not be accessary to her own injury but decked her self in her richest Ornaments which so improved her beauty that the King was struck with astonishment and admiration at first sight and was fully resolved to be quit with his perfidious Favourite yet dissembling his passion he went to hunting where taking Ethelwold at an advantage he ran him through with a Javelin and having thereby made fair Elfrid a Widdow he took her to be his Wife We read that Ordulphus Son of Ordgarus Earl of Devonshire but whether this or no is uncertain was a Giantlike Man and could break open the bars of Gates with his hands and stride 10 foot at once but of what credit it is I know not Agnes Preist was burnt for the Protestant Faith without the Walls of Exeter her own Husband and her Children were her greatest Persecutors from whom she fled because they would force her to be present at Mass she was Indicted at the Assizes and afterward presented to James Troublefield Bishop of Exeter and by him condemned for denying the Sacrament of the Altar after her condemnation she refused to receive any mony from well affected People saying She was going to a City where Mony had no Mastery she was a simple Woman to behold little of stature and about 50 years old she was burnt in a place called Sothenhay in November 1558. One Child whose Christian name is unknown was a Gentleman the last of his Family being of an ancient extraction at Plimstock in this County and had great possessions it happened that hunting in Dartmore he lost both his Company and way in a deep Snow having therefore killed his Horse he crept into his hot bowels for warmth and writ this with his blood Whoever finds and brings me to my Tomb The Land of Plimstock that shall be his doom The night after it seems he was frozen to death and being first found by the Monks of Tavistock they with all possible hast provided to inter him in their own Abby his own Parishioners at Plimstock hearing thereof stood at the ford of the River to take the body from them but they must rise early yea not sleep at all who over-reach Monks in matter of profit for they cast a slight Bridge over the River whereby they carried over the Corps and interred it in remembrance whereof the Bridge since better built is called Guile-Bridge to this day Nicholas and Andrew Tremain were Twins and younger Sons to Thomas Tremain of Colacomb in this County Esq such was their likeness in all the parts of Face and Body that they could not be distinguished but by their different habits which they would sometimes exchange to make sport which occasioned very merry mistakes they felt like pain though at a distance without any notice given they equally desired to walk travel sit sleep eat drink together at the same time as many credible Gentry of the Neighbourhood by relation from their Father will attest in this they differed at Newhaven in France the one was a Captain of a Troop the other but a private Soldier here they were both slain 1564. death being pitiful to kill them together to prevent the lingring languishing of the Surviver John de Beigny Lord of Ege-Lifford in this County having been a great Traveller and Soldier in his youth retired home married and had 3 Sons in his staid Age of these the youngest went to fight against the Saracens in Spin of whose valor his Father to his great content heard very high Commendations which made him the more patiently endure his absence but when death had bereft him of his two elder Sons he was often heard to say Oh that I might but once imbrace my Son I would be contented to die presently His Son soon after returning unexpectedly the old man instantly expired with an extasy of Joy thus if Heaven should always take us at our word in all our wishes and random desires we should be drowned in the deluge of our own passions This Knight lived in the time of K. Edward 3. Thomas Stuckly was a younger Brother of an Ancient wealthy Family near Ilfra-Comb in this County a man of good parts which himself knew too well having prodigally mispent his Patrimony he entered on several projects the first was peopling of Florida then newly found out in the West Indies so confident was his ambition that he blushed not to tell Q. Elizabeth That he would rather chuse to be Soveraign of a Molehill than the highest Subject to the greatest Prince in Christendome adding withal That he was sure he should be a Prince before his death I hope said the Queen I shall hear from you when you are setled in your Principality I will write unto you quoth Stuckly In what Language said the Queen He replyed In the stile of Princes To Our Dear Sister But his project in Florida being blasted he resolved treacherously to attempt what he could not Loyally atchieve and went over into Ireland and from thence into Italy where he got into the intimate favour of Pope Pius 5. boasting that with 3000 Soldiers he would beat all the English out of Ireland the Pope gave him many Titles in Ireland as Earl of Wexford Marquess of Lemster c. and furnished him with 800 men paid by the King of Spain for this Irish expedition in passing to which Stuckly lands in Portugal just when Sebastian the King thereof with two Moorish Kings were undertaking a Voyage into Africa Stuckly scorning to attend is persuaded to accompany them landing in Africa Stuckly gave this seasonable and necessary Counsel That they should refresh their land Souldiers for two or three days some of whom were sick and weak by reason of the tempestuous Passage But this would not be heard K. Sebastian was so furious to engage and so in the Battle of Alcaser their Army was wholly defeated where Stuckly lost his Life A fatal Fight where in one day was slain Three Kings that were and one that would be fain This Battle was fought in 1578. where Stuckly with his 800 Men behaved himself most valiantly till over-powered with multitude and so ended this Buble of Emptiness and Meteor of Ostentation In the troubles between K. Edward 2. and the Barons one John Powdras a Tanners Son of Exeter gave out that he himself was the true Edward eldest son of the late King Edward 1. and by a false Nurse was changed in his Craddle and that the now K. Edward was a Carters Son and laid in his place for which forgery being taken and hanged drawn and quartered he confessed at his death That he had a familiar Spirit in his House in the likeness of a Cat that assured him he should be King of England and that he had served this spirit 3 years before to bring his design about K. Richard 3. called Crookback lay some few days in Exeter Castle and demanding the name of it they told him Rugemont whereat the Usurper was much startled having
Hell whom they devoutly worshipped as the preserver of their health Shaftsbury likewise wherein one Aquila either Man or Eagle is reported to have prophecied of future times In this City Edward son of Edgar who was murdered at Corf-Castle by his Step-Mother to make way for her own Son was buried In the Reign of K. Edward 2 the great Earl of Lancaster married a Lady from Camford in this County who was taken out of his house by one Richard Martin a deformed lame Dwarf who challenged her for his Wife alledging he had lain with her before the Earl married her whereupon the Lady was examined who voluntarily confessed it was all true and thereupon the ugly Fellow in her right claimed the Two Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury In the Fourth of this Kings Reign the Church of Middleton with all the Monuments were consumed with Lightning the Monks being at Mattens In the 22d of Edward 3. a Plague was brought from beyond Sea into the Towns and Villages of England on the Seacosts of Dorsetshire which raged so both there and in other parts of England that scarce the Tenth man was left alive in the Kingdom In 1506. King Philip sailing out of Germany to take possession of the Kingdom of Spain was driven by Tempest upon the Coasts of England and landed at Weymouth to refresh himself and was invited by Sir Tho. Trenchard a worthy Knight of that County to his House who immediately sent word to King Henry 7. of his Arrival who glad to have his Court honoured by so great a Prince sent the Earl of Arundel at present to wait upon him till himself should follow the Earl attended him with a gallant Troop of about 300 Horse and for more state came to him by Torch light upon this Message though K. Philip had many reasons to hasten his Journy yet not to distaste K. Henry he came Post to Windsor where after great and magnificent Entertainment K. Henry taking an opportunity when they were both in a private room laying his Hand civilly upon K. Philip's Arm said Sir you have been saved upon my Coast I hope you will not suffer me to wreck upon yours The King of Castile asking him what he meant I mean saith the King that hair-brain'd Fellow the Earl of Suffolk who being my Subject is protected in your Country and begins to play the Fool when all others are weary of it The King of Castile answered I had thought Sir your felicity had been above these thoughts but if it trouble you I will banish him K. Henry answered That his desire was to have him delivered to him with this the King of Castile a little confused said That can I not do with my honour Well then said the King the matter is at an end at last the King of Castile who much esteemed K. Henry composing his Countenance said Sir you shall have him but upon your honour you shall not take his Life I promise it upon my honour said K. Henry and he kept his promise for he was not put to death during all his Reign but yet he took such order that in the Reign of his Son K. Hen. 8. he had his Head cut off This Earl of Suffolk had lately gone over to Flanders to the Lady Margret K. Henry's sworn Enemy which made the King doubt of his Intentions The Earl was accordingly brought over and sent to the Tower and after K. Philip had received the Order of the Garter and Prince Henry that of the Golden Fleece the King of Castile departed home In the 26. of Q. Elizabeth 1558. at a place called Blackmore in the Parish of Armitage in this County a piece of ground containing 3 Acres removed from its place and went quite over another Close with the Trees and Fences thereon a great way off stopping up an High-way which led to Cerne the same Hedges inclosing it as before and the Trees standing very upright thereon onely one Oak of almost 20 Load fell down in the place from whence it removed there remained a great deep Pit In 1613. Aug. 7. The Town of Dorchester was utterly consumed with Fire which began in the house of a Tallow-Chandler and destroyed the whole Town save a few Houses near the Church and all their Wares and Goods to the value of Two Hundred Thousand Pounds yet no man perished therein In June 1653. a black Cloud was seen over the Town of Pool and soon after dissolved into a shower of Blood which fell warm upon mens hands some green leaves with those drops upon them were sent to London and seen by many The Forrest of the White Hart is in this County so called because in the Reign of Henry 3. the King came hither to hunt and having taken other Deer he spared a most beautiful and goodly white Heart which afterward Thomas de Lynd a Gentleman of this Country with others in his Company took and killed for which the King put a mulct or Fine upon him and the whole County and the very lands which they held pay even to this day every year by way of amercement a sum of Mony into the Exchequer which is called White Hart Silver My self saith Dr. Fuller have paid a share for the sauce who never tasted any of the meat so that it seems Kings Venison is sooner eaten than digested Mr. Ignatius Jordan was born at Lime Regis in this County and when he was young was sent to Exeter to be brought up a Merchant in this City having passed through the several inferiour Offices he at last came to be Mayor and was a Justice of Peace 24 years together yet his beginning was but very mean which he was always ready to acknowledg for when some threatned him with Law-suits and that they would not give over while he was worth a groat he cheerfully told them That he should be then but two pence poorer than when he came first to Exeter for said he I brought but six pence with me hither He would often say He wondred what rich men meant that they gave so little to the Poor and yet raked so much together for their Children do you not see said he what becomes of it and would reckon up divers examples of such as heaped up much for their Children and they in a short time consumed it all on the other side he spoke of such as had small beginnings and afterward became rich or of a competent Estate giving a particular instance of himself I came said he but with a groat or sixpence in my purse to this City had I had a shilling in my purse I had never been Mayor of Exeter In his Troubles in the Star Chamber when one told him he was sorry that the Lord Keeper was against him He answered I have a greater Lord Keeper than him the Lord is my Keeper I will not be afraid He was famous for Justice and Charity in his life and at his death left very large Legacies to the poor
Berkâ—y Castle where he was courteously received by Thomas Berkly Lord thereof who was allowed a 100 shillings a day for keeping him close Prisoner But Q. Isabel being much troubled that her Husband lived consults again with the wicked Bishop of Hereford pretending that she was much troubled with frightful dreams which presignified that if her Husband should be again restored to his dignity he would burn her for a Traitor or send her into perpetual banishment the Bishop and several other great Men both of the Nobility and Clergy finding themselves likewise equally guilty became uneasy while the King lived and therefore sent chiding Letters to the Keepers pretending they gave the King too much liberty and kept him too high and delicately and withal added this line at the end of the Letter contrived by the Bishop Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est To shed King Edwards blood Refuse to fear I count it good Never was the fallacy of pointings or ambiguity of Phrase more mischievously used to the destruction of a King or for the defence of the Contrivers than in this hainous Parricide for it was so craftily contrived in a double sense that both the Keepers might find sufficient warrant and himself might find sufficient excuse the Keepers guessing at the meaning took it in the worst sense and therefore putring the L. Berkly out of the Castle they shut up the King in a close Chamber where with the stinch of dead Carkases laid in the Cellar under him he was almost poysoned of which he made complaint to some Carpenters who worked at his Chamber-window but these wretches perceiving this would not do the work they rushed one night into his Chamber and casting as many heavy bolsters upon him as 15 men could carry they pressed them down hard and not content with that heated an Iron red hot and through a Pipe like a Trumpet thrust it up into his body that no marks of a violent death might be seen but however they were heard for when they were thus doubly murdering him he was heard to roar and cry all the Castle over Gourney and Martravers his Murtherers expecting rewards had the reward of Murtherers for the Queen and Bishop Torlton disavowing the Command threatned to question them for the Kings death whereupon they fled beyond Sea and Gourney after three years being taken in France and sent into England was in the way upon the Sea beheaded Martravers flying into Germany had the grace to repent but lived ever after miserably thus died this unfortunate Prince in 1327 about half a year after his deposing never certainly was any King turned out of a Kingdom in such a manner many Kingdoms have been lost by the chance of War but this was lost before the Dice were cast no blow struck no battle fought done forceably and yet without force violently and yet with consent both parties agreed yet neither pleased for the King was not pleased to leave his Kingdom and the Queen was not pleased to leave him his life though he often declared in his Captivity That nothing grieved him so much as that tâ— Queen his Wife would never be persuaded to come and see him and swore very devoutly That from the first time he saw he face he could never like of any other Woman by which it appears that neither Gaveston nor the Spencers his wicked Favourites had so far debauched him as to make him false to his Bed or disloyal to his Queen but she was hardened against him thinking it not safe to leave him a part by which he might afterward recover the whole which was the chief occasion of his coming to this miserable end The County of Glocester is divided into 30 Hundreds wherein are 26 Market Towns 208 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Glocester out of it are elected 8 Parliament Men. For the County 2 for the City of Glocester 2 Tewksbury 2 Cirencester 2. HANTSHIRE hath Berkshire on the North Surry and Sussex on the East the Sea on the South Dorset and Wiltshire on the West from North to South it is 54 miles and from East to West 30. It is fruitful in Corn plenteous in pasture and for all advantages of the Sea wealthy and happy Wools Cloths and Iron are the general Commodities of this County Winchester is a City which flourished in the time of the Romans and now indifferently peopled and frequented by water it is about a mile and an half in Circuit within the walls which open at 6 Gates and is adorned with magnificent Churches and a Bishops See Dr. Heylin tells us That one of the Principal Orders of Knighthood is that of the round Table instituted by Arthur King of the Brittains and one of the worlds 9 worthies It consisted of 150 Knights whose names are recorded in the History of King Arthur the principal of them were Sir Lancelot Sir Tristram Sir Lamarock Sir Gawin c. all placed at one round Table to avoid quarrels about Priority and Place The round Table hanging in the great Hall of Winchester is falsly called Arthur's round Table it being not of sufficient Antiquity nor containing but 24 Seats In the Year 959. Edgar the Saxon King hearing the Daughter of a Western Duke exceedingly praised for her Beauty he was so inflamed therewith that he presently made a journey into those parts and coming to Andover in this County he commanded the Virgin to be brought to his Bed the Mother being tender of her Daughters honour brought her Maid in the dark to the King who pleased him as well in his lascivious dalliance the morning approaching this late Maid made haste to rise but the King being loth to part so soon with his supposed fair Lady asked her why she made such haste she told him she had a great deal of work to do and that her Lady would be very angry if she did not rise and dispatch it but being kept longer than her time she upon her knees did beseech the King to free her from her angry Mistriss alledging That she who had been imbraced by the King ought not to serve any other The King hereby perceiving the deceit was very angry yet since he could not recall what was past after having severely reproved the deceitful Lady he turned it into a jest but the Girl it seems pleased him so well that he took her for his Concubine whereby she ruled over them who lately commanded her and loved her entirely keeping to her alone till he was married to the fair Elfreda before mentioned This King likewise debauched a Nun named Wolfchild on whom he begat Edith afterward accounted a Saint He committed the like folly with Ethelfleda Duke Ordmars Daughter who for her extraordinary beauty was called The White on whom he begot his eldest Son Edward for which Mr. Fox affirmeth he did 7 Years Penance enjoyned him by St. Dunstan This Edward succeeded him in the Kingdom at 12 Years old the beginning of whose Reign
