Dame Grace's books burned, to Images, termed the Books of Ideots, which I took as not altogether impertinent." Letter to Cecil, March 8, 1564-5. Eurghley MS. viii. No. 5. Strype's Parker, p. 160. App, p. 52. Heylin's Reform, p. 296.
" Eurghley MS. viii. No. 2.
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fcience of a good intent, and moft humble reverence towards his moll gracious Sove- reign .
It is probable, the Secretary, Nowell's con- Itant friend, took occalion to lay the truth of the matter before the Queen, and to intercede in his behalf; but it appears to have been fome time before he was entirely rellored, or at leall known to be reftored, to her Majefty's favourable opinion and good liking. For when the archbiihop, in January following, w^as " devifing for Lent preachers," he was apprehenlive he fhould '^ fail of divers, fearing the like fequel of reproof," which had be- fallen the Dean, whom he wiftied to be one ; but being aware, that he would " hardly be in treated to occupy the place, if her JMajeliy fhould not like, after her accuftomed manner, to favour him, and to give him hearing," he w^ifhed the Secretary could underftand her Highnefs' inclination, that he might accord- ingly move the Dean, whom he had, partly with that view, invited to dine with him ^. In the end however he appears to have been excufed preaching this Lent, though not, as
^ Ibid. No. ^. Strype's Parker, App. p. ^2.
y Abp. to Cecil, 29 Jan. 1^6^-6. Burghley MS. viii.. No. 74.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 113
Strype fuppofed ^, on account of the pail dif- pleafure of the Queen (and yet perhaps the rather on that account) but becaufe he had long before prayed to be difcharged, " for that he was thoroughly occupied againft Dor-
a '*
man .
Trivial difputes are often powerful agents in dillurbing public as well as private repofe. It is marvellous and humiliating to think how warmly the matter of canonical habili- ments, the furplice, fquare cap, and hoods, was about this time and long afterwards con- tefted ; notwithftanding it was -admitted, by thofe who were moil vehement in oppoiing the ufe of them, that they were in themfelves perfedly indiiFerent ; and that it was expe- dient that a long robe, different from the common drefs, ihould be worn by the clergy, when attending divine lervice. The arch- biiliop, prudent gentle and patient, took infi- nite pains in this buiinefs, weighing and de- bating the fubjed: in every point of view ; not only with feveral of his brethren the biihops, and other dignitaries of the church, but likewife with Sampfon, dean of Chrill
^ Strype's Parker, p. 202.
* Abp. to Cecil, 26 Feb. (1565-6.) Burghley MS. vliL No. 80.
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Church, and Humphry, prefident of Magda- len college, Oxford, both of them exiles in Mary's days, two of the moll eminent in ta- lents and ftation, of thole who refufed the habits ^. The Dean of St. Paul's alfo laboured the point, and framed what his Grace called " Mr. Nowell's pacification ;" in which he propofed, that the general ufe of the eccleli- aftical veftures fhould be continued, but with a proteftation, that it was defirable fuch dif- tin(ftion of apparel fhould be taken away ; for feveral reafons, particularly thefe ; to iliew more fully their deteftation of that corrupt and fuperftitious church, in which they had been abufed ; for fear left they fliould be again abufed ; and to remove dilTenlion among the brethren ". No alteration however was made, nor deviation permitted ; and though Sampfon chofe to quit his deanery, rather than comply ; yet Humphry, as one obferved of him, became " conformable in the end, as he grew riper in experience, and fager in judgement '^." Whittingham alfo, dean of Durham, another who imported with him from abroad much of the leaven of Geneva,
^ Strype's Parker, 162 — 173.
^ Strype's Parker, 173,
'^ Gab. Harvey in Ath. Oxon. i. 242.
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 115
and was zealous in non-conformity (fecretly abetted therein by his patron the Earl of Lei- cefter^) yielded at laft, however reluctantly, to wear the habits ^ As for Nowell, he not only wore them orderly and punctually, en- joined as they were by legal authority, but likewife, as we have feen, voluntarily Hepped forward, in reviling the rules of Tunbridge fchool, to enforce a kindred ordinance, com- monly oppofed by thofe who oppofed the ha- bits, that the faints' days fliould be kept ^, as well as fundays.