was miserably afflicted with barenness of ground Famine Murrain of Cattle and a fearful Comet appeared all which were thought to be the signs of Divine Displeasure for the wrong done to the married Clergy who were turned out of their Livings and ancient Possessions only for having Wives contrary to the Law of God and against all Justice and Reason whereto the unmarried Priests answered That Christ respected neither the Person nor the place but had only regard to thâ—se that took up the Cross of Pennance and followed him But they good men little understood the incumbrance of marrying for otherwise they would have felt that the condition of married men was more truly taking up the cross and enduring Pennance than their careless single Life The Churchmen thus divided and rent the Nobles as well as others took part of either side as they were affected and both parties raised great Armies in their own defence the Fire thus blown from a spark to a flame was like to have grown higher but by mediation Arms were laid aside and the cause was referred to a Council assembled at Winchester where after long debate when the cause was like to go against the unmarried Monks the matter was referred to the determination of a Rood or Image of a Man that stood against the Wall by the persuasion of the great Oracle St. Dunstan who desired them to pray devoutly and to give diligent ear for an answer the Idol being as good natured as they were devout was very easily persuaded to give them this advice God forbid it should be so God forbid it should be so you have judged well once and to change that again is not good This was Authority suâ—â—â—â—ent to suppress the Priests who now with their Wives went down the Wind yet they made another Attempt for persuading the People that this was buâ—â—â— trick of the Monks who placed a man behind the Wâ—â—â— that through a Trunk uttered these words through the mouth of the Rood they therefore earnestly desired â—hat the cause might be heard once more this at last was granted and appointed at Cleve in Wiltshire whither the Prelates and most of the Nobles and States of the Kingdom besides innumerable Gentlemen and Commons came the Council being sate and the Controversie growing hot whether by the weakness of the Foundation or the vast weight of the People or both the joysts of the Chamber where they sate fell down and the multitude with it whereof many were hurt and some killed only Archbishop Dunstan then President escaped for the Post whereon his Chair was set stood wholly untouched which the Monks said was not without a miracle he being their mouth against the married Priests whose cause fell now with this fall and the Peoples affections drawn from them they had liberty now to accompany with their Wives without Cure though not without Care And all this happened by the strange preservation of Dunstan upon the Post which yet is not so strange since the Monks report that the main Beam of his House being one time sunk out of its place and the whole building like to fall and knock him on the Head he made it return into its former place only by making the sign of the Cross thereon with his Fingers so extream powerful was he in such wooden miracles which are not much to be wondred at since it seems his very harp could do miracles as when of itself it sung a Hymn very melodiously yea the blessed Virgin her self is said to have come to solace him with her songs and it was ordinary for Angels to sing familiarly with him and for him to whip Devils that came to him in the Shapes of Dogs Foxes and Bears but his greatest exploit was when the Devil knowing that he was unmarried came to tempt him in the shape of a handsome brisk Wench but the Saint got her by the Nose with a pair of hot burning Pincers and thereby spoiled a good Face making her to rear in a dreadful manner Thus these sottish Monks deluded the People with such ridiculous stories and thereby rather disgraced than honoured those whom they designed to magnify Southampton is a Town populous rich and beautiful from which the whole County derives its name The famous King Canutus his flatterers persuaded him that he was greater than Alexander Caesar or Cyrus and was possessed with more than humane Power to convince these fawning Courtiers being one time at Southampton he commanded his Chair of State should be set on the shore when the Sea began to flow and then sitting down therein in the presence of many of his Attendants he spake thus to the Element Thou Sea art part of my Dominion and the ground whereon I sit is mine neither was there ever any that durst disobey my command or by breaking it escaped unpunished I charge thee therefore that thou presume not to come upon my Land nor wet these Royal Robes of thy Lord that are about me But the Sea giving no heed to his threatnings but keeping on its usual course of Tide first wet his Skirts and then his Thighs whereupon suddenly rising up he thus spake in the hearing of them all Let all the worlds Inhabitants know that vain and weak is the power of their Kings and that none is worthy of the name of King but he that keeps both Heaven Earth and Sea in obedience and bindeth them in an everlasting Law of Subjection After which time he would never suffer the Crown to be set upon his head but presently crowned therewith the Picture of our Saviour on the Cross at Winchester with such strong delusions were these devout Princes drawn away by those crafty Priests who alwaies made gain of their Godliness This King after he had reigned 19 years in great glory died at Shaftesbury and was buried in the Church of the old Monastery at Winchester to which Church he gave most Rich and Royal Jewels whereoâ— one is recorded to be a Cross worth as much as the whole Revenue of England amounted to in one year this Church being new built his bones with many other English Saxon Kings were taken up and preserved in gilt Coffers fixt upon the walls of the Quire in that Cathedral Church In the year 1053. King Edward the Confessor dispossest his Mother Queen Emma of all her Estate because after his Fathers death she Married King Canutus and seemed to favour her Children by him more than the former he also committed her to Custody in the Abby of Worwell yea he so far hearkned to an aspersion cast upon her of unchast familiarity with Alwine Bishop of Winchester that to clear her self she was fain to pass the Tryal of Fire Ordeal which was in this manner nine Plowshares red hot were laid in unequal distance which she must pass barefooted and blindfold and if she passed them unhurt she was judged Innocent this terrible Tryal she passed fairly without the least damage to the great astonishment of
being envied and hated by Ethelfride another King was forced to fly to Redwald King of the East Angles who being both afraid and corrupted by Ethelfride intended to betray Edwin into his hands of which conspiracy he had notice by a friend who persuaded him to fly and save himself to whom Edwin said Whither shall I fly that have already sought for shelter almost in all the Provinces of the Realm and if I must needs be slain I had rather the King should do it than some other unworthy Person Edwin being afterward alone and solitary there appeared one to him saith the Reverend Bede who said I know well the cause of thy heaviness what wouldst thou give him who would deliver thee from this fear and reconcile thee to Redwald again I would said Edwin give him all that ever I could make And what said the other if I make thee a mightier King than any of thy Progenitors Edwin answered as before Then said the other And what if I shew thee a better kind and way of life than ever was shewed to any of thy Ancestors wilt thou obey my Counsel Yes said Edwin I will do it with all my heart Then the other laying his hand on his head said When this token happeneth to thee then remember this time of Tribulation and the promise which thou hast made and the words which I have said unto thee And so he vanisht out of his sight presently after his Friend came to him bidding him be of good cheer For the heart of Redwald said he which formerly sought thy destruction now by the mediation of the Queen is turned so that he is resolved to keep promise with thee and to protect thee whatever comes of it Not long after Redwald raised a great Army in Edwins quarrel and gave Battle to Ethelfride on the borders of Mercia where Ethelfride was slain and Edwin quietly made King of Northumberland yet all this while he remained a Pagan though Ethelburga his Queen and Paulinus a learned Bishop continually persuaded him to imbrace the Christian Faith Hereupon a new affliction fell upon him for Quincelinus and Kinâ—gilsus Kings of the West Saxons envying and hating Edwin hired a Villain privately to murther him who watching his opportunity when the King had but a few with him run at him with an invenomed Sword but one of the Servants interposing received the wound through his own body the King also being somewhat wounded by the Swords point which came through the King lay long sick of this wound but upon his recovery he raised a great Army and went against those West Saxon Kings who had so basely sought his destruction and withal promised to Jesus Christ That if he obtained the Victory he would presently be Baptized and his Queen being then delivered of a Daughter he caused it to be Baptized with twelve more of his Family Then advancing against his Enemies through the assistance of Christ he obtained a notable Victory putting the whole power of his Enemies to flight and so returned home with Honour and Victory yet did the Pomp and Glory of the world so dazle his Eyes that he neglected to perform his vow of being Baptized for though he willingly heard Paulinus Preach and gave over his Idolatrous Services yet withal told him That he could not suddenly leave the Religion of his Fore-fathers nor be Baptized but upon mature deliberation and with the serious advice of his Council Paulinus observing these difficulties continually prayed to God on his behalf whereupon the Vision of Edwin aforementioned appeared to Paulinus who watching his opportunity came to the King and laying his hand on his head asked him If he remembred that Token the King well remembring it was so affected that he was ready to fall down at Paulinus his feet but Paulinus not suffering it said unto him Behold O King you have vanquished your Enemies and have obtained your Kingdom now perform your promise which was to imbrace the Christian Faith and to be obedient to our Lord Christ The King after consultation with his Nobles was himself with many more of his Subjects Baptized by Paulinus and presently after all the Idols with their Altars were cast down and destroyed We read likewise that during the Heptarchy of the Saxons in England there were two Kings in Northumberland called Ostrich and Eaufride who before their coming to the Crown had been instructed and trained up in the Christian Religion by this worthy Bishop Paulinus but after they came to Kingly Dignities they renounced Christ and returned to their filthy Idols whereupon as they forsook Christ he forsook them and within one years space both of them were slain by Cadwalla King of the Brittains In the Reign of K. Edward 1. 1276. there happened the greatest rot of Sheep in England that ever was known which continued 25 years and came it was thought by one infected Sheep of incredible greatness brought out of Spain by a French Merchant into Northumberland In his Reign also John Duns called Scotus was born at Emilden in Northumberland though others for his name say in Scotland who being brought up in Merton Colledge in Oxford was wonderful learned in Logick and in the crabbed and intricate Divinity of those days wherein he grew to such perfection that he was called The Subtile Doctor he went from thence to Paris where as he was once sitting at Table in respect of his learning with Charles the Bald Emperor and King of France he behaved himself like a slovenly Schollar not at all gentilly whereupon the King jestingly asked him Quid interest inter Scotum Sotum What is between a Scot and a Sot he merrily yet confidently answered Mensa The Table as though the Emperor were the Sot and he the Sot Another time the Emperor gave him two large Fishes and one little one in a Dish bidding him carve to two other Schollars who were tall men himself being little Mr. John lays the two great Fishes on his own Trencher and gives them the little one The Emperor smiling said In good Faith Mr. John you are no fair Carver yes if it please your Highness very fair said he for here pointing to himself and the two great Fishes be two great ones and a little one and so is yonder pointing to the Schollars two great ones and one little one He went thence to Colen where he died miserably for being taken with an Apoplexy he was too hastily buried and after a time revived and making means in vain by a lamentable voice to call for help after he had a long time knocked his head against the Grave-stone dashed out his Brains and so yielded up his vital breath as was afterward discovered whereupon these Verses were made by an Italian Quaecunque humani fuerant jurisque Sacrati c. All learning taught in Human Books and couch'd in Holy Writ Dun Scotus dark and doubtful made by subtilty of wit No marvel that to doubtful Terms of life himself was
times and especially that God would abolish the Idolatrous Mass to which almost all the multitude and amongst them the Sheriff himself cried Amen theâ— taking a Cup of Beer she said I drink unfeignedly to all those that love the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and that wish the abolishment of Popery her Friends pledged her and several of them did pennance for it afterward when the fire was put to her she neither strived nor struggled but with her hands lift up to Heaven she quickly gave up the Ghost Sir Hugh Willoughby was born of a worthy and ancient Family at Risely in this County In the Reign of K. Edward 6. he was imployed by the King and the Merchants of London to find out the North East passage to the East Indies having three Ships provided for that purpose with a large Commission which did not bear date from the Year of our Lord but from the Year of the World 5515 because in their long Voyage they might have occasion to present it to foreign Princes They departed from Deptford May 10. 1553 and after much fouâ— weather steered North-North-West but Aug. 2. â— Tempest arose whereby one of the Ships was divided from the rest and they never saw it again Sir Hugh holding on his Course discovered a Land which for Ice he could not come near in the Latitude of 72 Degrees This was then called Willoughby's Land as well it might since it had neither then nor since any Owner or Inhabitant pretending to the propriety thereof It appeareth by a Will found in that Ship which was the Admiral in the Pocket of a Person of Quality that in January 1554. Sir Hugh and most of his company were then in health though all soon after frozen to death in a River or Haven called Arzina in Lapland The next Summer some other English Ships coming to the same place found the Ship intire and all the men frozen to death with a particular account of all the passages of their Voyage Lapland hath several times since been surrounded by the English the West part whereof belongeth to the K. of Sweden and the East to the Muscovite they are generally Heathens as poor in Knowledge as Estate paying their Tribute in Furs whose little houses are but great holes wherein they generally live in the Ignorance of Money Here let me insert a passage to refresh the Reader after this sad story There is a custom in this barbarous Country as credible Merchants who have been Eye-witnesses report that it is death to marry a maid without her Parents and Friends consent therefore if any man have an affection for a Maid a day is appointed for both of their Friends to meet and see the young couple run a Race the Maid hath the advantage of starting and a third part of the Race so that it is impossible except she be willing her self she should ever be overtaken if the Maid outrun her Sweet-heart the business is ended he must never have her nor make any further motion to her under a great penalty but if the Virgin have any affection for him though she at first may run hard to try the truth of his Love yet she will pretend to stumble or make a voluntary halt before she comes to the end of the Race so that he may overtake her Thus none are compelled to marry against their Wills which is the cause that in this poor Country the married People are richer in their own content than in other Lands where so many forced matches make feigned Love and cause real unhappiness In April 1660 about Chesterfield it rained white Ashes which fell in such quantities that several Fields lookt white as if Snow had covered them The same Year Nov. 20. the River Derwent was at Derby and 5 Miles above and 5 Miles below that Town for 3 or 4 hours totally dried up so that no water during that time came to any of the Mills upon the River the Boats were all on ground and the Fishes upon the Sand so that the Children took them up in their hands and in several places the people went over the Channel dryshod which is more remarkable because Derwent is an inland River and never ebbs or flows and it is at Derby generally an 100 Foot broad and 7 or 8 Foot deep and is an extraordinary quick fierce stream On Nov. 11. 1662 there happened a dreadful Whirlwind at Derby whereby tâ—at Town was in 4 Minutes time damnified above 500 Pounds It blew the Tiles off the Houses threw down several Barns Apple-Trees and other Fruit-Trees were torn up by the Roots it overturned great Stone-walls and broke some Gates though fastened with Iron Bars into pieces this strange Wind was accompanied with great flashes of Fire and some affirmed that it rained Blood also The Ale of Derbyshire is very famous as being counted the best and strongest in the Nation it is the old Drink of England though a French Poet in King Henry the Third's lays merrily jested on it in these verses Nescio quid Stygiae monstrum conforme paludi c. Of this strange drink so like the Stygian Lake They fall in Ale I know not what to make Men drink oâ—â—hiâ—â— and vent it passing thin Much dregs therefore must needs remain within This County is divided into six Hundreds wherein are 10 Market Towns 106 Parish Churches and out of it are elected 4 Parliament Men for the County 2. for the Town of Derby 2. It is in the Diocess of Exeter DEVONSHIRE hath the narrow Sea on the South the Severn on the North Cornwal on the West and Dorset and Somerset shires on the East the Natives thereof are generally very ingenious in any imployment and Q. Elizabeth used to say of their Gentry They were all born Courtiers with a becoming Confidence There was Silver formerly found in great Plenty in the Parish of Comb-Martin and in the Reign of K. Edw the 1. Miners were fetcht out of Derbyshire for digging thereof which turned to considerable profit as appeareth by a Record in the Tower of Lond. For Will. Wymondham accounted for 270 pounds weight of Silver in his 22. Year and in his 23. Year he was fined 521 pounds 10 shillings weight in his 24. Year there was brought to London in fined Silver in Wedges 704 Pounds 3 shillings and 1 penny weight in his 25. Year though 360 Miners were pressed out of the Peak and Wales to dig it yet great was that Years clear profit in Silver and Lead In the Reign of Edw. 3 it appeareth by the Record of particular Accountants that the profits of the Silver were very considerable toward the maintenance of that Kings great Expences in the French Wars These Mines having been long neglected it may be by reason of the Civil Wars between Lancaster and York were again re-entred on by one Bulmer an Artist in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth who presented a Silver Cup made thereof to the Earl of Bath with this
both of that City and County he died in 1640. This County is divided into 29 Hundreds wherein are 19 Market Towns and 248 Parish Churches It is in the Diocess of Bristol Elects 20 Parliament Men and gives the Title of Earl to Charles L. Sackvil who is also Earl of Middlesex as the Town of Dorchester doth the Title of Marquess to Henry L. Pierrepoint and Shaftesbury the Title of Earl to Anthony L. Ashley DVRHAM This Bishoprick hath Northumberland on the North divided by the Rivers Derwent and Tyne and Yorkshire on the South the German Ocean on the East Cumberland and Westmoreland on the West it abounds with Coals Lead and Iron near Darlington in this County whose waters are warm there are three Pits wonderful deep called Hell Kettles these are judged to come of an Earthquake which happened in 1179. For on Christmas day say our Chronicles at Oxenhall which is this place the ground heaved up aloft like a Tower and so continued all that day as it were immoveable till evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it affrighted the Inhabitants thereabout and the Earth swallowing it up made in the same place three deep Pits it is reported that Bishop Tonstall put a Goose into one of these Pits having first given her a mark and the same Goose was found in the River Tees which if true these Kettles have passages under ground within the River Weer at Butterby near Durham in Summer Time their issues a salt reddish water which the Sun makes white and growing thick becomes Salt which the People thereabout always use In the Reign of William the Conqueror one Wolstan was Bishop of Durham whom upon Lanfranks reporting to be insufficient for the place for want of Learning the King commanded to put off his Pontifical Robes and to leave his Bishoprick when suddenly out of Divine Inspiration saith our Historian Wolston answered A better then you O King bestowed these Robes upon me and to him will I restore them and therewithal going to Edward the Confessors Shrine who had made him a Bishop and putting off his Robes he struck his Staff upon St. Edwards Monument which stuck so fast saith the Author in the Stone of it that by no strength it could be drawn forth till he pluckt it out himself which so terrified both Lanfrank and the King that they intreated him to take his Robes again and keep his Bishoprick When K. Edward the 3. was Victorious in France the Scots with David Bruce their King by the incitement of the French King invade England with an Army of Threescore and two Thousand Men and marched as far as Durham supposing that none but Priests and Shepheards were left at home because such a vast number were abroad upon Service but they found it otherwise for the Lords in the North as Gilbert Vmfrevile the Earl of Angus Henry Piercy Ralph Nevil William Dayncourt with the Archbishop of York the Bishop of Durham and others of the Clergy gathered such great Forces and ordered them so well that by the animation of Queen Philip who though big with Child rode in Person through the English Troops and with wise and gracious words incouraged them that they obtained a very signal Victory for meeting the Scots at Nevils Cross in this Bishoprick they utterly defeated their great Army and took David their King Prisoner with the Earls of Fife Menteith Murray Sutherland Dowglas the Archbishop of St. Andrews and others and slew fifteen thousand Scots who yet could not be charged for want of valour especially the King himself who had two Spears hanging in his body his leg desperately wounded with an Arrow his Sword and other weapons beaten out of his hand and yet disdaining to be taken Captive endeavoured by provoking language to induce the English to kill him and therefore when one John Copland Captain of Roxborough Castle advised him to yeild the King struck him so fiercely over the face with his Gauntlet as beat out two of his Teeth but since he could not force a death he must submit to be a Prisoner and was conveyed by Copland and eight of his Servants out of the Field the Queen retired to Newcastle to attend the event of the Battle and understanding that K. David was taken she sent Letters to the Captain to deliver up his Royal Prisoner which he refusing she sends over a complaint to K. Edward who ordered him to come to Calice where he made so discreet a defence that he was sent back and had 500 pound a year in Land given him in any place which he should chuse near his own dwelling with order to deliver up his Prisoner to the Queen which he did accordingly at York with such a modest and ingenious Apology as satisfied both the Queen and the Lords of the Council King David was committed Prisoner to the Tower and continued so eleven years and then was set at liberty upon condition to pay one hundred thousand Marks in ten years as a Ransom Cicely Nevil whose Fathers vast Estate afforded him a Mansion House for every week in the year cannot be here omitted as being the clearest instance of humane frail felicity she was youngest Daughter and Child to Ralph Earl of Westmoreland of which Family Raby in this Bishoprick was the chief Seat he had twenty one Children in all but she exceeded her Sisters in honour being married to Richard Duke of York she was blessed with three Sons each born in a several Kingdom Edward afterward K. Edward 4. born at Burdeaux in France George at Dublin in Ireland and Richard at Fotheringhay in England this was her happiness behold now her Miseries she saw her Husband killed in Battel George Duke of Clarence her second Son cruelly murdered in a Butt of Malmsey K. Edward her eldest Son cut off by his own intemperance in the prime of his years his two Sons butchered by their Uncle Crookbackt Richard who himself not long after was slain in the Battel of Bosworth she saw her own reputation publickly murdered at Pauls Cross by the procurement of her youngest Son Richard taxing his eldest Brother for Illegitimate and a Bastard and yet our Chronicles do not charge her with haughtiness in her good nor dejection in her ill Estate an argument of an even and steddy soul in all alterations indeed she lived to see Elizabeth her Grand-child married to K. Henry 7. but little comfort acrued to her by that conjunction the party of the Yorkists were so depressed by him she lived 35 years a Widdow and died in the 10 of Hen 7. 14â—5 and was buried by her Husband in the Collegiate Church of Fotheringay in Northamptonshire which Quire being demolished in King Henry 8. time their bodies lay in the Church-yard without any Monument till Q. Elizabeth coming thither in Progress gave order that they should be interred in the Church and two Tombs erected over them hereupon their Bodies wrapt in Lead were removed from their plain
Glocestershire in some places the waters rose three foot in others 5 and 7 and in some Towns and Villages they rose higher than the tops of the Houses so that notwithstanding whatever course could be taken there were 80 Persons drowned besides much Cattle divers Churches and several Parishes overwhelmed thereby it did likewise a great deal of harm in Wales the damages being reckoned above 20 thousand pound In the year 755 Kenwulf King of the West Saxons giving himself up to all manner of Vice and Debauchery coming to Merton in this County to visit a Wench that he kept was there slain and buried at Winchester About the year 1020. Godwin the subtle Earl of Kent cast a covetous eye on the fair Nunnery of Berkly in Glocestershire and thus contrived it for himself he left there a handsome young man as seemingly sick for their Charity to recover the Abbess was a fair and noble Lady Godwin seeking not her but hers gives the young man charge so long to counterfeit till he had debauched the Abbess and as many of the Nuns besides as he could intice to his pleasure and left him withal Rings Jewels Girdles and such toys to give them still when they came to visit him the young man willing to undergo such a task so plaid his part that in a short time he got up most of their Bellies and when he had done told his Lord how he had sped the Earl goes instantly to Court tells the King that such a Nunnery was become a Bawdy House procures a Visitation gets them turned out and begs the Land for his own use At another time this Godwin had a mind to another rich Mannor in Sussex called Boscham and complemented it out of Robert Archbishop of Canterbury in this manner coming to the Archbishop he said Da mihi Basium that is Give me a buss or kiss an usual favour from such a Prelate the Archbishop answers Do tibi Basium I give thee a kiss and therewith kissed him upon which Godwin presently goes to Bascham and takes possession thereof and though here was neither any real intention in him that passed it away nor valuable consideration to him but a meer circumvention yet such was Godwins power and the Archbishops poorness of Spirit that he quietly enjoyed it these rich and ancient Mannors of Berkly and Boscham though distant ten miles asunder are both now met in the Right Honourable George Earl of Berkly as Heir Apparent thereof his Ancestors being long since possessed of them In the Reign of K. Edward 1. the Monastery of Glocester was burnt down to the ground In King Henry 8. time James Bainham Son to Sir Alexander Bainham of this County was burnt for professing the Gospel he was bred in Learning and had knowledge of the Greek and Latin Tongues of a virtuous disposition and Religious Conversation much addicted to Prayer and a diligent Reader of the Holy Scriptures he applied himself to the study of the Law wherein he was very merciful to his Clients ready to give Council to Widdows Fatherless and Afflicted without mony or reward at last he was suspected and complained of to Sir Tho. More then Lord Chancellor and being brought to his House at Chelsey Sir Thomas laboured with frowns and flatteries to withdraw him from the truth which not prevailing he caused him to be tied to a Tree in his Garden called by him the The Tree of Truth and then most cruelly scourged him to make him renounce his opinion this not succeeding Sir Thomas himself saw him cruelly racked in the Tower till he was lamed because he would not accuse some of his acquaintance nor discover where his Books lay then was his Wife Imprisoned and his Goods confiscated yet at last he was persuaded to abjure and solemnly carried a Torch and a Faggot in St. Pauls Church but hereby he rather exchanged than escaped fire feeling such a fire in his own Conscience that he could not be quiet till he had asked God and all the world forgiveness which he did 1st in the Protestant Congregation who met privately in a Ware-house in Bow-lane the next Lords day he went to St. Austins the next Parish Church to St. Pauls that the Antidote might be brought as near as he could conveniently to the place of his poyson where standing up in a Pew with an English New Testament in his hand he declared openly before all the People with abundance of Tears That he had denied God and prayed all the Congregation to believe him and to be warned by his fall not to do the like for said he if I should not return again to the Truth this Word of God holding up his New Testament would damn me both body and soul in the day of Judgement and therefore he intreated them all rather to dye presently than to do as he had done for he would not feel such an hell in his Conscience again for all the World After this he was soon apprehended again and cruelly handled by the Bishop of London putting him in the Stocks and whipping him barbarously for a fortnight together to force him again to recant but all in vain so that he was condemned to be burnt and being in the midst of the Flames which had half consumed his Arms and Legs he spake these words O ye Papists behold you look for Miracles and here now you may see a Miracle for in this Fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a bed of Down but it is to me as a bed of Roses There was in this County one William Dangerfield who with his Wife was imprisoned for the Protestant Faith and was so cruelly used by the Bishop that his legs were almost eaten off with the Irons after a while the Bishop sent for him and told him his Wife had recanted who was as well learned as he and therefore persuaded him to sign a Recantation which they brought having signed it they let him go to his Wife and shewing his Recantation her heart was ready to break crying out Alas Husband thus long we have continued one and hath Satan now so far prevailed with you as to cause you to break your Vow which you made to God in Baptism This so far prevailed with him that he repented of his Apostacy and not long after through the extream cruelty used to them they both dyed in Prison In 1575. Feb. 16. between 4 and 5 in the afternoon great Earthquakes happened in Glocester Worcester Hereford York Bristow and the parts adjacent which caused the People to run out of their Houses for fear they should have fallen on their heads in Tewksbury Bredon and other places the dishes fell off the shelves and books in mens studies fell down before them in Norton Chappel the People being at Prayers and feeling the ground move ran out for fear it should have fallen on their heads part of Rithing Castle fell down and likewise divers brick Chimnies in several Gentlemens Houses In
the year 1650. Nov. 30. being St. Andrews day about Sun-rising the Sky opened in a dreadful manner in the South west over Standish a Town 5 miles from Glocester and there appeared a terrible fiery Sword shaking with the Hilt upward toward the Heavens and the point downward to the Earth the Hilt seemed to be blew the Sword of a great length moving to and fro and coming lower toward the Earth there was a long flame of fire toward the point sparkling and flaming in a fearful manner to the great astonishment of the Spectators who were many at last the Heavens closing the Sword vanished and the fire fell to the Earth and ran upon the ground this saith Mr. Clark I had from an Eye-witness Glocester is the chief City of this County and lieth stretched out in length over Sâ—â—â—rn The Cathedral Church is a beautiful building conâ—â—sting of a continued window work but hath the loudest praises from the whispering place within which is thus described by Sir Francis Bacon There is a Church at Glocester saith he and as I have heard the like is in some other Places where if you speak against a Wall softly another shall hear your voice better a great way off than near at hand I suppose there is soâ— Vault or Hollow or Isle behind the wall and some passage to it toward the further end of that wall against which you speak so as the voice of him that speaketh slideth along the wall and then entreth at some passage and communicateth with the air of the hollow for it is somewhat preserved by the plain wall but that is too weak to give an audible sound till it hath communicated with the back air In this Church lies the unfortunate Robert Duke of Normandy eldest Son to William the Conqueror in a painted wooden Tomb in the midst of the Quire whose Eyes were pluckt out in Cardiff Castle wherein he was kept Prisoner 26 years Here also the unhappy King Edward 2. lies buried under a Monument of Alabaster who in the 20 year of his Reign was deposed by Parliament who sitting at London sent several Bishops Lords and Gentlemen in the name of the body of the State if that may be called a body which then had no head there to Kenelworth Castle to the King to whom one of the Commissioners represented That the Commonweal had received such irreconcilable dislikes of his Government the pa ticulars whereof had been opened in the General Assembly at London that they were resolved never to endure he should be King any longer that notwithstanding these dislikes had not extended themselves so far as for his sake to exclude his issue but that with universal Applause and Joy the Commonweal had in Parliament Elected his eldest Son the Lord Edward for King that it would be a very acceptable thing to God if he did willingly give over an Earthly Kingdom for the common good and quiet of his Country which they said could not otherwise be secured that yet his honour would be never the less after his Resignation than it was before only the Commonweal would never suffer him to Reign any longer and finally they presumed to tell him That unless he did freely of himself renounce his Crown and Scepter the People would neither endure him nor any of his Children for their Soveraign but disclaiming all homage and fealty would elect some other tâ— be their King who should be of another Blood and Family The King having heard their Message fell down as half dead and being somewhat recovered we cannot say to himself but to a sense of his misery brake forth into Sighs and Tears And being saith Sir Thomas de la More more ready to sacrifice his body for Christs cause than once to behold the disinheriting of his Sons or to be the occasion of the perpetual disturbance of the Kingdom as knowing saith he that a good Shepheard should give his life for his Flock made answer at last to this effect That he knew that for his many sins he was fallen into this Calamity and therefore had the less cause to take it grievously that he was very sorry that the People of the Kingdom were so exasperated against him as that they should utterly abhor his having any longer the Rule and Soveraignty over them he therefore besought all that were present to forgive spare him being so afflicted that yet it was greatly to his good pleasure and liking seeing it could be no otherwise on his own behalf that his eldest Son was so gracious in their sight and therefore he gave them thanks for chusing him to be their King This being said they proceeded to the short Ceremonies of his Resignation which consisted principally in the surrender of his Diadem and other Ensigns of Majesty for the use of his Son the new King Edward being thus unkinged the Ambassadors returned joyfully back to the Parliament at London with the resigned Ensigns and an account of their imployment but he now deprived of his Royal Crown and Dignity remained with his Kinsman Henry E. of Leicester wanting nothing but liberty being shut up like a Monk but his cruel Wife Q. Isabel who had been one of the greatest Instruments of his misfortune being told by her wicked Counsellor Adam Torleton Bishop of Hereford that the Earl was too kind to him ordered Thomas Gourney and John Martravers to take the King into their Custody who carried him from Kenelworth to Coâ—â—e Castle and then to Bristow where they shut him in the Castle till upon discovery of a design laid to get him out and send him beyond Sea they conveyed him to Berkly Castle by the way these Villains exercised divers Cruelties towards him not permitting him to ride but by night that he might not be seen of any they forced him to ride bare headed and when he would have slept they hindred him neither would give him such meat as he could eat but such as he most loathed they contradicted him in whatever he said persuading him he was mad and endeavoured by all manner of ways to break his heart yea they often gave him Poyson in his drink but the strength of his nature overcame it one of them made a Crown of Hay and put it on his head the rest made a scorn and May-game of him they were afraid any of his Friends should meet him and therefore to prevent his being known they resolved to cut off both his hair and beard and coming by a little Ditch they commanded him to come off his Horse and be shaven then setting him on a Mole-hill a Barber came to shave him with a bason of cold water taken out of the Ditch telling him That must serve at present To whom the miserable King looking sternly upon him answered That whether they would or no he would have warm water for his beard and therewithal to make good his word he presently shed forth a shower of Tears at length he was brought to
out of the path of Truth gaping only after their own advantage But the King saith M. Paris remained uncorrigible and the Lady lost both her charges hopes and Travel In the Year 1257. K. Henry 3. kept his Christmas at Winchester where new grievances arose the Merchants of Gascoign having their Wines taken from them by the Kings Officers without satisfaction complain to their Lord the Prince he to his Father who having been informed that their clamour was unjust as relying upon the Prince's favour he falls into a great rage with the Prince and breaks out into these words See now my Blood and my own Bowels oppose me The Prince's Servants likewise relying on their Master commit many outrages abusing men at their pleasure neither was the Prince altogether free for it is said that he caused the Ears of a young Man to be cut off and his Eyes to be pluckt out as he travelled by the way which was the occasion of very great disturbances In this Kings Reign a Child was born in the Isle of Wight who at 18 Years old was scarce 3 Foot high and therefore brought to the Queen who carried him about with her as a Monster in Nature In King Edward 3. time Southampton was fired by the French under the conduct of the King of Sicily's Son whom a Countryman encountred and knocked him â—own with his Club the Prince cried out Rancon Ranâ—on that is he would pay him a Ransom but he neither â—nderstanding his Language nor the Law that Arms â—oth allow laid on him more severely still saying I â—now thee to be a Francon or Frenchman and therefore â—hou shalt die and thereupon knocked him at Head In 1554. the conditions of the Marriage between Q. Mary and K. Philip of Spain were agreed to in Parliament upon these Articles 1. That K. Philip should admit of no stranger in any Office but only Natives 2. That â—e should alter nothing of the Laws and customs of the Kingdom 3. That he should not carry the Queen out of the Realm without her own consent nor any of her Children without consent of the Council 4. That if he outlived the Queen â—e should challenge no right in the Kingdom but it should descend to the next Heir 5. That he should carry none of the Crown Jewels out of the Kingdom nor any Ships or Ordinance Lastly That neither directly nor indirectly he should â—ntangle England in the Wars between Spain and France It was also proposed in this Parliament that the Supremacy of the Pope should be restored which was not assented to without great difficulty for the 6 Years Reign of K. Edward 6. had spread a Plantation of the Protestant Religion in the hearts of many The Marriage being thus agreed several Lords and Gentlemen were sent to fetch over the Prince from Spain who arrived at Southampton July 20. 1554. and was met by the Queen at Winchester where they were openly married the disparity of Years in Princes being not much regarded though he were but 27 and she 38 Years old Then the Emperors Ambassadour being present declared that in Consideration of the Marriage the Emperour had given to King Philip his Son the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem and thereupon Garter King at Arms openly in the Church in the presence of the King Queen and Nobles both of Spain and England solemnly proclaimed the Title and Stile of these two Princes as followeth Philip and Mary by the Grace of God King and Queen of England France Naples Jerusalem and Ireland Defenders of the Faith Princes of Spain and Sicily Archdukes of Austria Dukes of Millain Burgundy and Brabant Counts of Habspurg Flanders and Tyrol In 1608. June 26. In the Parish of Christs Church in Hampshire one John Hitchel a Carpenter lying in bed with his Wife and a young Child by them was himself and the Child both burnt to death with a sudden Lightning no fire appearing outwardly upon him and yeâ— lay burning for the space almost of three days till he was quite consumed to ashes In 1619. there was one Bernard Calvert of Andover in this County that rid from St. Georges Church in Southwark to Dover and from thence passed by Barge to Calice in France and from thence returned back to St. Georges Church the same day setting out about three a clock in the morning and returning about 8 a clock at night fresh and lusty I was at London the same time saith Mr. Clark and saw the man Portsmouth is a very convenient Port The Isle of Wight belongs to this Shire the whole County is divided into 39 Hundreds wherein are 253 Parishes and is in the Diocess of Winchester Out of it are elected 26 Parliament Men Southampton gives the Title of Duke to Charles Fitz-Roy eldest Son to the Dutchess of Cleaveland Winchester the Title of Marquess to Charles L. Pawlet and Portsmouth that of Dutchess to Lovise de Queronalle a French Lady HARTFORDSHIRE so called from Hartford the chief Town therein as Hartford is termed from the Ford of Harts a Hart Couchant in the waters being the Arms thereof It hath Essex on the East Middlesex on the South Buckinghamshire on the West Bedford and Cambridgeshire on the North it is a rich County in Corn Fields Pastures Meadows Woods Groves and clear Rivers and is indeed the Garden of England for Delight and it 's usually said That such as buy a House in Hartfordshire pay two years purchase for the Air thereof no County in all England can shew so many good Towns in so little compass their Teams of Horses are oft-times deservedly advanced from the Cart to the Coach being kept in excellent equipage much alike in colour and stature fat and fair such is their care in dressing and well feeding them and to make an innocent digression I could name the place and Person saith Dr. Fuller who brought his Servant before a Justice of Peace for stealing his Oats and Barley the Man brought his five Horses tailed together along with him alledging for himself That if he were the Thief these were the Receivers and so escaped The most famous place in this County for Antiquity is Verolamium now utterly ruined and subverted and the footsteps thereof hardly to be seen though in very great account by the Romans and one of their Free Cities It was plundered by Boadicia that ever eternized Queen of the Icenians when Seventy Thousand of the Romans and their Confederates perished by her Revenging Sword The magnificence thereof for stately Architecture and Grandeur was discovered by the large and arched Vaults found in the days of King Edgar which were filled up by Eldred and Edmer Abbots of St. Albans because they were the Receptacles and lurking holes of Whores and Thieves hear what our famous Spencer saies of this once renowned City of Verulam I was that City which the Garland wore Of Brittains pride delivered unto me By Roman Victors this I was of yore Though nought at all but ruines now I