* See a letter by him to the Earl on this fubjeft in 1564. Strype's Parker, p. 156. App. p. 43.
^ Strype, lb. 157. Ath. Oxon. i, 195. Whittingham, who was born in the city of Chefter, was educated in Brafen Nofe college ; afterwards became fellow of All Souls, and then Itudent of Chrift Church. He probably v/as firft tin6lured with puritanifm at Geneva, where he refided fome time in the reign of Edward VI. He tranflated the iT9th and fourteen other pfalms, infcribed W. W. though the initials vary a little in fome early editions. He was alfo the principal tranflator of the Geneva Bible.
s See above, p. J08. and his Reproof of Dorman, f. 16.
I 2
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SECTION YI.
^IVE years had now elapfed, lince Jewell's famous challenge, in his fermon at Paul's crofs '% liartled the Englilh papifts at home and abroad. Raliell, who had been a fellow of New College, and in the year of the chal- lenge fled to Lovain, was the iirft that pub- licly appeared in the lifts againll the chal- lenger, with a Confutation of the fermon, and other things '. Harding, who had been fellow of the fame college, and in the reign of Ed- ward the fixth, being chaplain to the Duke of Suffolk, and lirenuous for the reformation, endeavoured to prepare men for the perfecu- tion which was apprehended ^, but in Mary's days revolted to popery, next came out with his Confutation of Jewell's Apology ; and was followed by Dorman, who had alfo been edu-
^ See above, p. 49.
^ Heylin's Reform, p. 302. 346. Ath. Oxen. i. 306.
^ Vita Juel. p. 138—142. Heylln ut fupra. Ath. Oxon. i. 1 7^5. See a long letter to Harding on his lapfing to popery^ by Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, in Fox, vol. ii. p. 1420. Of which alfo fee Strype's Aylmer, p. 11.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 117
cated in the fame college, afterwards fellow of All Souls, and now beyond feas, adhering to popery.
Jewell prepared an anfwer to Harding ; but a number of other books, as it were darts, being in the mean time directed at his head,^ moft of them fuch as he, if he had leifure, would never anfwer, but by contempt, and yet if not anfwered, they might feem to be let alone as being unanfwerable ; Nowell therefore, in the caufe which was common to all (for they who aifailed the Bifhop only by name, endeavoured through his fides to thrull all through the heart) refolved, for the fatisfying of the limple and reprefling of the infolent, to fay fomewhat to fome one of thefe books ; and to Mr. Dorman's rather than any other, as it came abroad next in order after Dr. Harding's.
Dorman's book is intitled, '' A Proof of cer- tain Articles in Religion denied by Mr. Jewell." It was dedicated to Harding, and with good reafon, as Nowell fays, the author having bor- rowed from him " authorities and reafons rea-* dy framed to his hands," with others from Ho- lius, whom Harding alfo in many places had literally tranflated. This, which he difco- vered more and more as he proceeded, had
I 3
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he underftood at the firft, and that the Bilhop of Sarum in anfwering the mafter mull: needs anfwer the fcholar alfo, their reafons being the fame, he would have waited till the Bi- lliop's anfwer had come abroad in print ; and would then no otherwife have anfwered it, but by noting in what places of the Bifhop's anfwer to Harding, every place of Dorman was anfwered, himfelf direAly an- fwering fuch things as were peculiar to Dor- man. But having taken the book in hand, he was the more careful to anfwer the reafons alleged in it, not as being the reafons of Dor- man, but of Harding, of Eckius, Pighius, and Hofius, and of all that had written for the pope's fupremacy. Another and moll weighty caufe, why he ufed fuch diligence and pro- lixity, was, becaufe Dorman, though a weak aflailant and flender reafoner, was a great liar and venomous calumniator ; who had flan- dered his country, the laws^ and his fovereign, at home and abroad. *' Wherefore, fays he, I thought it fhould become me not llenderly to efteem the honour of my prince, my duty to my country, and to the laws of the realm ; . but with earneftnefs to repel fuch reproaches, as M. Dorman hath attempted to blemilh them withal." A third reafon for his an-
ALEXANDER NO WELL. ilQ
fwering more at large was, that the iimple and unlearned readers have often beft liking in books more boldly than learnedly written, and are moft in danger to credit moft lewd and flanderous lies ; infomuch that a great many, for the commendation of thefe virtues, preferred the fcholar before the mailer, M. Dorman before Dr. Harding. He therefore endeavoured to adapt his anfwer to thofe of mean underftanding, to whom the guileful dealings of the papifts cannot with brevity be made manifefl K
The points, which Dorman undertook to prove againft Jewell's negative, were, That the Biihop of Rome is the head of Chrift's univerfal church here in earth, and was, within the firft fix hundred years, fo called and taken ; That tranfubftantiation (not the name, but the doArine) was then taught ; That the communion vs^as then miniftered under one kind ; and mafs faid, although there were none to receive with the priell. On the firll of thefe points, where Harding had profefled brevity, Dorman amplified his matter, conlidering it to be, as in truth it is, the very foundation of all true religion (as he
' Pref. to the Reader. I 4
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called it) that is, of all poperj. On this therefore Nowell was full in his anfwer, and he publifhed this part firll. The dedication and preface, as containing nothing material to the queftion, he omits ; but of the treatife itfelf he tranfcribes and anfwers the whole, paragraph hy paragraph ; a method the moft fair and reafonable, which was afterwards adopted by Whitgift in his anfwer to Cart- wright.
It will ealily be fuppofed, that Dorman fails to prove that, of which there is neither proof, nor fhadow of proof, in the Scriptures, or the fathers ; but that he may feem to fay fomething, he corrupts and mifapplies a va- riety of palTages : which deceitful dealing caufed Nowell to fay, before a public auditory, when the book firft came over, " that he had not found any one authority by him (as far as then he had read) truly alleged'"." Where the queflion, as it flands in Dorman's page, has the moft plaufible appearance, it is found, on examination, to be merelv this : what St. Cyprian and others fay of deacons and other minifters fubmitting to their oivn pro- per biftiop, at Carthage, at Alexandria, or
"* Reproof, f. 10. And fee above, p. io6.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 121
other places (which implies, what the fame fathers often exprefsly teach, that all bifliops are equal, each head of his own peculiar dio- cefe) this Dorman has the effrontery to af- fume and apply, as if it were fpoken of fub- miffion to the bilhop oi Rome.
Nowell's Reproof is dated 30 May, 1565 "; and in little more than a month (July 13.) came out a fecond impreffion «, in which, as he fays, " there is nothing altered from the firli, fauing onely that M. Dorman's euyll handlyng of the auncient Dod:ours is, in fome places, more at large explicated ; and that fome part of Mr. Dorman's treatie, fome- where before diuided, is now for the more perlpicuitie and plaineneiTe ioyned togeather." Both imprellions are very neat, but the fe- cond, as well in point of typography as paper.
" Penes me. There Is written in it, " Sum Thomse Beulei, anno \^6^. pr. i8 D." Afterwards it belonged to the Lord North, whofe elegant but very peculiar fignature, " R. North," together with his maxim or motto, " dvrvm pati 70" (i. e. 1570) appears on the title-page. See two later autographs of his, one in i575' MS. Burghley xxi. No. 44. the other in 1591. ib. Ixviii. No. 9.
° In the Library of Brafen Nofe College, Strype feems only to have feen this fecond - impreffion, and to have miftaken it for the firft, as he fays (L. of Parker, p. 180.) it came out July 13, which is the date of the fecond impreffion.
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has the advantage ; particularly as the quo- tations, Italic in the firft, are here Roman, which aflimilates better with the black letter, in which both are printed.
The works, which the divines iflued from their feminaries abroad, were for the moft part " by common conference elaborated, at convenient opportunity to be put in print ^;'* and it was alfo fuppofed in the cafe of Dor- man, that he derived considerable aflillance from the papers of Dr. Richard Smith, to whom he was executor : fo before the year ended, he printed at Antwerp a " Difproof of No well's Reproof," confidently and in direct words charging his adverfary with no lefs than eighty two lies.