grandeur persuaded her Husband that he came thither upon some treacherous design and therefore he with some of his Council contrived his destruction which some say was by causing him to fall into a deep Pit digged to that purpose under his Chair of State and that then being alone one Gimbert took and bound him and then struck off his Head which he presented to the King and Queen Thus was this Innocent Prince unjustly murdered but not without divine Vengeance following the Actors for the Queen Author of this Villany died in three months after and was so tormented in her sickness that she bit and tore her Tongue in pieces which had been the Instrument of this Barbarity and Offa at length being satisfied of the Kings Innocence and the heinousness of the Fact gave the 10th part of his Goods to the Church and according to the Devotion of that Age built the Abby of St. Albans and other Monasteries and went afterward to do Pennance at Rome where he gave to the Church of St. Peter a Penny from every House in his Dominions which were commonly called Romeshot or Peter-Pence and at last was transformed from a King to a Monk Thus the Almighty punished not only him and his Wife but the whole Land suffered for this horrid Murder in being made the Popes Vassals for the Clergy seldom parting with any thing they get the poor English were forced to pay this unjust Tax for many Hundred Years after Nay further the King and his Son also died within a year after this cruel Murder whereby that Kingdom was translated from the Mercians to the West-Saxons In the Reign of K. Henry 3. the Abbot of St. Albans ordered his Servant to fetch him a mans Wife in the Town with whom he pretended earnest business the Servant accordingly brought her to his Masters Chamber and then withdrawing the Abbot told her that her Cloaths were but very mean but if she would be ruled by him she should wear as good Cloaths as any Woman in the Parish and therewith began to be very brisk upon her and finding persuasions would not prevail endeavoured by force to debauch her but all in vain whereupon he kept her several days a Prisoner in his Chamber which her Husband having notice of fetches her from him and tells his Neighbours he will sue the Abbot for imprisoning his Wife which he hearing of prosecuted the poor man in the Ecclesiastical Court for defamation and thereby frighted him from any further proceedings Sir Thomas More though a virulent Papist reports a story of the like Nature That a poor man found a Priest over familiar with his Wife and because he told it abroad and had no Witnesses to prove it the Priest sued him in the Bishops Court and at length the Poor man under pain of being cursed and excommunicated was enjoined to stand up in the Church the next Sunday and say Mouth thou lyest accordingly having repeated what he had reported of the Priest he put his hand to his Mouth and said Mouth thou liest and then laying his hands on his Eyes he said But Eyes by the Mass ye lye not a whit In K. Henry the 7. time an Act was made to punish the incontinency of Priests and Francis Petrarch an Archdeacon thus Anatomizes the Roman Clergy which discovers the extream Chastity of the Popish Batchelors Here Venus with her wanton toys Is honoured with base Bawds and Boys Whoredom Adultery and Incest Are honoured here among the best And counted but for sports and plays Even with the Prelates of these days The Wife is ravisht from her Spouse And to the Sons of th' Church she bows The poor good man must leave the Town Such Ordinances are set down And when her Belly riseth high By Clergy-Men who with her lie The Husband must not dare complain But takes his Wife with Child again In the Reign of K. Hen. 6. 1454. the Duke of York raised a great Army of which the King having notice got considerable forces together and marched to St. Albans to whom the Duke and his Adherents came desiring the King to deliver such Persons whom they would name that they might be deservedly punished To whom the King taking Courage returns this resolute Answer That the Duke and his Accomplices were Traitors and that rather than he would deliver up any Lord then attending him he himself would that day live and dye in their quarrel and defence Whereupon the Duke and his Party went away dissatisfied and the Yorkists fell immediately upon the Kings Party in St. Albans and the Earl of Warwick breaking through a Garden a sharp Fight is immediately begun which ended with very great loss on the Kings side the Dukes of Somerset Buckingham and his Son the Earls of Northumberland Stafford and the L. Clifford being slain and buried at St Albans with above 5000 common Souldiers and the King himself unguarded is left in a poor thatcht house whither he retired from the danger of the Arrows The Duke of York having notice where he was goes with the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury who all three upon their knees present themselves to him making humble Petition for Pardon of what is past and now seeing the Duke of Somerset the common Enemy is slain they had what they aimed at To whom the King throughly affrighted said Let there be no more killing then and I will do what you would have me After which a Parliament was called wherein the Duke of York was made Protector of the Kings Person and of the Realm though the King were 35 years old This Battle of St. Albans was fought May 23. in the 33. Year of K. Henry's Reign wherein the King himself was shot in the Neck with an Arrow In 1461. another Battle was fought at St. Albans between the Earl of March Son to the Duke of York and King Henry the 6. his Queen for the Duke of York being slain at Wakefield his Son Edward E. of March afterward King Edward 4. getting his forces together beat the Queens Army at Mortimers Cross before which Battle it is said the Sun appeared to the Earl of March like three Suns and suddenly joined altogether in one for which it is thought he gave the Sun in its full brightness for his Badge or Cognizance The Queen in the mean time encouraged by the death of the Duke of York got some Northern Souldiers together and marched toward London and coming to St Albans the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick with the forces of the Earl of March King Henry himself being Prisoner among them encountred them where after a stout resistance the Queens Army routed the other of which about 2000 were slain after which the King Queen and the Prince her Son met joyfully together though their joy continued not long King Henry being deposed soon after and Edward Earl of March proclaimed King and all this by the assistance of the Citizens of London and their Wives who were
on Houses as well as Persons The King increased and enlarged it so that it now containeth 5 very large inner Courts incompassed with fair buildings of curious Workmanship Now whereas other Royal Pallaces found their fatal Period as Holdenby Oatlands Richmond Theobalds Hampton Court had the happiness to continue in its former Estate of which one thus writes I envy not its happy Lot but rather thereat wonder There 's such a rout our Land throughout of Pallaces by plunder Osterly-House must not be forgotten built in a Park by Sir Thomas Gresham who here magnificently entertained and lodged Q. Elizabeth Her Majesty found fault with the Court of this House as too great affirming That it would appear more handsome if divided by a Wall in the middle What doth Sir Thomas Money commanding all things but in the night time sends for Workmen from London who so speedily and silently apply their business that the next morning discovered that court double which the night had left single before it is questionable whether the Queen next day were more contented with the conformity to her fancy or more pleased with the surprise and sudden performance thereof whilst the Courtiers disported themselves with their several expressions some avowing it was no wonder he could so soon change a building who could build a Change Others reflecting on some known differences in this Knt's Family affirmed That any house is easier divided than united Edward the 5. sole surviving Son of K. Hen. 8. and Jane his Wife was born at Hampton Court in this County 1537. He succeeded his Father in this Kingdom and was most eminent in his Generation saith Dr. Fuller seeing the Kings of England fall under a five fold Division 1. Visibly vicious given over to dissoluteness and debauchery as K. Edward the Second 2. Rather free from Vice than fraught with Virtue as King Henry the Third 3. Those in whom Vices and Virtues were so equally matched as it was hard to decide which got the mastery as in King Henry 8.4 whose good qualities beat their bad ones quite out of distance of competition as K. Edward 1.5 Whose Virtues were so resplendent no faults humane frailties excepted appeared in them as in this K. Edward He died July 5. 1553. and pity it is that he who deserved the best should have no Monument erected to his memory Smithfield in London being Bonners Shambles and the Bonfire General of England no wonder if some sparks thereof were driven into the Neighbourhood as Barnet Islington and Stratford Bow where more than twenty Persons were Martyred as in Mr. Fox it doth appear nor must we forget Mr. John Denly burnt at Vxbridge who began to sing a Psalm at the stake and Dr. Story there present caused a Faggot to be hurled in his face which so hurt him that he bled therewith however we may believe that this Martyrs Song made good melody in the ears of the God of Heaven The last pitcht Battle in England between the two Houses of Lancaster and York was fought at Barnet 1472. by K. Edward 4. who hearing that the Earl of Warwick on the behalf of K. Henry the 6. was with his Army incamped on a Heath near Barnet he marched toward them upon April 13. being Easter Eve and came that evening from London thither where he would not suffer a man of his Army to stay in the Town but commanded them all to the Field and lodged with his Army nearer to the Enemy than he was aware by reason of a thick mist raised as some say by Fryar Bongey the Conjurer which made it so dark that it could not well be observed where they were incamped In taking his ground he caused his People to keep as much silence as was possible thereby to keep the Enemy from knowing of their approach great Artillery they had on both parts but Warwick had more than K. Edward and therefore in the night time they shot continually at the Kings Army but did little hurt because they overshot them as lying nearer than was conceived on Easter day early in the morning both Armies are ordered for Battle the Earl of Warwick appointed the command of his Right Wing which consisted of Horse to his Brother the Marquess Montacute and the Earl of Oxford the left Wing likewise consisting of Horse was led by himself and the Duke of Exeter and the main Battle of Bills and Bows was conducted by the Duke of Somerset on K. Edwards part the Van was commanded by Richard D. of Glocester the main Battle in which the unfortunate K. Henry was Prisoner was led by K. Edward himself and the L. Hastings brought up the Rear after exhortations for incouraging their Souldiers the fight began which with great valour was maintained for six hours without any apparent disadvantage on either side only Warwicks Van seemed by the courage of the Earl of Oxford to overmatch King Edwards which made some flying toward London carry the news that the Earl of Warwick had won the Field and so perhaps he had indeed but for a strange misfortune which happened to the Earl of Oxford and his men for they having a Star with streams on their Liveries as K. Edwards men had the Sun the Earl of Warwicks men by reason of the mist not well distinguishing the badges shot at the Earl of Oxfords men who were of their own side whereupon the Earl of Oxford cryed out Treason Treason and fled with 800 men at length after great slaughter made on both sides K. Edward having the greater number of men caused a new recruit of fresh Souldiers to come on whom he had reserved to that purpose which the Earl of Warwick observing being a man of an invincible courage nothing dismayed rushed into the midst of his Enemies where he adventured so far that amongst the press he was struck down and slain though some write that seeing the desperate condition of his Army the Earl leapt on his Horse to fly and coming to a Wood where was no passage one of K. Edwards men came to him and killed him and stript him to his naked skin The Marquess Montacute thinking to relieve his Brother lost likewise his life and left the victory to King Edward There were slain on both sides at least Ten Thousand Men and hereby King Edward again got the Kingdom and King Henries Friends not being afterward able to raise any considerable power on his behalf he was soon after sent to the Tower and there murdered by the Duke of Glocester I shall not speak any thing in this place concerning London as having already published a book of the same price with this of Historical Remarks and Observations of the ancient and present state of London and Westminster wherein the most considerable particulars relating thereto for several hundred years are succinctly discovered The County of Middlesex is divided into 7 Hundreds wherein are 4 Market Towns and 73 Parish Churches besides those in London and Westminster It
Vpstarts and Aliens and had procured laudable Statutes Yea these turbulent Nobles went farther and it was contrived by the Bishops saith M. VVestminst That 24 persons should be chosen to have the whole Administration of the Kingdom and to appoint yearly all Officers reserving only to the King the highest places in publick Meetings and salutations of honour in publick Places And to inforce these Articles they were strongly armed and provided with Forces so that the King and Prince Edward were compelled to swear to these Oxford Provisions as they were called for fear of perpetual Imprisonment the Lords having published a Proclamation That whosoever resisted them should be put to death Then the Peers and Prelates rook their Corporal Oaths to be true to the King and that they would all stand to the Trial of their Peers the Lords soon after required VVilliam de Valence the Kings half-Brother to deliver up a Castle to them which he swearing he would not do the E. of Leicester and the rest answered That they would either have his Castle or his Head The People seemed wholly theirs which so heightened the Barons that when Henry Son to the King of â—lmain refused the confederacy or to take the Oath without his Fathers consent they boldly told him That if his Father himself did not hold with the Baronage of England he should not have a furrow of Earth among them These hot proceedings made all the Frenchmen about the King run from Oxford into France yea Richard King of the Romans the Kings Brother coming to see the King and his Countrey the Barons grew suspicious of him and therefore required him to take the following Oath Hear all men I Richard E. of Cornwall swear upon the holy Gospels to be faithful and forward to reform with you the Kingdom of England hitherto by the counsel of wicked men too much deformed and I will be an effectual coadjutor to expel the Rebels and Troublers of the Realm from out of the same This Oath will I observe upon pain to forfeit all the Lands I have in England These proceedings were too hot to hold for a while after the Earls of Leicester and Glocester two of the chiefest Confederates falling at debate among themselves the King took the advantage thereof and in a little time recovered his former Power and Authority But from hence we may observe that the Popish Nobility Clergy nor Laity have not at all times been so very Loyal to their Princes as they would now make the ignorant believe In the 20. Year of his Reign a Scholar of Oxford endeavouring to kill the King in his Camber at Woodstoock was taken and afterward pulled to pieces with wild Horses In 1400. a Conspiracy was contrived against K. Hen. 4. in the first Year of his Reign in the house of the Abbot of Westminster who was a kind of a Book-Statesman but better read in the Politicks of Aristotle than Solomon who remembring some words of K. Henry when he was only Earl of Derby That Princes had too little and Religious men too much and fearing lest now being King he should put his words into Act he thought it better to use preventing Physick before hand than to stand to the hazard of curing it afterward and thereupon invited to his House several discontented Lords as the Duke of Exeter the Duke of Surrey the Duke of Aumerle E. of Salisbury E. of Glocester Bishop of Carlile Maudlin one of K. Richard 2. Chaplains and several other Knights and Gentlemen who after Dinner conferring together and communicating their disaffections to each other against K. Henry they resolved at last to take away his Life and contrived this way to do it They would publish a solemn Justs or Turnament to be held at Oxford at a day appointed to which the King was to be invited to honour it with his presence and there while all men were intent upon the sport they would have him murthered This Plot was resolved on Oaths of secrecy were taken and solemn Indentures for performing the agreed conditions were signed sealed and delivered The Justs are proclaimed the King is invited and promiseth to come secrecy on all hands is kept most firmly to the very day But though all other kept Counsel yet Providence would not for it happened that as the Duke of Aumerle was riding to the Lords at Oxford against the day appointed he took it in his way to go visit his Father the Duke of York and having in his bosom the Indenture of Conspiracy his Father as they sate at dinner chanced to spy it and asked what it was to whom his Son answering It was nothing that any way concerned him By St. George saith the Father but I will see it and therewithal snatching it from him read it and then with great fierceness spake thus to him I see Traitor that idleness hath made thee so wanton and mutinous that thou playest with thy Faith and Allegiance as Children do with sticks thou hast been once already faithless to K. Richard 2. now again art false to K. Henry and art never quiet thou knowest that in open Parliament I became Surety and Pledge for thy Allegiance both in Body and Goods and can neither thy Duty nor my Desert restrain thee from seeking my destruction In faith but I will rather help forward thine And commanding his Horses to be made ready he with all speed rid to the King to Windsor but his Son knowing his danger rid instantly another way and came to the Court before him where locking the Gates and taking the Keys from the Porter pretending some special reason he went up to the King and falling on his Knees asked his Pardon the King demanding for what Offence he then discovered the whole Plot which he had scarce done when his Father came rapping at the Court Gates and coming to the King shewed him the Indenture of Confederacy which he had taken from his Son This amazed the King and thereupon laying aside the seeing of the Justing of others in jest takes care that he be not justled out of the Throne in earnest In the mean time the confederate Lords being ready at Oxford and hearing nothing of the Duke of Aumerle nor seeing any preparation for the Kings coming they were certainly persuaded their Treason was discovered upon which considering their case was desperate they apparel Magdalen who was like K. Richard 2. in Royal Robes and published that he was escaped out of Prison next they dispatch Messengers to require assistance from the King of France and then set forward against K. Henry at Windsor but he being gone to London they could not agree what measures to take and coming to Cicester the Bailiff of the Town couragiously set upon them and with the assistance of the Townsmen beat their forces killing the Duke of Surrey and the E. of Salisbury and taking divers Prisoners above 30 Lords Knights and Gentlemen with Magdalen the Counterfeit being sent to Oxford to
English Tongue and the Bishop of Romes Power was by several Statutes abolished in England howeuer divers of the Popish Bishops and Clergy privately endeavoured to restore it again which he was alwaies aware of and therefore calling his Servants together he discovered to them in what a slippery condition he stood considering the variable affections of the King and the malice and subtlety of his Popish Adversaries and therefore required them to be very circumspect least by their default any quarrel might be pickt against him and soon after some false witnesses accused him of Heresy and of speaking some words against the King yet his Enemies durst not bring him to his answer nor try him by his Peers but procured an Act of Attainder whereby he was condemned before he was heard and the King not long after his death repented his hast wishing That he had his Cromwell alive again When he came upon the Scaffold at Towerhill he spake thus to the People I am come hither to die and not to purge my self as some perhaps may expect I should I am by the Law condemned to dye and I thank my Lord that hath appointed me this death for mine offences for I have alwaies lived a Sinner and offended my Lord God for which I ask him hearty forgiveness It is not unknown to many of you that I was a great Traveller and being but of mean Parentage was called to high Estate and now I have offended my Prince for which I heartily ask him forgiveness beseeching you to pray with me to Almighty God that he will forgive me And once again I desire you to pray for me that so long as life remaineth in this flesh I may waver nothing in my Faith Then kneeling down on his knees he made an excellent Prayer concluding thus Grant O most merciful Father that when death shall shut up the Eyes of my Body yet the Eyes of my Soul may still behold and look upon thee and when death hath taken away the use of my Tongue yet my heart may cry and say unto thee Lord into thy hands I commend my soul Lord Jesus receive my soul Amen Having ended his Prayer he made a Divine exhortation to those on the Scaffold and then quietly gave up his Spirit 1541. Upon his Monument was Ingraven Cromwell surnamed the Great whom Wolsey first raised from the Forge to eminent good Fortunes whom Henry 8. used as his Instrument to suppress the Popes Supremacy and to dissolve Religious Structures whom he advanced to the highest pitch of Honour and Authority whom he cast down suddenly and bereft both of Life and Dignities lies here Interred Surrey is divided into 13 Hundreds wherein are seven Market Towns besides Southwark which keeps the same with London 140 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Winchester It elects 14 Parliament Men and gives the Title of Earl to Henry L. Howard who is also Duke of Norfolk SVSSEX hath Surrey on the N. Kent on the E. the Sea on the S. and Hantshire on the W. The Soil is rich but ill for Travellers in the Winter the Land lying low and the ways being deep the middle Tract is adorned with Meadows Pastures and Cornfields the Sea-Coast with Hills called the Downs abundantly yielding both Corn and Grass and the Northside is overshadowed with Groves and thick Woods called the Weald where sometimes was the famous Wood called Andradswald 120 miles in length memorable for the death of Sigebert King of the West Saxons who being deposed was stabbed in this place by a Swine-heard Chichester in this County is a large and beautiful City very well walled about a little River running hard by it on the West It hath four Gates from whence the Streets lead directly and cross themselves in the middle where in a fair Market House of Stone supported with Pillars round about the Market is kept between the West and South Gates stands the Cathedral Church not very great but handsom and neat having a Spire Steeple of Stone rising a great height It is the residence of the Bishop and has often suffered by Fire It was first built by Cissa the second King of the South Saxons wherein he kept his Royal Court Lewes seems to contend with Chichester for Populousness largeness and buildings where King Athelstan appointed a Mint for his Money and William de Warren Earl of Surrey who came into England with William the Conqueror built a strong Castle and founded an Abby there It is recorded that Edw. 1. in the 8th year of his Reign 1282. sent out his Writ of Quo Warranto through England to examine by what Title men held their Lands and Estates which brought him in much mony till John E. Warren Successor to this William being called to shew his Title drew out an old rusty Sword and then said he held it by that and by that he would hold it till death which caused the King to desist from proceeding any further in that Project In King Henry 3. time the same John Earl Warren had the confidence to kill Zouch Allen Lord Chief Justice with his own hands upon the Bench in Westminster-Hall so much did he presume upon his great favour with the King In the Barons Wars with this King the Lords got into this Castle of Lewes and not far off fought a great Battle wherein the King had his Horse shot under him and was taken Prisoner with his Brother and Son In the year 1058. Harold putting to Sea in a small Boat for his pleasure from Boseham his Mannor in Sussex and having unskilful Marriners was driven upon the Coasts of Normandy where by Duke William he was detained till he had sworn to make him King of England if Edward the Consessor died without Children yet afterward without any regard to his Oath he placed himself on the Throne Duke William hereupon arrived at Pemsey and with his Sword revenged the Perjury of Harold at Battle in this County with such severity that there fell 67974 English Men that day the Conqueror putting himself thereby into full possession of the whole Kingdom over which he Reigned 22 years being victorious both at home and abroad but to discover the vanity of all earthly things it sometimes happens that some great Persons are not suffered to go to rest when their Bed is made and others are pulled out of those Lodgings whereof they had once taken peaceable possession as appears very fully in the following Relation No sooner had the soul of this victorious Prince William the Conqueror left his Body but that his dead Corps was abandoned by his Nobles and Followers and by his meaner Servants he was stript of Armour Vessels Apparel and all Princely Furniture his naked Body left upon the floor and his Funerals wholly neglected till one Harlwin a poor Country Knight undertook to carry his Corps to St. Stephens Church at Caen in Normandy which the dead King had formerly founded At his entrance into Caen the