The manner of thefe two controverfialifts was in itfelf no obfcure indication of the nature of the caufe, which they feverally maintained. Nowell, as we have feen, can- did and fincere, tranfcribed in his Reproof Dorman's entire book; fo that the reader, having the whole fairly laid before him, might be able to judge, whether the anfwer was fatisfadtory, and which of the parties had truth on his fide. Dorman, on the con-
P Nowell to the Reader,
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 123
trary, fcarcely quoted a lingle fentence fairly from No well, but picked out what he pleafed, and omitted what he did not care to meddle with; and by darkening what was plain, and confounding things that were diftind; ; by adding, altering, corrupting, and falfifying, he kept up an appearance of conteft, and boafted of victory, while he was combating a flia- dow.
In 1566 Nowell publifhed the Continua- tion of his Reproof, ^' with a defence of the chief Authority and Government of Chriftian Princes, as well in caufes Ecclefiaftical as Civil, within their own dominions, by Mr. Dorman malicioufly oppugned." And in the following year came out his fecond book in this controverfy, intitled '' A Confutation as well of Mr. Dorman's laft book, intitled a Difcourfe &c. as alfo of Dr. Sanders's caufes of Tranfubftantiation : whereby our country- men (fpecially the limple and unlearned) may underlland, how ihamefully they are abufed by thofe and iike Books, pretended to be written for their inftruclion '^." This caution, or warning to the unlearned, refers to the confident alfertions, evalive arts, and palpable
*5 By Binneman, i^^)"]. Brafen Nofe College Library.
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fallifications, before noted in Dorman, but common to him with mofl of his party ; againft which it was his wifh to put his readers upon their guard. As he had, in the firll: part of his Reproof, amply evinced the pretended fupremacy of the Pope to be with- out foundation, he enlarged, in his Continua- tion, as the title promifed, upon the fequel to it, the fovereignty of the civil power ; and anfwered other fubordinate points in a more fummary way. But in the Confutation, being a diftincft work, he proceeded as before, pa- ragraph by paragraph ; and alfo fpared his readers much trouble, by not fparing him- felf, drawing up a table, which fhewed in one column allegations of the fathers, in nine and twenty places at leaft, tranfcribed by Dorman from Harding, and another column of references to the anfwers to them, by Jewell againft Harding, or by Nowell him- felf ; and another table of pilferings from Holius, and the anfwers to them alfo, by Jewell, or Nowell.
Of this work it is to be remembered, that, as Strype truly obferves, it is not to be re- garded as containing the mature learning and judgement of Nowell only, but likewife of feveral " other great and wife men," by
ALEXANDER NOWELL. 125
whom it was well weighed and confidered, particularly the biihop of London, and the Secretary of ftate. The former faw the Iheets, as the author finiflied them ; and fo did the Secretary, at leafl: many of them, and occafionally corrected and added to them. This we may colled: from a letter of the Dean, wherein he '^ thanks his Honour for the perufing of his papers ; which he fent again written out, unto him ; for fo my Lord of London faid was your Honour's pleafure." He fent him " half a dozen leaves or more, and would be much bounden to his Honour, in cafe he would overfee that part, containing an anfwer to Calvin, by overfight uncomely and untruly writing of Henry the eighth, and the title of Supreme Head, which Dorman had laid to our charge." He added, that " the printer called upon him, and that he had no caufe to Hay, but the lack of intelligence of his Honour's judgement upon that part ^."
When he was employed upon thefe works, probably the Confutation, where he anfwers Sanders on tranfubftantiation, he had occa^ fion to confult Innocent the third and Scotus,
■■ *' Too the right honorable and my vere good frend, S"' Wyl- lyam Cicill knight, Secretarie to the Queues Ma*'^" i April (1566.) Burghley MS. ix. No. 4a. Strype's Ann. i-. 541.
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in whofe judgement, contrary to the doftrine of modern Rome, the form of confecration in the eucharill confifts, not in the words, " Hoc eji coi^pus meumj' but in fome bleffing going before ; and having been told by the bifhop of London, that the archbifliop had thefe books, he faid, " I wolde reforte to your Grace fumtyme this day to be certified herof ; for I dare trull noe reporte of the places of authors, unles I doe my-felfe fee the origi- nalls, fuche wranglers have I to doe with, and foe vnfure are men's notes of the places of the authors, by their faulte, or the prin- ters ^"
The meek and learned Jewell, about the fame time, manifefted limilar anxiety in point of correAnefs ; but his own printed work being the obje6t of his care, he exprelTed himfelf with ftill greater emphalis : "I be- feeche your Grace to geeue llraite order, that the Latine Apologie be not printed againe, in any cafe, before either your Grace, or fomme other haue wel perufed it. I am afraide of printers. Theire tyrannic is terrible ^"
* MS. Parker cxiv, p. 913.
' " From my poore houfe in Sariiburie, 3 Maii, i j<58. Your Graces moft humble, Jo. Sar." MS. Parker, ib. p. 457.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 127
Thefe anecdotes, though flight in them- felves, the attentive reader will not deem al- together uninterefting or unimportant, as they Ihew, in the undifguifed intercourfe of con- fidential friends, how folicitous the perfons, to whom, under God, we in great meafure owe the final reformation of our Church, were *' ut Veritas ipfa limaretur in difputa- tionej' that genuine truth might be fully known, and accurately exprefied.
Bringing into one view the whole of this controverfy, we have palled by one or two literary matters, which occurred in the mean time.
At the clofe of the year 1565 Cooper's Thefaurus, or Dictionary of the Latin tongue, was publifhed. It came out under the au- fpices of the great court favourite, the Earl of Leicefter, Chancellor of the univerfity of Oxford, to whom it was dedicated ; and was graced with a commendatory copy of verfes by Nowell ; bidding young men refpe6t the author, and avail themfelves of his book, un- difmayed by its bulky appearance; for, large as the volume was, the fize was not compa- rable to the value of the work. This was the firft competent production of the fort, pub- lifiied in England, the author having aug-
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merited Sir Thomas Elyot's book, with more than thirty thoufand words and phrafes ; and it is generally faid to have been the chief caufe of Cooper's preferment " ; who, from this sera, rofe rapidly in the church. In 1567 he was made Dean of Chrill Church, and filled the office of Vice Chancellor of the univerfity, in that and the three following years, a term to which, from his time, it has been cuttomary to continue the office, in itfelf annual ; and, from the fame period alfo, the more ancient name of CommilTary grew into difufe''. In 156g he was made Dean of Glouceller, Bilhop of Lincoln in 15 70, and tranflated to Win- chefter in 1584.
If what a very learned and exadi author of the lall centurv favs is true, that the Thefau- rus of Cooper is in fad: little more than a tranfcript of Charles Stephens's Dictionary, printed at Paris in 1553 ^ it was fortunate for the author, that the difcovery was not made fooner. But he had at leaft the merit
" Sir J. Harrington, Brief View, 1653. p. 62. who highly commends his learning, induftiy, and " unreprovable" life.
^ Wood's Fafti, by Gutch, p. 103. This is noticed in his epi- taph : " Oxonienfis erat Gloceftrenfifque decanus,
Continuus primae Vice- Cancellarius urbis, &c. Strype'a Ann. iv. 204,
y Bifhop Kennet, L. of Soniner, p. 94.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 129
of translating from the French ; and, at the fame time, what Manutius obferved, on a like occafion ^, a few years before, is indubitable, that a Dictionary, even of a dead language, never was brought to perfection, but by re- peated attempts, and the accumulated induftry of many fucceflive hands.
Nowell preached at the crofs on the 12th of May, 1566; being, I prefume, the feaft of the Afcenlion, as the fermon was on that fubjeCl, from John xvi. 5, 6. Of this and of fome other contemporary fermons, chiefly at the crofs, certain *' fliort and fummary notes" have been preferved by fome attentive auditor, who deemed them " not unprofitable to be remembered^." By this, as by other inftances, it appears, that Nowell's difcourfes from the pulpit were not, as fermons fome- times are, on fome general topic, having only a faint and diftant relation to the text prefixed to them, but were, like the homilies of St. Chryfoflom, expolitions of Scripture ; unfold- ing the text and the paflages conneCled with it : as on this occafion he explained the verfes
^ In Ded. of Calepin's Di6lionary, 1^57. inter Epp. P, Manu- tli, p. 498. He fpeaks-of Charles Stephens as " veterrimo amico meo, fpeftatse virtutis et induftriae viro." ib. 246.