Nobles all due respect and the People amongst other blessings extreamly happy in this That they are Masters of their own purposes and have a strong hand in making their own Laws Of all the Seniories in the World saith P. Comines the French Historian the Realm of England is the Country where the Common-wealth is best governed the People least opprest and the fewest Houses and Buildings destroyed in Civil War It is a Country always most Temperate the Air is thick and much subject to winds rain and dark Clouds and therefore Gundamore the Spanish Ambassador here in K. James's his time bid the Spanish Post when he came to Spain commend him to the Sun for he had not seen him here a great while and in Spain he should be sure to find him The Ocean which beateth upon the Coast of this Island aboundeth with all manner of Fish and the Meadows and Pastures with Corn Cattle and all other necessaries a Spaniard boasting That they had excellent Oranges Lemmons and Olives growing in their Countrey which ours wanted Sir Roger Williams reply'd It is true said he they do not grow here yet all this is but sauce whereas we have dainty Veal and well fed Capons to eat with them with many other delicate Dishes worth the name of Victuals indeed There are more Parks Forrests and Chases in England than in all Christendom beside there are in no place of the World greater and larger Dogs than here which caused them to be most in request by the Romans both for their baitings in their Amphitheaters and in all other their huntings the English Cock is a bold and stout Fowl and will fight valiantly with his Adversary and presently crows when he obtains the Victory which seldom happens till death parts them There are 44 Shires and Counties in England every Shire consisting of so many Hundreds c. and every Hundred of a number of Burroughs Villages or Tythings c. But this may suffice by way of Preface the design of this small Tract being not to give a particular or exact description of every County and the Towns and Villages therein since that has been largely performed by Mr. Speed Mr. Blome and others but only to contract in a little volume and price the Natural and Artificial Curiosities and Rarities in England Scotland and Ireland with Remarks upon some famous Persons and Places as also an account of the Earthquakes Tempests Seiges Battels and other strange Accidents and Occurrences that have happened in each County whereby my Countrymen may observe that there is hardly any thing worth wondring at abroad in the world whereof Nature or Art hath not written a Copy in these Islands and therefore I shall not confine my self so much to methodize matters as to time as not to let slip any thing considerable and because I suppose most Men have a desire to read something of their own Country first I have according to the method of Dr. Fuller and others placed the Counties Alphabetically for the more ready finding of them and will therefore begin with BARKSHIRE whether so called from a striped or bark-bared Oak is uncertain is bounded by Wiltshire on the West Hamshire on the South Surry on the East Oxford and Buckinghamshire on the North thereof the air is temperate sweet and pleasant the soil plenteous of Corn Cattle Waters and Woods so that for profit and pleasure it gives place to none The most remarkable place in this County is Windsor Castle a most Princely Pallace both for strength and State and hath in it a Colledge for Learning a Chappel for Devotion and an Alms-house of decayed Gentlemen for Charity it is reported to have been built by K. Arthur and K. William the Conqueror was so desirous of it that by composition with the Abbot of Westminster whose then it was he made it to be the Kings Possession in this Castle the Victorious K. Edward 3. was born and herein after he had subdued the French and Scots he kept at one time John K. of France and David King of Scotland as his Prisoners after which he graced it with greater Majesty by instituting the Honourable Order of the Garter the Institution whereof some ascribe to a Garter occasionally falling from the Countess of Salisbury though others affirm the Garter was given in testimony of that Bond of Love and Affection wherewith the Knights and Fellows of it were to be bound severally one to another and all of them to the King nay some others make it yet more ancient relating that when K. Richard the 1. was at War against the Turks and Saracens in the Holy Land and that the tediousness thereof began to discourage his Soldiers he to quicken their Courage tyed about the Legs of several choice Knights a Garter or small Thong of Leather the only stuff he had at hand that as the Romans used to bestow Crowns and Garlands for encouragements so this might provoke them to stand together and fight valiantly for their King and for their honour K. Edward the Third found a Chapple erected in this Castle by K. Hen. 1. and other Princes with maintenance for eight Canons to whom he added a Dean 15 Canons more and 24 poor Impotent Knights and other Officers and Servants these were to pray for the good Estate of the Soveraign and Brethren of the most Noble Order the Soveraign and Knights had their particular Laws and Constitutions and K. Edward likewise appointed divers Ceremonies and distinct habits and St. George the pattern of Christian Fortitude is intituled to the Patronage of this Order and the beautiful Chappel in Windsor Castle where his day being April 23. is usually celebrated every year and new Knights commonly installed was consecrated by that King to his memory there are of this Order twenty six Knights of which the Kings of England are one and it is so much desired for its worthiness that 8 Emperors 21 Forreign Kings 23 Forreign Dukes and Princes besides divers Noblemen of other Countries have been Fellows of it The Ensign is a blew Garter buckled on the left Leg on which these words are imbroidered Honi soit qui mal y pense Evil to him that Evil thinks About their Necks they wear a blue Ribband at the end of which hangeth the Image of St. George the Hall of this Pallace is remarkable for greatness Winchester Tower for height and the Terrace on the Northside for pleasure but his present Majesty K. Charles the Second hath added such magnificence to it both within and without that now for Grandeur State and Pleasure it exceeds it may be any Paâ—lace of ever a Prince in Europe The Chappel is graced with the Bodies of King Henry 6. and K. Edward 4. those whom the whole Kingdom was too little to contain the one being of the House of Lancaster and the other of York lie now united in one mould with the branch of both these Houses K. Henry 8. who there lies interred
in a little Town in this County it rained blood the red drops whereof appeared in sheets hung out to dry In the 22 of Q. Elizabeth 1580. there fell such great rains in September and October as caused very great floods in divers parts of the Kingdom in Newport the Cottages were born down and the Corn lost in Bedford the water came up to the Market place where their Houshold stuff swum about their Houses their Wood Corn and Hay were carried away and the Town of St. Needs in Huntingtonshire was suddainly overflowed while the Inhabitants were in bed the waters brake in with such violence that the Town was all defaced the Swans swum down the Market-place Godmanchester was also overflown their Houses being full of water and their Cattel destroved At St. Needs in K. Hen. 7ths time there fell Hailstones which were measured 18 inches about At Asply near Woburn in this County there is a little Rivolet the Earth whereof it is reported turneth Wood into Stone and that a wooden Ladder was to be seen in the Monastery hard by which having lain a great while covered all over with it was digged out again all Stone Take the strange operation of it from his Pen who though a Poet is a credible Author The Brook which on her bank doth boast that earth alone Much noted in this Isle converteth wood to stone This little Asplyes Earth we anciently instile ' Mongst sundry other things a wonder of the Isle There is another of the same nature in Northamptonshire of which hereafter In 1507. Thomas Chase a Religious sober Man being a very zealous opposer of Popish Idolatry and Superstition was thereupon brought before the Bishop at Woburn by means of some malicious Informers who proposed divers questions to him intermixt with many Taunts Jears and Reproaches Chase answered him very undauntedly defending the Truth against Popish errors boldly for which he was committed into the Bishops Prison called Little Ease where he lay cruelly manacled with Chains and Fetters and almost starved for hunger which when the Bishop saw did not prevail upon him but that the more severely he was used he was the more fervent in defending the Protestant Faith he resolved privately to murder him for fear of an uproar amongst the People and accordingly soon after ordered him to be strangled and pressed to death in the Prison he still heartily calling upon God to receive his Spirit the Bishop causing it to be reported that he had hanged himself in Prison This was in the Reign of K. Henry 7. In 1506. One William Tilsworth was condemned by Dr. Smith Bishop of Lincoln for Heresy and burnt in this County at his burning his only Daughter a Religious Woman and Wife to one Clark was compelled by the bloody Papists to set fire with her own hands to her dear Father and at the same time John Clark her Husband with many others did pennance by bearing Faggots and were burnt in the Cheek with an hot Iron and about two years after Thomas Bernard Husbandman and James Melvin Labourer were both burnt for the Protestant Religion in one Fire in this Shire The chief Town of this County is Bedford most fruiâ—fully and pleasantly seated without the Town there formerly stood a Chappel upon the bank of the River Ouse wherein as some Authors affirm the Body of Ossa the great Mercian King was interred but by the overswelling of that River was carryed away and swallowed up whose Tomb of Lead as if it were some Phantastical thing appeared often to them that sought it not but to them that seek it saith Ross it is invisible In K. Henry 3. his Reign while a Parliament was sitting at Northampton an unsufferable outrage was complained of to them committed by one Falcacius a Norman by birth who seized upon Henry Braybrook a Judge as he was upon the Bench at the Assizes at Dunstable and clapped him close Prisoner in Bedford-Castle with a strong Guard upon him because 30 Verdicts had passed against him upon Tryals at Law for Lands which he had forceably entred upon the Judges Wife came to the Parliament and with her Tears and complaints so moved them with pitty and indignation that all other matters laid aside the Clergy as well as Laity attended the King to besiege the Castle Falcacius being Governor thereof was gone himself into Wales with hopes of raising more Forces to maintain his Rebellion but had left his Brother Lieutenant in his room with a desperate crew of Villains and all manner of Ammunition and Provision sufficient for a whole years Siege yet after 2 Months the Castle was taken by Storm the Lieutenant and all his Companions hanged and the Castle itself pull'd down to the ground as a den of Thieves and to deter all others for the future from committing such Villanous and Treasonable Crimes This Falcacius as we said was a French-man born and a Bastard and came over in K. Johns time in a very mean condition by whom for his Courage he was made Governor of Bedford Castle to defend it against the Barons where by plunder and Rapine he got a great deal of mony together K. John likewise forcing a Lady who was a great Heiress to Marry him no less to her own discontent than disparagement but now when his Castle was thus unexpectedly levelled to the Earth and all his Estate seized to the King he prevails with the Bishop of Coventry to bring him to the King at Bedford where throwing himself at the Kings feet he implores his mercy for his forme good Services which he with difficulty obtained but upon condition to be sent into perpetual banishment which was done accordingly and the King was so incensed at the keeping of his Castle against him that he thereupon commanded all Frenchmen to depart by a a time limited under a very severe penalty In the 7th of Queen Elizabeth Henry Cheyney High Sheriff of Bedfordshire was created Baron of Tuddington in this County in his Youth he was very wild and ventrous witness his playing at Dice with Henry 2. King of France from whom he won a Diamond of great worth at a cast and being demanded by the King what shift he would have made to repair himself in case he had lost the cast I have said young Cheyney in a huffing bravery Sheeps Tails enough in Kent where he had an Estate with their Wool to buy a better Diamond than this in his latter age he was much reduced and very grave dying without issue Dunstable is seated in a chalky ground well Inhabited and full of Inns hath four Streets answerable to the four Quarters of the world in every one of which there is a pond of standing water for the publick use of the Inhabitants a Tale of vain credit is reported of this Town that it was built to bridle the outragiousness of a strong Theif called Dun by K. Henry 1. but certain it is that the place was held by the Romans yet Sir
Miller that had been very active in that Rebellion who fearing the approach of the Marshal told a sturdy Fellow his Servant that he had occasion to go from home and if any man should inquire for the Miller he bid him say that himself was the Miller and had been so for 3 years before soon after the Provost came and called for the Miller when out comes the Servant and said he was the man the Provost demanded how long he had kept the Mill These 3 years answered the Servant the Provost then commanded his men to lay hold of him and hang him on the next Tree at this the Fellow cried out That he was not the Miller but the Millers Man Nay Sir said the Provost I will take you at your word and if thou beest the Miller thou art a busie Knave if thou beest not thou art a false lying Knave and however thou canst never do thy Master better service than to hang for him and so without more ado he was dispatched I will conclude the Remarks of this County with somewhat more Comical At the Dissolution of Abbeys K. Ken. 8. gave away large shares to almost every one that asked Amongst other Instances take this merry story It happened that two or three Gentlemen the Kings servants waited at the door where the King was to come out with a design to beg a large parcel of Abby Lands One Mr. John Champernoun another of his servants seeing them was very inquisitive to know their suit but they would not impart it to him in the mean time out comes the King they kneel down so doth Champernoun being assured by an implicit Faith that Courtiers beg nothing hurtful to themselves they present their Petition the King grants it they render him humble thanks so doth Mr. Champernoun afterward he requires his share they deny it he appeals to the King who avows that he meant they should have equal shares whereupon his Companions were forced to allot him the Priory of St. German in Cornwal valued at 243 pound a Year so that a dumb Beggar met with a blind Giver the one as little knowing what he asked as the other what he gave This County is divided into nine Hundreds wherein are 22 Market Towns and 161 Parish Churches It elects 44 Members to sit in Parliament and is in the Diocess of Exeter CUMBERLAND hath Scotland on the North Northumberland and Westmerland on the East Lancashire on the South and the Irish Sea on the West We read that King Edmund with the help of Leoline Prince of Wales wasted all Cumberland and having put out the Eyes of the 2 Sons of Dunmail King of that Province granted that Kingdom to Malcolm K. of Scots whereof their eldest Sons became Prefects King Edward the 1st dyed at Carlile in this County for intending to invade Scotland he raised a great Army which he ordered to attend him at this City but falling sick and being sensible it would be his death he commanded his Son afterward Edward 2. to be brought into his presence to whom he left many good Precepts and Admonitions exhorting him To be merciful just and courteous constant and true both in Word and Deed that he should be pitiful to those in misery that he should carry his bones with him about Scotland till he had subdued it and that he should send his Heart into the Holy Land with Sevenscore Knights and Thirty two thousand Pound of Silver which he had provided for that purpose lastly that upon pain of eternal damnation the said Money should not be expended upon any other use soon after which he died In the 17th Year of this Kings Reign the City of Carlile with the Abby and all the Houses belonging to the Friers Minors were consumed with fire In the Reign of Q. Elizabeth a rich Vein of most pure and native Brass was found at Keswrick in Cumberland which had lain neglected a long time In April 1651 about 5 a Clock in the Afternoon there was a general Earthquake in the Counties of Cumberland and Westmerland wherewith the People were so affrighted that many of them forsook their Houses and some Houses were so shaken that the Chimneys fell down Presently after the Scottish Army came into England to assist the Parliament it rained Blood which covered the Church and Church-Yard of Bencastle in this County At Salkelds upon the River Eden is a Trophy of Victory called by the Country People Long Meg and her Daughters they are 77 stones each of them 10 Foot high above ground and one of them is 15 Foot in height Skiddaw Hill riseth up with two mighty high Heads like Parnassus and beholds Scruffell hill in Anandale within Scotland there is a Rime that Skiddaw Lauvellin and Casticand Are the highest hills in all England These being two other Hills in this Tract according as Mists rise or fall upon these Heads the People thereby prognosticate of the change of Weather and therefore they sing If Skiddaw have a Cap Scruffell knows full well of that The Sea hath eaten a great part of the Land away upon the shores of these Western Shires and Trees are sometimes discovered when the Wind blows at low Water else they are covered over with Sands and the People thereabout say that they dig up Trees without boughs out of the mossy places in this Shire which they find by the direction of the Dew in Summer which they observe never falls on the ground under which they lie Some Emperick Chirurgions in Scotland take a journey to the Picts Wall the beginning of every Summer to gather vulnerary Plants which they say grow plentifully there and are very effectual being sown and planted by the Romans for Chirurgical Uses There is a small Burrough called Solway Frith under which within the very Frith or Bay the Inhabitants report the Engl sh and Scots fought with their Fleets at full Sea and also with their Horsemen and Footmen at the Ebb. This Province was accounted a Kingdom of itself and King Steven to purchase aid from the Scots confirmed it by gift to that Crown which Henry 2. claimed and regained from them since which many bickerings have happened between the two Nations in this Shire but none so fatal to the Scots as the Fight at Salome Moss where the Nobility disdaining to serve under their General Oliver Sinclare gave over the Battle and yielded themselves to the English which dishonour so deeply wounded the heart of K. James the 5. that he died for grief soon after There are many ruines of Castles Walls and Forts in this County with Altars and Inscriptions of their Captains and Collonels This County is not divided into Hundreds as the rest but therein are seated 9 Market Towns 58 Parish Churches and divers Chappels of ease It Elects 6 Parliament Men for the Counâ—y 2. Carlile 2. Cockermouth 2. and is in the Diocess of Chester and Carlile DERBY-SHIRE hath Yorkshire on the North Nottinghamshire on the East