» MS. Tanner, 50. f. 92 — 94. In Biblioth. BodL
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which follow the text, and fpeak of the Holy Spirit reproving the world, being, as he ob- ferves, " fomewhat obfcure ;" and he alleges, from St. Auguftine, a reafon why fuch obfcu- rities were permitted, " to llir up our dili- gence."
One expreliion in this fermon may deferve notice, in conlidering the quellion of the real or fuppofed Calvinifm of No well ; for when he fays, " It Ihall be more tolerable for them (Tyre &c.) in the day of judgement, than for this people, tvhich is the eleB of God,'' it is evident, that he did not reftrid: the election of God to individuals, and alfo that he conceived the eled: might perifli.
He preached at the crofs again ^, as the fame pen informs us, on the 27th of January, upon Romans xii. 15, 16; when, after dif- courling of charity, peace, and humility, as taught in the text, and dehorting from pride by examples of its punifliment, he is led to cenfure the pope's flatterers, as more grofs than thofe of Herod, calhng him " their Lord and God ;" and then repels their llanderous accufations againlt us for breach of charity, and craves leave to digrefs a little, to notice
^ MS. Tanner, ut fupra, f. 70 — 73.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 131
two books, come over lince he laft preached at the fame place, an anfwer to the Apology of the Englifh Church, and a Difproof of his Reproof ; wherein Dorman faid, he was very ralh in anfwering, on a former occafion at the crofs % certain points in Harding's book be- fore he had read it over. " The truth is, faid No well, Harding's book came not into my hands pad three days, and rather two days than three, before I preached here. But alas ! if I happened to read there fome things that were too fond, might I not lawfully give warning of them, feeing the book was come into all men's hands almoft: and if I fee a fault in a man's behaviour, Ihall I not tell him of it, except I know all the reft of his life ?"
He then, in order that his auditors might fee Dorman's Ihifting, and take heed to his deceit, read to them certain palTages from his firft and fecond book, where what he alleged in the firll; book, he denied in the fecond.
In the beginning of the next year ^, the Bean and Chapter of St. Paul's granted to Dr. Henry Harvey, " a reverend learned and good inan," as one who knew him calls him ^,
•^ In 1564. See above, p. 105. ■^ Feb. 2, 1567-8. Reg. Nowell i. f. 314. ' Sir George Buck Kn. Mafter of the Revels^ in Stow's Chron. K 2
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Mafter of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Dean of the Arches, and to the Fellows of the College of Advocates, a leafe of their capital meiluage in Knightrider fireet, lince known by the name of Doctors' Commons; which is memorable, as fixing the date, when the So- ciety of Advocates firfl dwelt together in a permanent and appropriate habitation ; and memorable alfo, as fupplying the names of feveral illullrious perfons, who aforetime had inhabited the houfe ; namely. Sir Thomas Stanley, knight. Lord Stanley, Sir John Say knight, the Duchefs of Richmond, and laftly the Lord Mountjoy, whence it obtained the name of Mountjoy houfe. Dr. Harvey and the Fellows had been at great expence in taking down and new building the houfe ; in confideration whereof the prefent leafe was granted to them, for ninety nine years, on the expiration of a leafe to Sir Thomas Pope in 3 555, with a promife of renewal during the term, for the fine of 2ol ^ Under this and limilar leafes, the premifes continued in the
by Howes, 163 1, p. 1077. Dr. Harvey was Prebendary of Ely,- Precentor of St. Paul's, and Re6tor pf Bifhop's Stortford (Reg. Nowell ii. £ 147. 303. b.iii. 46.)
^ Reg. Nowell, i. f. 314. And fee Sketches of Civilians See. reviewed in Gent. Mag. 1804. 645.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 133
occupation of the Civilians, till thej purchafed the fee fimple by rojal affiftance, and were incorporated by royal charter, in 1768.