ominous and presaging our civil Dissentions There is a Proverb in this County He may fetch a Flitch of Bacon from Dunmow This Proverb dependeth on a custom practised in the Priory of Dunmow which was founded by Juga a noble Lady for black Nuns 1111. But it seems the property of it was after altered into a Male-Nunnery the Friars whereof were sometimes it appears very merry for they ordained That if any person from any part of England would come thither and humbly kneel on two stones yet to be seen at the Church door before the Convent and solemnly take the ensuing Oath he might demand a Gamon or Flitch of Bacon which should be freely given him You shall swear by the custom of our Confession That you never made any nuptial Transgression Since you were married Man and Wife By houshold Brawls or contentious Strife Or otherwise in Bed or at Board Offended each other in deed or Word Or since the Parish Clerk said Amen Wished your selves unmarried agen Or in a Twelve Month and a day Repented not in thought any way But continued true and in desire As when you join'd hands in Holy-Quire If to these conditions without all fear Of your own accord you will freely swear A Gamon of Bacon you shalt receive And carry it hence with love and free leave For this is our custom at Dunmow well known Though the sport be ours the Bacon's your own It appeareth in an old book on Record that Richard Wright of Badesworth in Norfolk in the 23. of Heâ— 6. when John Canon was Prior and that Stephen Samuel of Little Easton in Essex the 7th of Edward 4. and Thomas Lee of Coxhall in Essex the 2. of Hen. 8. took the aforesaid Oath demanded their Bacon on the premises and received it accordingly Randolph Peveril of Hatfield-Peveril in this County was in great esteem with K. Edward the Confessor who was very bountiful to him as having married the Daughter of Inglerick his Kinsman who was of great Nobility among the English Saxons this Lady was of such admirable beauty that she therewith conquered William the Conqueror who desired nothing more than to be a Prisoner in her Arms to obtain which he inriched St. Martins Le Grand in London first founded by her Father and her Uncle K. Edward he then preferred her two Brothers William Peveril to be Keeper of Dover Castle and Pain Peveril he made Baron of Bourn in Cambridgshire having thus preferred her Kindred he began to sollicite her by the Messengers of the Devils Bed-Chamber that is subtil insinuating Pimps and Bawds and sometimes he himself visited her like Jupiter in a golden shower by these forceable demonstrations of love and unavoidable allurements especially from a King she was at length brought to his unlawful Bed unto whom she bore a Son named William who was Lord of Nottingham but his Mother being afterward touched with remorse of Conscience to expiate her guilt was taught by the Doctrine of those times to found a Colledge in the Village of Harpsfield which she consecrated to the honour of God and St. Mary Magdalen wherein setting apart all worldly affairs she spent the remainder of her days and died about the year 1100. In the 17th of Henry 2. there was seen at St. Osythes in Essex a Dragon of wonderful bigness which wherever it moved burnt the Houses and places about it In the Reign of Hen. 3. the King commanded Hubert de Burg Earl of Kent to be apprehended who having notice thereof rose at midnight and fled into a Church in Essex the Officers found him upon his knees before the High Altar with the Popish Sacrament in one hand and a Cross in the other however they seized him and carried him away Prisoner to the Tower of London Roger Niger then Bishop made great complaint to the King of this violence and wrong done to Holy Church and would not be satisfied till the Earl was carried back to the same Church again though well guarded there however this it is thought saved the Earls life for the Kings anger cooled and he was soon after reconciled to him In the year 1510. in the Marshes of Dengey Hundred near South-Minster in this County there suddenly appeared an infinite number of Mice which over-run those Marshes tearing up the Grass by the roots and so poysoned it with their venemous Teeth that the Cattle which grazed thereon died but at length a great number of strange painted Owls came no man knew whence and devoured all the Mice it is reported that there happened the like in Essex in 1648. There were no less than forty four Persons who suffered Martyrdom for the Protestant Religion in this County among whom was William Hunter a young man of 19 years old born of religious Parents who instructed him in the Truth and sent him to be an Apprentice in London where refusing to go to Mass and receive the Sacrament he went home to his Parents at Burntwood and one day going into a Chappel there he found a Bible which while he was reading a Summoner came in and asked him whether he could expound the Scripture he answered He did only read it to his Comfort the Sumner replied It was never a merry world since the Bible came forth in English Hunter answered Say not so for Gods sake for it is Gods Book out of which every one ought to learn how to please God and therefore I pray God that we may have the Blessed Bible amongst us Ay said the Sumner I know your mind well enough you are one of those that do not like the Queens Laws but you and many more must turn over a new leaf or you will broil for it pray God give me grace said Hunter that I may believe his word and confess his name whatever comes of it Nay said the Sumner you confess the Devils name and will all go to him The Sumner then fetcht a Priest out of a blind Alehouse who finding Hunter reading reviled him for it and then asked him what he thought of the blessed Sacrament of the Altar whether there were not really Christs Body and Blood Hunter said He found no such thing in Scripture ah quoth the Vicar now I find you are an Heretick Hunter replyed Would you and I were both tyed to a Stake to try whether of us would stick closest to our Faith The Priest left him and informing against him he was seized and brought before Bishop Bonner who finding that he stood firm to his Principles caused his Officers to set him in the Stocks in his Gate-house where he lay 2 days and had nothing but a crust of brown bread and a cup of cold water after Imprisonment three quarters of a Year the Bp. condemned him and sent him to Burntwood to be burnt where his Father and Mother came to him beseeching God he might continue constant to the end His Mother added she was happy in bearing such a Child who could find in his heart
be And lie in mine own Ashes as you see Verlam I was what boots it that I was Since now I am but weeds and wastful grass And another English Poet writes thus in the name of Watling one of the 4 Imperial Highways Thou saw'st when Verlam once her head aloft did rear Which in her Cinders now lies sadly buried here With Alabaster Tuch and Porphyry adorn'd When well near in her pride great Troynovant she scorn'd A nameless Author hath writ thus upon this forgotten City Stay thy foot that passest by And a wonder here descry Churches that inter'd the dead Here themselves are buried Houses where men slept and wak't Here in Ashes underrak't And to the Poet to allude Here is Corn where once Troy stood Or if you the Truth would have Here 's a City in a Grave A wonder Reader think it then That Cities thus should die like men And yet a wonder think it none For many Cities thus are gone Out of the ruines of this City rose the fair Town of St. Albans remarkable for bringing forth Alban the Martyr for about the year of Christ 180. King Lucius reigned in Brittain who hearing of the Miracles and Wonders done by the Christians in divers places sent Letters to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome desiring to receive the Christian Faith the good Bishop being glad of this request sent him two Preachers Faganus and Damianus by whose faithful endeavours it pleased God the King and many of his People were Converted and Baptized the Temples of Idols and other Monuments of Gentilism were subverted thus the true Religion increased and Superstition and Idolatry decreased many Bishops being ordained and set over the People and all things setled in good order after which this religious King sent again to Eleutherius for the Roman Laws according to which he desired to govern his People to which request Eleutherius returned this answer That for the Roman and Imperial Laws they might have their defects but the Law of God could not and thereupon advised him to study the Scriptures and out of them by the Council of his Realm to enact Laws for the Government of his Kingdom For saith he You are Gods Vicar in your Kingdom and therefore it behoves you to unite your People to call them to the Faith and Service of Jesus Christ to cherish and maintain them to rule and govern them and to defend them from all such as would do them wrong c. The Christian Faith thus received by the Brittains flourished here 216 years till the coming of the Saxons But the Ramans continuing Heathens raised much trouble against the Professors thereof especially after the death of Lucius who dying without 〈◊〉 the Barons and Nobles disagreeing about a Successor the Romans stepped in and took the Crown into their hands whereupon great ruine and misery ensued to the Kingdom for sometimes the Idolatrous Romans reigned and sometimes the Christian Brittains according to the fortune of the War The first remarkable Persecution which we hear of was under Dioclesian and Maximi◠when the Heathens raged so extreamly that in Brittany and some other Places there are reckoned Seventeen Thousand Martyrs who suffered for the name of Christ In this Persecution a famous Preacher called Amphibolus being searcht for to be Imprisoned he to escape the fury of his Persecutors hid himself in the House of Alban aforementioned who was a Citizen of Verulam now St. Albans this Alban was at that time a Heathen but observing Amphibolus to continue day and night in watching and Prayer he began to be convinced and to hearken to the Divine Instructions and Exhortations of this good man and forsaking Idolatry he became a very sincere Christian The Enemy having intelligence that this Minister was in his house Soldiers were ordered to search for him which Alban having notice of he apparelled himself in the cloths of Amphibolus and offered himself to the Souldiers who bound him and carried him before the Judge who was at that time sacrificing to his Idols The Judge perceiving the business said Since thou hadst rather convey away the Rebel and Traytor to our Gods than deliver him up to undergo due punishment for his blaspheming our Deities look therefore what Torments he should have suffered if he had been taken the same shalt thou endure if thou refuse to practise the Rights of our Religion Alban was regardless of these Threats and being replenished with Divine Fortitude boldly told the Judge to his face That he would not obey his Commandment Then said the Judge Of what House and Stock art thou Alban answered It is no matter of what stock I am but if thou desirest to know my Religion be it known unto thee that I am a Christian and that I imploy my self in the exercise of their Holy Religion The Judge then demanded his name my Parents said he named me Alban And I Honour and Worship the True living God who made all things of nothing The Judge being inraged hereat said If thou desirest to prolong thy life come and Sacrifice to our Gods Alban answered The Sacrifice you offer to the Devil profits you nothing but rather purchaseth for you eternal pains in Hell-fire The Judge was still more incensed hereat and commanded the tormentors to beat him thinking stripes might prevail more than words yet Alban continued not only patient but joyful in the midst of all his Torments the Judge perceiving that neither words nor blows would remove him from his Constancy commanded him to be beheaded The Executioner observing his fervent Faith and Prayers fell down at his Feet throwing away the Sword desiring rather to die for him or with him than to do Execution upon him and suffered accordingly whereby he was made a Martyr for that Faith of which he was before a Persecutor The other Officers were astonished and trembled to behold this strange Providence but at last one of them took up the Sword wherewith he cut off the Martyr Albans head In this Town of St. Albans King Offa built a most stately Monastery which we read was upon this occasion In the Year 793 Offa the 11th King of the Mercians took to wife one Quenrid of whom it is recorded that her name was Drida and that she was Kinswoman to the French King Charles the great and was for some Offence banished his Realm being put into a boat without Sail or Tackle and arriving upon the Coasts of England was relieved by Offa who was then a young Nobleman and changed her name to Quenrid of whom he became so much in love that contrary to the Will of his Parents he married her she being of a proud cruel and ambitious Nature as appears by the sequel For Ethelbert King of the East Angles a wise and religious Prince coming to the Court of King Offa being persuaded by his Nobles to desire his Daughter in Marriage was accompanied with a great Train suitable to his Quality but Queen Quenrid envious of his
at lawful distance But now he resolved to eat grass with Nebuchadnezzar till it pleased the Queen to restore his senses she being overjoyed with these Speeches Would to God said she his deeds would be answerable to his words he hath long tried my patience I must now make tryal of his Humility Upon which the Earl became so confident of the Queens favour that being denyed a Suit about farming sweet wines he conspired with others to seize her Person and which more alienated her affections than any thing else she heard he despised her Person and that he had said That the Queen was now old and decrepit and withered as well in mind as in body After this he made an Insurrection in London which not succeeding he was sent to the Tower and being arraigned together with the Earl of Southampton by his Peers was found guilty and Feb. 25. 1601. was to be the fatal day in the mean time divers Ministers were sent to comfort him The Queen now wavered in her self one while remembring former kindnesses she would not and then again she would have him die because of his stubborness in not asking her mercy and his openly saying That he could not live but she must perish So that she gave order for his death within the Tower where he spake to this Purpose My Lords and Christian Brethren who are present witnesses of my just punishment I confess to Gods Glory my self a most wretched Sinner and that my sins in number exceed the hairs of my head that good which I would have done I did not and the evil which I would not that did I for all which I beseech my Saviour Christ to be a Mediator but especially for this my last crying sin I beseech God Her Majesty and the State to forgive me and bless her with a prosperous Reign with a wise and understanding Heart to bless the Nobles and Ministers of the Church and State I likewise beseech you and all the world to have a charitable opinion of me foâ— my intention toward her Majesty whose death I protest I never intended nor any violence toward her Person I thank God I never was an Atheist in not believing the Scriptures nor a Papist to trust in my own merits but am assured to be saved by the merits and mercies of Jesus Christ my Saviour This Faith I was I brought up in and herein I am now ready to die beseeching you all to join your souls with me in Prayer that my soul may be lifted up by Faith above all earthly things and lastly I desire forgiveness of all the world even as freely as from my heart I forgive all the world And then kneeling down said I have been divers times in places of danger where death was neither so present nor so certain and yet even then I felt the weakness of my flesh and therefore now in this last and great conflict I desire the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit and so saith Mr. Speed with a most Heavenly Prayer and faithful constancy as if his soul had been already in heavenly fruition he laid himself on the block and spreading abroad his arms the appointed sign with three strokes his head was severed from his body for which the Executioner was in danger of his life at his return if he had not been secured by the Sheriff of this great Favourite Dr. Fuller concludes That his failings were neither so foul nor so many but that the Character of a right worthy man most justly belongs to his memory It is recorded that Walter E. of Essex his Father having wasted his Spirits with grief fell into a Dysentery whereof he dyed after he had requested such as stood by him That they would admonish his Son who was then scarce ten years old that he should alwaies propound and set before him the 36th year of his life as the utmost he should ever attain to which neither he nor his Father had gone beyond and his Son never reached to being beheaded in the 34th year of his Age so that his dying Father seemed not in vain to have admonished him as he did but to speak by Divine inspiration and suggestion Hereford is the chief City of this County seated amongst pleasant Meadows and Cornfields Lemster is another Town which hath the greatest fame for Wool which they call Lemster Oar of which Mr. Drayton thus writes Where lives the man so dull on Brittains furthest shore To whom did never sound the name of Lemster Oar That with the Silkworms web for smallness may compare Wherein the winder shews his Workmanship so rare So doth this Fleece excell all others in the Land Being neatly bottom'd up by natures careful hand This County is divided into 11 Hundreds wherein there are 8 Market Towns 176 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Hereford Out of it are elected 8 Parliament Men for the County 2. for Hereford 2. for Lemster 2. for Webly 2. and gives the Title of Earl to Leicester L. D' Eureux HVNTINGTONSHIRE is surrounded with Northampton Bedford and Cambridgeshires being small in extent hardly stretching 20 miles outright though measured to the most advantage it is good for Corn and Tillage and toward the East very plentiful for feeding Cattle Huntington is the chief Town of all the County called in their publick Seal Huntersdune The Hill or Down of Hunters and gives name to all the Shire Godmanchester is a very great Country Town and of as great repute for Tillage no place having more Ploughs or more stout Husbandmen for they boast that in former times they have received the Kings of England as they passed in their progress this way with ninescore Ploughs brought forth in a rustical kind of Pomp as a Gallant show when K. James came first into England the Bayliffs of this Town presented him with 70 Team of Horses all traced to fair new Ploughs to shew their Husbandry of which when the King demanded the reason they told him That it was their ancient Custom whensoever any King of England passed through their Town so to present him And added further That they held their Lands by that Tenure being the Kings Tenants The King was much pleased herewith bidding them use well their Ploughs and said he was glad he was Landlord of so many good Husbandmen in one Town St Ives is another Town in this County reported to be so named from Ivo a Persian Bishop who it 's said about the Year of Christ 6â—0 travelled through England Preaching diligently the Christian Religion and dying in this place left his name thereunto There are two little Springs at Ayleweston in this County the one fresh and the other somewhat brackish the latter they say is good for Scabs and Leprosie and the other for dim sights The Lake of Wittlesmere and other Meers near it in this Shire do sometimes rise tempestuously in calm and fair Weather and make Water-quakes by reason the ground near it is rotten and hollow
a Fight so that the Conqueror who just before thought he had the whole Kingdom absolutely at Command began now to despair of his own Life of which Consternation the two valiant Prelates taking advantage presented themselves to the Duke and thus addressed him in behalf of their followers Most noble Duke behold here the Commons of Kent are come forth to meet and receive you as their Soveraign in peace upon condition they may for ever enjoy their ancient Liberties Freedoms and Estates which they received from their Forefathers If these be denied they are here ready to give you battle immediately being fully resolved rather to die than to part with our ancient Laws or to live in slavery and bondage the name and nature whereof as it hath been hitherto unknown to us so we will rather every man lose his Life than ever endure it The Conqueror driven to a strait and loth to hazard all upon so nice a point their demands being not unreasonable rather wisely than willingly granted their desires and Pledges on both sides are given for performance Kent yielding her Earldom and Castle of Dover to her new King William Among other Customs they retain one called Gavelkind that is Give all kin whereby Lands are divided among the Male-Children or if there be no Sons among the Daughters by which every man is a Freeholder and hath some part of his own to live upon By vertue of this also they are at full age and enter upon their Inheritance at 15 Years old and it is lawful for them to alienate or make it over to any either by Gift or sale without the Lords Consent By this likewise the Son though his Parents be hanged for Felony or Murder succeedeth them nevertheless in such kind of Lands according to that Rhime The Father to the Bough And the Son to the Plough K. William after this to secure Kent to himself placed a Constable in Dover Castle and according to the manner of the Romans made him also Lord of the Cinqueports which are Hastings Dover Hith Rumney and Sandwich unto which are joined Winchelsey and Rye as principal Ports and other small Towns as Members which because they are bound to serve in the Wars by Sea enjoy many great Priviledges being free from the payment of Subsidies and from Wardship of their Children and are not sued in any Court but within their own Towns and of the Inhabitants therein such as they call Barons at the Coronation of Kings and Queens support the Canopies over them and have a Table by themselves on the Kings Right hand and the L. Warden who is always of the Nobility hath the Authority of Chancellor and Admiralty within his Jurisdiction in very many cases and hath many other Rights Canterbury is the chief City of this County ancient and famous no doubt in the time of the Romans The Archbishop of Canterbury was called Totius Angliae Primas Primate of all England the Archbishop of York only Primas Angliae Primate of England he is the first Peer of the Realm and hath the Precedency of all Dukes not of the Royal Blood or great Officers of State Anselm in recompence of his service in opposing the Marriage of Priests and resisting the King about investing Bishops had this accession of honour given him by Pope Vrbane That he and his Successors should have place at the Popes right foot in all General Councils the Pope adding these words We include him in our Orb as Pope of another world This City hath had a rare Cathedral it is in the midst of the Town the body within being near as large as St. Pauls in London was between the body and the Quire there hangeth a Bell called by the name of Bell Harry being one of those which Henry 8. brought out of France there are also four Spires like St. Sepulchres London on each side of the great West Gate are 2 other Steeples the one called Dunstan and the other Arnold Steeples in each of which are a very pleasant ring of Bells in the same Cathedral there was the famousest window in England for which they say the Spanish Ambassador offered Ten Thousand pound being the whole History of Christ from his Nativity to his Passion but it was afterward battered to pieces In the Quire of the Cathedral Edward called the Black Prince is buried in a Monument of Brass underneath this Cathedral there is a great Congregation of French Protestants the Dutch also have a Church in that Place which is called the Bishops Pallace there are many other Churches in the City and Suburbs The Rebellion under Kett the Tanner in the Oak of Reformation neer Norwich Pa. 149. Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit Fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas ascendit For the blood of Thomas which he for thee did spend Grant us Christ that we may climb where Thomas did ascend The Pope likewise writ to the English Clergy to make a new Holyday for St. Thomas as they expected pardon through his Intercession to God for them At Halbaldown in Kent there was an Hospital erected by Archbishop Lanfrank wherein was reserved the upper leather of an old shoe which they said had been worn by St. Thomas Becket and being set fair in Copper and Christal was offered to be kissed by all Passengers In the Reign of Edward 3. there was great variance between the A. Bishops of Canterbury and York and the Londoners were cursed by the A. B. of Canterbury because they suffered he of York to carry his Cross in that City but the King ended the difference ordering they should both freely carry the Cross in each others Province but that in sign of subjection the A. B. of York should send the Image of an Archbishop bearing a Cross or some other Jewel wrought in fine gold to the value of 40 pounds to Canterbury and offer it publickly there upon St. Thomas Beckets Shrine They likewise report that Thomas lying in an old House at Otford and finding it want a Spring he struck his Staff into the dry ground from whence issued Water and is called to this day St. Thomas Well and that a Nightingale disturbing his Devotions one time in that place he commanded that from thenceforth no bird of that kind should dare sing there many other such ridiculous miracles are reported which were invented by Popish Knaves and believed by none but Popish Idiots In 1386. William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury summoned certain of his Tenants to answer an heinous and horrible Trespass as he called it which was That they brought Straw to litter his Horses not in Carts as formerly but in Bags for which wicked Offence having confessed their fault and asked him forgiveness he enjoined them this Pennance That going leisurely before the Procession barefoot and bare leg'd each of them should carry upon his Shoulder a Bag stuffed with Strow hanging out whereupon these Rhimes were made This Bag full of straw
you may make a Devil of it At which answer they laughed and departed In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth a certain Jesuit in Lancashire as he was walking by the way lost his Glove and one that came after him finding it followed him apace with an intention to restore it but he fearing the worst being inwardly pursued with a guilty conscience ran away and hastily leaping over an Hedge fell into a Marle-pit which was on the other side in which he was drowned In 1613. April 17. in the Parish of Standish in Lancashire a Maiden Child was born having four legs four Arms two Bellies joined to one back one head with two faces the one before the other behind like the Picture of Janus In 1662. July 4. At Litham about two miles from Preston in this County a very strange Fish was cast upon the Shoar it was about four yards in length and as big as an ordinary Horse the forefeet were as long as a mans Arm the hinder feet much shorter but broad like the Finns of a Fish it roared most dreadfully like a Bear it continued alive for some time and multitudes of People came to view it Also much about the same time and nine miles from this place many credible Persons often saw a very dreadful Serpent come forth out of a Wood the length thereof being about five or six yards and they judged it to be bigger than the biggest Cart Axel Tree it was so great that some who viewed the place where it sometimes lay near a Well at Dunkin Hall affirm that it made such an impression on the ground as if an Ox or some more large and pounderous Beast had lain there The Thirtieth of the same month at Ormskirk there happened such a storm of Hail as was hardly ever seen it beat down the Apples spoil'd the Corn broke the glass Windows on that side of the Houses the wind was of and cut the lead in pieces some Hailstones were taken up 8 Inches about and some as big as Pullets Eggs all the French Wheat was utterly spoyl'd and the other Wheat and Barley in the three adjacent Parishes much damaged This County is divided into 6 Hundreds wherein are 26 Market Towns and 61 Churches and is in the Diocess of Chester it elects 14 Parliament men Manchester gives the Title of Earl to Robert L. Montague LEICESTERSHIRE hath Lincoln and Rutland Shires on the East Derby and Nottingham Shires on the North Warwickshire on the West and Northamptonshire on the South It is a Champion Country and abounds with Corn Cattle and Coals the chief City Leicester stands almost in the heart of the County which by Etheldred the Mercian King was made an Episcopal See but being removed the Beauty of the Town decayed yet the renouned Lady Ethelfleda casting an Eye of compassion upon it re-edified the Buildings and compassed it about with a strong Wall whereby the Trade of the City was much increased But in the Reign of Hen. 2. Robert Earl of Leicester rebelling against him the King beseiged took and plundered it throwing down the Walls which seemed hard to be done some parcels of them remaining like hard Rocks by reason of the excellent Mortar The King then commanded the City to be set on fire and burnt the Castle to be razed and an heavy Imposition was laid upon the Citizens who with great Sums of Money bought their own Banishments In the ninth Year of K. Henry 5. a Parliament was called at Leicester wherein an 110 Priories were suppressed because they spoke ill of his Conquests in France and their Possessions given to the King In 1485. King Richard called Crookback set out of this City in the morning to meet the Earl of Richmond afterward K. Henry 7. and chose Bosworth Field to try his fortune with him for the Crown of England that day the Van of his Army was led by the Duke of Norfolk consisting of 1200 Bowmen flanked with 200 Curiassers under the E. of Surrey the main Battle K. Richard led himself being 1000 Billmen empaled with 2000 Pikes the King expected the L. Stanly's 2000 Horse to come for his assistance of whose Fidelity to him the King having some doubt he had before got his Son the Lord Strange as a pledge of his Loyalty with him Stanly not appearing K. Richard sent a Letter to him to come presently into his presence or else he swore by Christs Passion he would strike off his Sons head before he dined to which the L. Stanly returned answer That if he did so he had more Sons alive and he might do his pleasure but to come to him he was not determined Which Answer when K. Richard heard he commanded the L. Strange to be immediately beheaded but it being at the very time when both Armies were in sight of each other his Lords persuaded him it was now time to fight and not to put to Execution and so the L. Strange escaped The Earl of Richmond likewise sent to the L. Stanly to repair presently to him but he sent word he must expect no aid from him till the Battles were joined and therefore advised him with all possible speed to give the onset which Answer somewhat staggered the Earl because his number did but a little exceed one half of the Kings yet to make the best shew he could by the advice of his Council of War he made the Front of his Army thin and broad of which the Earl of Oxford had the leading the Earl himself leading the Battle soon after the Fight begun and the Arrows being spent on both sides they came to handstroaks and just then came in the Lord Stanly to the Earls assistance while they were thus contending K. Richard was informed that the Earl of Richmond with a small number was not far off and thereupon being of an invincible courage whereof he was now to give the last proof he made toward him and gave such a furious assault that first with his own hands he slew Sir William Brandon who bore the Earls Standard next he unhorst and overthrew Sir John Chyney a stout man at Arms and then assaulted the Earl of Richmond himself who unexpectedly for all the Kings fury held him off at the Lances point till Sir Wm. Stanly came in with 3000 fresh men and then opprest with multitude K. Richard was there slain It is said that when the Battle was near lost a swift Horse was brought him with which he might have saved himself by flight but Richard out of his undaunted courage refused it saying He would that day make an end of all Battles or else lose his Life In this Battle Henry E. of Northumberland who led King Richards Rear never struck stroke as likewise many others who followed K. Richard more for fear than love and so he who had deceived many was at this time deceived by many which was not unforeseen by some who caused a Rhime to be set upon the Duke of Norfolk's Tent the
night before the Fight which was this Jack of Norfolk be not too bold For Dickon thy Master is bought and sold Yet notwithstanding this warning this noble Duke continued firm to K. Richard and lost his Life in his quarrel The whole number slain in this Battle on K. Richard's side was about 1000 Persons Sir Wm. Catesby one of the chief Counsellors of K. Richard with divers others were two days after beheaded at Leicester This Battle was fought Aug. 20. 1485. continuing a little above two hours The Earl Knighted several persons in the Field and then kneeling down he rendred hearty Thanks to Almighty God for the Victory he had obtained and commanded all the wounded men to be cured whereat the People rejoycing clapt their hands and cried K. Henry K. Henry of which joy Sir W. Stanly taking opportunity he took the Crown of K. Richard which was found among the spoils in the Field and set it on the Earls Head as though he had been elected King by the voice of the People The Body of K. Richard after he was slain was script and left naked to the very skin not so much as a rag being left about him to cover his nakedness and being taken up was trussed behind a pursivant at Arms his Head and Arms hanging on one side the Horse and his Legs on the other thus all besmeared with Blood and dirt he was brought to the Gray Friars Church in Leicester and there for some time lay a miserable spectacle and afterward with small Funeral Pomp was there buried But K. Henry 7. afterward caused a Tomb to be set over the place with his Picture in Alabaster which at the suppression of that Monastery was utterly defaced since when his Grave overgrown with Nettles and Weeds is not to be found only the stone Chest wherein his Corps lay is now made a drinking Trough for Horses at a common Inn in Leicester and retaineth only the memory of this Monarchs greatness but his body is reported to have been carried out of the City and contemptuously laid under the end of Bow-Bridge near that Town it is likewise said that upon this Bridg there stood a stone of some height against which K. Richard as he passed toward Bosworth by chance struck his spur which a Witch or wise Woman observing she should say That where his spur struck his head should be broken as they say it was when he was brought back dead He lived 37 years and reigned two years and two months it is memorable that this Sir William Stanly who so seasonably saved K. Henries life and set the Crown on his head was about 11 years after upon pretence of some dangerous words beheaded at Tower-hill by order of the same King Henry Mr. Wanly writes that in St. Martins Church in Leicester there is this very remarkable Epitaph to be seen Here lies the body of John Heyrick of this Parish who died 1589. aged 76 years who lived with his Wife Mary in one House full 62 years and had issue by her 5 Sons and seven Daughters and in all that time never buried Man Woman nor Child though they were somtime 20 in Houshold the said Mary lived to 97 years and died 1611. She did see before her departure of her Children and Childrens Children and their Children to the number of 142. Matthew Paris relates of a Maid in Leicestershire who being exactly watched was found in seven years together neither to eat nor drink but only that on Sundays she received the Sacrament and yet continued fat and good liking which if true we may well believe that in the Resurrection our life may be maintained without meat or drink About Lutterworth in Leicestershire a Miller had murdered one in his Mill and privately buried him in a ground hard by this Miller removed into another Country and there lived a long space till at last guided by the Providence of God for the manifestation of his Justice he returned unto that place to visit some of his Friends while he was there the Miller who now had the Mill had occasion to dig deep in that very place where he found the Carkass of a man this known it pleased God to put it into their hearts to remember a Neighbour of theirs who 20 years before was suddenly missed and since that time not heard of and bethinking themselves who was then Miller of that Mill behold he was ready in Town not having been there for many years before this man was suspected thereupon examined without much ado confessed the Fact was accordingly executed for the same In 1660. Sep. 3. near Worthington in this County there happened a dreadful Whirlwind which tore up a great Tree by the Roots casting it four or five yards from the place rent off the great limbs of an Apple-Tree and threw down a House in the Street the Chappel was much shaken and the Chancel in danger of falling then it passed on with great force and noise to Worthington Hall where it overturned five Bay of Barn-building and a Gate-house it blew down a stack of Chimnies and hurried a man into the Garden who by catching hold of a Tree stayed himself at another Town it rent a House where a woman and three Children were miraculously preserved to which it brought a great Log of Wood no body knew from whence it carried away a Hive of Bees and a load of Thorns which could not be heard of and turned up 20 Load of Wood by the roots this whirlwind ran about three miles in length and not above 20 yards in breadth some said there were flames of fire seen in it Upon the 24. of January following between six and seven a clock at night there was a very great Earthquake in most parts of Leicestershire which came at first like a noise in the Air at great distance it shook the Houses very much and in some places men could hardly stand without holding the continuance thereof was about a quarter of an hour Near Lutterworth is a spring so cold that in a short time it turneth straw and sticks into stone John Wickliff was sometime Parson of Lutterworth Church a man of singular and polite wit and much conversant in the Scripture his bones were afterward taken up and burnt by the Papists Sir Robert Belknap Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in K. Richard 2. time was of this County and that K. having a design to destroy certain Lords sent for the Judges to Nottingham where the Kings many questions were in fine resolved into this Whether he might by his Regal Power revoke what was acted in Parliament to this all the Judges Sir William Skipwith alone excepted answered Affirmatively and subscribed it though this Belknap did it unwillingly as foreseeing the danger and putting to his Seal said these words There wants nothing now but an Hurdle an Horse and an Halter to carry me where I may suffer the death I deserve for if I had not
denying Christ to be our Saviour and publishing divers other horrible Heresies was convented before the Bishop of Norwich condemned in the Consistory and delivered to the Sheriffs of Norwich to be executed but because he had spoken seditious words against the Queen he was condemned to lose his Ears which was accordingly executed and 7 days after he was burnt in the Castle Ditch at Norwich In the 23d Year Aug. 12. there arose a great Tempest of Thunder Lightening Whirlwind and Rain in the County of Norfolk with Hailstones fashioned like the Rowels of Spurs two or Three Inches about it beat the Corn flat to the ground rent up many great Trees and shivered them to pieces at Hemming a Mile from Worsted the West door of the Church of above 300 pound weight was lifted off the hooks and blown over the Font within a Yard of the Chancel the top of the Church was ript up and the Lead blown away five sheets of Lead were wrapt up together like a Glove and blown into a Field without the Church-Yard In Her 25th Year Sept. 17. John Lewis for denying the Godhead of Christ and holding other detestable Opinions was burnt at Norwich The 10th of October following at Castor near Yarmouth a Fish was by the force of the Easterly Winds driven ashoar the length thereof from the Neck to the Tail was 17 Yards and one Foot the Head was great for the Chap of the Jaw was 3 Yards and a quarter in length with Teeth of 3 quarters of a Yard in Compass it had great Eyes with 2 great holes over them to spout Water her Tail was 14 Foot broad she was 4 Yards and an half in thickness from the Back to the Belly In 1656. July 20. being Lords-day there was a sudden Tempest in and about Norwich attended with Thunder and Lightning the flashes whereof were very violent and the claps of Thunder so dreadful as astonished the hearers about an hour after many saw a black Cloud like the smoak of a Furnace which did oftimes cast forth flames of Fire after this followed a White Cloud labouring as it were to overtake the other but the black Cloud presently covering the City there arose a sudden Whirlwind which raised such a Dust in the Streets that one man could not discern another and the Clouds still grew thicker especially in the South-West out of which there broke forth terrible Lightnings and Thunder-claps accompanied with Hail-stones of 5 Inches about dashing all the Glass Windows to the Wind ward in pieces In the Country adjoining many Corn-fields were destroyed Trees were torn up by the Roots Rabbets and Birds yea some Sheep Cows and Horses were killed the Lightning ran upon the ground many Houses being fired by it and more had been consumed had not an extraordinary shower of Rain quenched them the Hail-stones were not round but flat pieces of Ice This account was sent saith Mr. Clark from several credible Persons upon the place And here must not be forgotten Sir Robert Venile a Knight of Norfolk who when the Scots and English were ready to give Battle in the Reign of Edward the Third a certain stout Champion of great Stature commonly called Tournboll coming out of the Scots Army and challenging any English-man to meet him in a single Combate this Sir Robert Venile accepteth the challenge and marching toward the Champion and meeting by the way a certain black Mastiff Dog which waited on the Champion he suddenly with his Sword cut him off at the loins and afterward did more to the Champion himself cutting his Head off from his Shoulders The County of Norfolk hath in it the City of Norwich is divided into 31 Hundreds wherein are 28 Market Towns 660 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Norwich it elects 12 Parliament men and gives the Title of Duke to Henry L. Howard NORTHAMPTONSHIRE hath Cambridgeshire on the East Lincoln and Leicestershire on the North Buckinghamshire on the South and Warwickshire on the West it is a Champion Country exceeding populous and well furnished with Noblemen and Gentlemens Houses replenished also with Towns and Churches insomuch as in some places there are 20 and in others 30 Steeples with Spires or square Towers within view at once Northampton is the Shire Town the Houses whereof were formerly very sair but by a dreadful fire a great part thereof was lately burnt to Ashes though since for the most part nobly re-built there are seven Parish Churches within the walls whereof that of All-hallows is the chief at Boughton there is a Spring which is conceived to turn Wood into Stone The truth is saith Dr. Fuller it doth incrust any thing with Stone but I have seen a Skull brought from thence to Sydney Colledge in Cambridge which was candied over with Stone within and without yet so as the bone remained entire in the middle as by a breach made therein did appear this Skull was sent for by K. Charles whil'st I was there to satisfy his own Curiosity and by him safely returned again to the Colledge The River Nen runs by the Southside of Peterburrough in the middle whereof is a gulf so deep and cold withal that even in Summer no Swimmer is able to dive to the bottom thereof yet it is never frozen in Winter for there is a Spring in it whence the water always riseth and bubleth up and that keeps it from freezing Robert Braybrook born at a Village in Northamptonshire was consecrated Bishop of London in the 4th of Richard 2. 1381. he was after Chancellor of England he died 1404. and was buried under a Marble Stone in the Chappel of St. Mary in the Cathedral of St. Paul London yet was the body of this Bishop lately taken up and found firm as to skin hair joints nails c. for upon that fierce and fatal Fire in London 1666. which turned so much of St. Pauls into rubbish when part of the floor fell into St Faiths this dead Person was shaken out of his Tomb where he had lain and slept so unchanged as you have heard no less than 262 years His body was for a great while exposed to the view of all Persons many coming daily to see this strange Curiosity Elizabeth Daughter of Sir Richard Noodvil was born at Grafton in this County she was Widdow to Sir John Gray who lost his life for the House of Lancaster and petitioned K. Edward 4. to take off the sequestration from her jointure Beauty is a good Solliciter where youth is to be the Judge the King fell inamoured of her and became a Suitor to her for a nights lodging and being importunate with her therein she modestly told him That as she did account her self too mean to be his Wife so she thought her self too worthy to be his Harlot The King finding he could not prevail by wanton love resolves to marry her though much to the discontent of his Council and likewise of his Mother who among other reasons alledged