In the enfuing part of this year (1568) we find the Dean among his friends in Lanca- lliire ; where, by his continual preaching in divers parts of the country, he brought many to conformity; and obtained lingular commen- dation and praife, even of thofe who had been great enemies to his religion. So Down- ham, bifhop of Chefter, who this year vifited his whole diocefe, and therefore had the bet- ter opportunity of informing himfelf, reported the matter to Secretary Cecil ; defiring him to be a means to the Queen, and to her honour- able Council, to give the Dean thanks for his great pains, taken among his countrymen ^.
On his return to London he had to witnefs an afflicting fcene, in the Hcknefs aud death of his intimate friend, the celebrated Roger Afcham. With a conftitution fubjeCt to at- tacks of fever, and enfeebled by frequent re- turns of it h, he imprudently fat up late, in- tent upon finifhing a copy of verfes, as a new year's gift for the Queen, as well as letters to
£ Strype's Ann. i. 547.
^ See his Epp. to Sturmius, L. i. Ep. i, and xili. K 3
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to his friends, and contracted cold, which brought on a dangerous malady in the be- ginning of December. Nowell often vilited him during his illnefs, and fupported and comforted him, by fetting before him the fufFerings of earth, and the profpeCt of hea- ven ; but in a lirain and manner fo divine, that, when he had left the room, the iick man declared with joy, that the excellent Dean had fuftained his foul with food that would never die ! His difeafe grew more op- prellive ; but his rich and happy memory did not forfake him, and he rehearfed, before the Dean and other furrounding friends, a variety of paiTages, expreffive of the mercy and love of God to mankind, and of his bleiiings beftowed on them.
Gravet, one of the prebendaries of St^ Paul's and vicar of St. Sepulchre's \ came to him, not, as he faid, to inftru6t him ; " for I know you are amply informed on all points,
' William Gravet M. A. was prefented by the Queen to St. Sepulchre's, 8 OSt. 1566. Newcourt i. 534. collated to the pre- bend of Willeidon in St. Paul's, July 28, 1567. ib. 229. Reftor of Little Laver, ElTex, Dec. 3, 1569. on prefentation of John Col- lyns. ib, ii. 370. He was mentioned by the Privy Council in 1582, together with the Dean of St. Paul's, Dr. Fulk, Dr. Still, Mr. MuUins &c. as a fit perfon to confer with priefts and Jefuits. Strype's Whitg. p. gg.
ALEXANDER NO WELL. 135
by the words of that venerable man, Alex- ander Nowell, and by your own learning ; but to adminifter comfort, and to perform my duty." '' I am in great pain, faid Afcham, and my diforder is heavy ; this is my con- feffion, and faith ; this my prayer, and all that I long for : I dejire to depart, and to be tvith Chrijl .'" words, which he had often re- peated to Nowell, and they were now the lall that he fpoke ! He expired on the 30th of December, at the age of not more than fifty three ; and was buried in St. Sepulchre's church, on the fourth of January, with this teftimony to his merit by Nowell, who preached his funeral fermon : " That he never faw or heard of a perfon of greater integrity of life, or that was bleffed with a more Chriftian death ^." He was indeed the pride, and in one refpeA perhaps the fhame, of the
^ Grant's L. of Afcham, pref, to Afcham's Epp, Oxford 1703, p. 28. With this agrees the elegant elogium of Buchanan on his death :
Extinftum Afchamum patriae Graiseque Camosnae,
Et Latiae vera cum pietate dolent. Principibus vixit carus, jucundus amicis.
Re modica, in mores dicere fama nequit.
Poemata, Amftel, 1 687. p. 571. See alfo a copy of verfes in return for a book, which Afcham had fent him, ib. 359.
K 4
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days of Elizabeth. In a letter to the Earl of Leiceller, who had been godfather to one of his fons, he laments, that, through tedious and expenfive fuits at law and other difficul- ties, he had been obliged to fell his plate, and, that which grieved him much, his wife's poor jewels ; and was not very like to live long, nor to leave to