suspence what to do yet at last her fear prevailing she delivered Secretary Davison Letters under her Hand and Seal to get a Commission under the great Seal ready drawn upon occasion who telling her it was ready and the Seal put to it she was very angry rebuking him sharply for his hastiness yet Davison though charged with secrecy imparteth the matter to some Privy Counsellors and persuade them that the Queen commanded the Commission should be put in Execution Hereupon Beal Clerk of the Council is sent down with Letters without the Queens knowledge wherein the Earl of Shrewsbury and others are ordered to see her put to death according to Law The Battell of Bosworth with the Miserable Death of Crookbackt Richard Pa. 129. The County of Northampton is divided into 20 Hundreds wherein are 13 Market Towns 326 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Peterborough It elects 9 Parliament Men and gives the Title of Earl to James L. Compton NOTTINGHAMSHIRE hath Yorkshire on the North Lincolnshire on the East Leicestershire on the South and Derbyshire on the West It abounds in Liquorice Fish Fowl Corn Coals Water and Grass Nottingham the principal Town which giveth name to this Shire is seated on the side of an Hill it is pleasantly fighted having on the one hand fair and large Meadows by the Rivers side and on the other Hills with a gentle and easie ascent It is large and well built standing on a stately climbing Hill and for a spacious and fair Market-place compares with the best Many strange Vaults hewed out of the Rock are seen in this Town whereof those under the Castle are of special Note one for the story of Christs passion engraven on the Walls by David a K. of Scots while he was Prisoner there another wherein the L. Mortimer was surprised in the minority of K. Edward 3. still called Mortimer's Hole these have stairs and rooms artificially made out of the Rocks Also in that Hill are Dwelling-Houses with winding Stairs Windows Chimneys upper and lower Rooms all wrought out of the hard Rock The Castle was strong and kept by the Danes against the Mercians and West Saxons who jointly beseiged it and for the further strengthening of this Town K. Edward the elder walled it about whereof some parts yet remain from the Castle to the West-gate and thence the foundation may be perceived to the North where in the midst of the way ranging with the Bank stands a Gate of Stone Its Circuit contained about 2220 paces In the Wars between K. Stephen and Maud the Empress these Walls were thrown down by Robert Earl of Glocester and the Town also suffered much by Fire but recovering its former estate it hath ever since encreased in Beauty and Wealth Robbin Hood if not by birth yet by his chiefest abode was this Countryman Camden saith he was the gentlest Thief that ever was This Gallant accompanied with little John and 100 stout Fellows more molested all Passengers on the highway of whom our Poet gives this Character From wealthy Abbots Chests and Churls abundant store What oftentimes he took he shar'd amongst the poor No Lordly Bishop came in lusty Robbin's way But that before he went his pass to him must pay The Widdow in distress he graciously reliev'd And remedi'd the wrongs of many a Virgin griev'd But I cannot tell who made him a Judge or gave him Commission to take where it might best be spar'd and give where it most wanted His Principal residence was in Sherwood Forrest in this County though he had another haunt near the Sea in the North-riding in Yorkshire where Robbin Hood's Bay still retaineth his name not that he was a Pyrate but a Land-Thief and retired to these unsuspected Parts for security One may wonder he escaped the hands of Justice dying in his Bed for ought we find to the contrary for the King setting forth a Proclamation to have him apprehended it happened he fell sick at a certain Nunnery in Yorkshire called Birkleys and desiring there to be let Blood was betrayed and made bleed to death It is said that he was of Noble Blood at least made Noble no less than an Earl for some deserving services but having wasted his Estate in riotous courses meer penury forced him to take this course in which he was rather a merry than mischievous Thief and may be said to be honestly dishonest complementing Passengers out of their Purses and never murdered any thing but Deer and this popular Robber generally feasted the Neighbours with his Venison he seldom hurt any man never any Woman spared the poor and made prey only of the rich He played his pranks in the Reign of Richard 1. about 1195. We must not forget that two Ayrs of Lannards were lately found in Sherwood Forrest these Hawks are the natives of Saxony and it seems being old and past flying at the Game were let or did let themselves loose where meeting with Lanarets enlarged on the same Terms the did breed together and proved as excellent in their kind when as managed as any which were brought out of Germany In the last Year of Q. Mary 1568. such a marvellous Tempest of Thunder happened within a Mile of Nottingham that it beat down all the Houses and Churches in two Towns thereabout cast the Bells to the outside of the Church-Yards and some Webs of Lead writhen as if it had been Leather were thrown 400 Foot into the Field The River of Trent runs between the 2 Towns the water whereof with the mud at the bottom was carried a quarter of a Mile and cast against Trees with the violence whereof Trees were pulled up by the roots and cast 12 score off also a Child was taken out of a Mans Hand and then let fall 200 Foot off of which fall it died five or six men thereabout were slain and neither flesh nor skin perished also there fell some Hail-stones that were 15 Inches about Upon Jul. 6. 1662. several Persons being in a field near Nottingham in Thundring Weather saw a Wind-Mill at some distance from them which seemed to be all in a flame insomuch that the spectators thought it had been burnt and consumed but when they came near it they found that it was not in the least prejudiced by the Fire only one Rake head was burnt in the Mill. This County is divided into 8 Hundreds wherein are 9 Market Towns 168 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of York It elects 8 Parliament men and gives the Title of Earl to Charles L. Howard NORTHUMBERLAND hath Durham on the South Cumberland on the South-West the Germane Ocean on the East and Scotland on the North and East the soil is not very fruitful it chiefly abounds in Fish Fowl and Sea-coal This County was formerly reckoned a Kingdom and several Kings reigned therein among whom we read of Ethelburg who in the year 617. was King thereof and married his Daughter to one Edwin a Pagan this Edwin
his coming all Owen Glendours Army forsook him so that lurking in the Woods for fear of being taken he was there miserably famished Many of his Associates were taken and put to death and thus in the fourth year of his Reign all the great troubles of this K. Henry ended The Groaning Tree in Lincolnshire Pa. 137. The Lady riding naked through Coventry Pa. 207. From head to heel his Body had all over A quickset thickset natural hairy cover Change of Air Diet or the trouble of many Visitants are thought to hasten his end He died Nov. 15. 1634. and was buried in the Abby Church Shropshire is divided into 15 Hundreds wherein are 15 Market Towns 170 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Hereford and Litchfield it elects 12 Parliament Men and Shrewsbury gives the Title of Earl to Charles L. Talbot the 12 of that Family SOMERSETSHIRE hath the Severn Sea on the North Glocester on the North-East Wiltshire on the East Devonshire on the West and Dorsetshire on the South It abounds in Cattle Chease Lead and Corn of which it is so very fruitful that the Inhabitants tell you several single Acres of Land in this shire will serve a good round Family with Bread for the Year as affording a Bushel of Wheat for every week therein which is not easily to be parallel'd in other places This Country is famous for three Cities Bath Wells and Bristoll the first takes its name from the hot Baths which some call The Waters of the Sun It is recorded that Bladud the Son of Lud King of the Brittains in the year of the world 3100 built this City and conveyed the admirable virtues into these Waters by Magick Art and that he was so much addicted to Necromancy as he wrought Wonders thereby insomuch that he made himself Wings and attempted to fly like Dedalus but the Devil ever a deceiver forsook him in his Journey so that he fell down and broke his Neck This City is seated in a plain invironed round about with Hills almost of one height out of which certain Rills of fresh water flow continually to the great benefit of the Citizens within the City there bubble or boyl up in three several places hot springs of Water of a Sea-coal colour sending up from them thin vapours and a kind of strong scent withal by reason it is strained through veins of Brimstone and a clammy kind of Earth called Bitumen These Springs are very Medicinal and of great virtue to cure Bodies overcharged and benummed with corrupt Humors by their heat causing much sweat They are much frequented by Persons of all Qualities and almost for all diseases of aâ—l these the Cross Bath is of a most mild and temperate Nature having 12 seats of Stone in the sides of it and is inclosed within a wall The second distant about 200 paces is much hotter whence called the Hot Bath adjoyning to which is the Spittle or Lazar House for the relief of poor diseased Persons The third and greatest is called the Kings Bath walled also round about with 32 Seats of Arched Work therein This City is fortified with Walls wherein are set Antique Images and Roman Inscriptions and hath in it a fair large Cathedral Church The City of Wells so called from the Springs or Wells that boil up there hath a very beautiful Cathedral near which there is a Spring called St. Andrews Well from whence comes such a confluence of Water that it soon makes a swift brook The Church is throughout very beautiful but the Frontispiece of the West end is very excellent for it riseth up from the foot to the top all of Imagery carved in Srone of a curious and antique fashion very artificially embowed Bristow hath the River Avon passing through it and was incompassed with a double wall it is beautiful with Buildings publick and private and hath common Sewers or Sinks made to run under ground for the conveyance of all filthiness There are within the City and Suburbs 26 fair Churches whereof 18 are Parish Churches There is no Dunghill in all the City nor Sink all being conveyed under ground they carry all upon fleds without Carts the water at the Key sometimes ebbs and flows 40 foot in height This City is Populous Rich and well Inhabited and next to London and York may justly challenge the Superiority having a very commodious Haven which admits Ships under Sail into the very bosom thereof In this County K. Arthur was buried for being murdered by Mordred at Cambula near Tintagel Castle in Cornwall as is aforementioned he was carried from thence to Glastenbury in Somersetshire and was there buried in 542. and 600 years after was found and taken up on this occasion King Henry 2. in the last year of his Reign being at Pembroke chanced to hear certain Songs in praise of the worthy Acts of King Arthur sung by a Welch Bard or Poet to his Harp wherein it is mentioned that he was buried in Glastenbury Church-yard between two Pillars there standing whereupon King Henry caused the ground to be digged and at seven foot deep was found a huge broad Stone whereon was fastened a leaden Cross on the lower side of the Lead in rude and barbarous Characters was written Hic jacet c. Here lies King Arthur buried in the Vale of Avelona And digging nine foot deeper his Body was found in the Trunk of a Tree the bones very large and in his skull were perceived ten wounds one very great and plain His Queen Guenever a Lady of excellent beauty lay by him whose Hair curiously plaited and of a golden colour shewed perfect and whole till touched but then it fell to ashes The Cross of Lead with the Inscription was taken off and kept in Glastenbury Church and the bones of King Arthur were put into a fair Tomb of Marble and his Queen laid at his feet in the same Church but were all raced at the general suppression of Abbies by Henry 8th In the 22. of Queen Elizabeth 1580. a strange Apparition happened in Somersetshire 60 Parsonages all clothed in black a furlongs distance from those that beheld them who continued some time and then vanished and immediately another strange company in like manner number and colour appeared in the same place and encountred each other and then vanished and the 3d time appeared that number again all in bright Armour and encountred one another and so vanished away This was examined before Sir George Norton and swore by four honest men that saw it to be true In Her 38th year Dec. 5 being Sunday a great number of People being Assembled in the Cathedral Church of Wells in Somersetshire in the fore-noon during Sermon a sudden darkness fell among them and a great Tempest with Thunder and Lightning followed which threw the People on the ground and all the Church seemed to be in a flame and there was a lothsome stink some Stones were stricken out of the Bell Tower and the
wires and Iron of the Clock melted the Tempest being over and the people recovering their senses some of them were found marked with strange Figures on their Bodies and their Garments not perished neither were any marked who stood in the Chancel In January 1648. there was seen a great fiery Meteor in the Air near Bristol on the South side of the City for divers nights together long in shape and shooting out fiery streams East and West this happened saith Mr. Clark a week before the death of K. Charles 1. and I had it from an Eye witness In August 1655. a Carpenter living at Pennard in this County went to a Fair at Lidford not many miles off to set up some Stalls and left his Wife and four small Children at home but at his return he found all his four Children murthered the eldest being about nine years old and put into a Chest it was supposed to be done by his Wife the Childrens own Mother because she was not to be found Wockey hole in Mendip Hills near two miles from Wells is very remarkable It is an underground concavity admirable for its spacious Vaults stony Walls and creeping Labyrinths I have been at but never in this wonderful Cave saith Dr. Fuller and therefore must use the description of a Learned Eye-witness Entring and passing through a great part of it with many Lights among many other strange Rarities worth observing we found saith he the water which continually dropped from the roof of the Rock made some impression in it but was not turned into Stone as appeared by the shape colour and hardness thereof it being of a more clear and glassy substance than the Rock itself though doubtless in time it will turn to the same substance and thereby the Rocks will be increased John Courcy Baron of Stoke-Courcy in this County was the first Englishman who subdued Vlster in Ireland and therefore deservedly created Earl thereof He was afterward surprized by Hugh Lacy Corrival for his Title sent over into England and imprisoned by King John in the Tower after this a French Castle being in controversy was to have the Title thereof tryed by Combate the Kings of England and France beholding it Courcy who was of a lean lank body with staring Eyes is sent for out of the Tower to undertake the Frenchman and because weakned by Imprisonment a large allowance of Victuals is given him to recruit his strength The Monsieur who was to fight with him hearing how much he eat and drank and guessing at his courage by his stomach took him for a Canibal who would devour him and was therefore afraid to encounter him Afterward the two Kings being desirous to see some proofs of Courcies strength caused a steel Helmet to be laid on a block before him Courcy looking about him with a stern and grim Countenance as if he intended to cut it with his Eyes as well as with his Arms cut the Helmet in two pieces at one blow striking his Sword so deep into the wood also that none but himself could pull it out again Being demanded the cause why he looked so sternly he replied Had I failed of my purpose I would have killed the two Kings and all the rest in the place words well spoken because well taken saith Dr. Fuller all Persons present being then highly in good humor He died in France 1210. The County of Somerset is divided into 42 Hundreds wherein are 30 Market Towns 385 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Bath and Wells It elects 18 Parliament men and gives the Title of Duke to Charles L. Seymour Bath the Title of Earl to John L. Greenville and Bristol to John L. Digby STAFFORDSHIRE hath Cheshire on the North Darbyshire on the East Warwick and Worcester shires on the South and Shropshire on the West The Commodities of this County consist chiefly in Corn Cattle Alabaster Wood Iron Pitcoal and Fish whereof the River Trent is very full Stafford Town was built by King Edward the Elder incorporated by King John Litchfield is far greater of much more fame it is a very ancient City known to Reverend Bede by the name of Lichidfield that is The Field of dead Bodies by reason of the number of Christians there Martyred in the bloody Persecution of Dioclesian The City is low seated of a good largeness and Fair withal divided into two parts by a shallow Pool of clear water which are joined by two Bridges made over them having sluces to let out the water the South part is the greater consisting of divers Streets having in it a School and an Hospital of St. John founded for the relief of the Poor The farther part is the less but beautified with a goodly Cathedral Church which is incompassed with a very fair Wall like a Castle this Church mounteth up on high with three Pyramids or Spires of Stone making an excellent shew and for elegant and proportionable building yieldeth to few Cathedrals in England but by the late confusions it was much defaced In the 35th of Queen Elizabeth 1591. there was a great Tempest in Staffordshire whereby the shaft of the Steeple in Stafford Town was rent in pieces all along through the middle and thrown upon the Church wherewith the roof was so shattered that a 1000 pound would not repair it Many Houses and Barns were overthrown in divers places in that Shire In Cauck Wood above 3000 Trees were blown down and likewise more than 50 Steeples soon after there was a strong North-wind and a very great rain which continued 24 hours In 1662. July 30. between two and three a clock in the afternoon there happened a great storm at Eardly in this County accompanied with Thunder which made such a continual strange noise in the Air that it struck a terror into all that heard it of which there was no intermission for a long time also there fell a shower of Hailstones as big as Hens Eggs some 5 6 and 7 Inches about I my self saith the Relator measured one after the Storm was over and a good part of it melted yet then it was five inches about There was a Gentleman who measured some of them by a good big Watch and they were full as big as it within half a mile of this place the Hailstones lay upon the ground a quarter of a yard thick there was a Man getting in a Load of Hay and his Horses as well as all others would not be ruled but ran about as mad which forced the man to continue in the storm and his back shoulders and arms were black and blew with the Hail it did much hurt to the Barley and struck it out of the Ear as if threshed it beat down other Corn as it stood on the ground all to pieces it also killed abundance of Fowl Sheep and Lambs some of the Hailstones tasted Salt like Sal Prunella and were kept long after without being at all wasted The people were very much amazed and
the Learned about the generation of these Geese some holding that they were bred of the leaves of the Barnacle Tree falling into the Wayters others that they are bred of moist rotten wood lying in the Waters but it is since found that they come of an Egg and are hatched like all other Geese There is a water in this Country called Merton Lake part of whose Waters are frozen in Winter and part not In the Lake of Lennox being 24 miles in compass the Fish are generally without Finns and yet there is great abundance of them It is said that when there is no wind stirring the waters of this Lake are so Tempestuous that no Marener dares venture on it They write also of a deaf stone 12 foot high and 33 foot thick of this rare quality that a Musket shot off the one side cannot be heard by a man standing on the other these wonders are reported by Hector Boetius and if not true let him bear the blame Near Falkirk remain the ruines and marks of a Town swallowed up by an Earthquake and the void place is filled with water saith Lithgow The Lough Lâ—mond turneth sticks into stones in which are several Islands and one of them which is full of Grass Rushes and Reeds swims about the Lake near a place called Dysert in Fife by the Sea side is a Heath where there is great plenty of earthly Bitumen In the Country of Argile at this day saith Cambden are Kine and red Deer ranging wild upon the Hills Between the Coast of Cathness and Orkney is a dreadful Frith or Gulf in the North end of which by reason of the meeting of 9 contrary Tides or Currents is a Male stream or great Whirlpool which whirleth continually about and if any Ship Boat or Bark come within the reach thereof they must quickly throw over something into it as a Barrel a piece of Timber or the like or else the Vessel will inevitably be swallowed up which the Cathness and Orkney Mareners know very well and observe it as a constant custom to redeem themselves that way from danger Toward the North of Scotland saith Speed there be Mountains all of Alabaster and some all of Marble At the mouth of the River Frâ—th in the main Sea is a very high Rock out of whose top a spring of water runs abundantly The Snow lies all the year upon the Hills in Ross A large piece of Amber saith Cambden as big as a Horse was found not long since upon the Coast of Buquan in which County they say Rats are never seen and if any be brought thither they will not live It is credibly reported saith Ortelius that there is a Stone found in Argile which if covered a while with Straw or Flax it will set it on fire The Snow lies all the year long upon the Hills in Ross It is recorded that Sergius K. of Scots was so addicted to Harlots that he neglected his own Wife and drove her to such poverty that she was forced to wait upon another Noblewoman for her living whereupon watching her opportunity she slew her Husband in Bed and her self after The Castle of Edenburgh was built by Cruthenus King of the Picts and called Maiden Castle because the Daughters of the Pictish Kings were there kept working with their Needles till they were married Ethus King of Scots was almost as swift in running as a Stag or Greyhound and therefore called Wing-footed but utterly unfit for Government being cowardly and a slave to Pleasure In the time when the Barbarous and bloody Danes raged in England they came to Coldingham a Nunnery on the hither part of Scotland where Ebba the Prioress with the rest of the Nuns cut off their own Noses and Lips chusing rather to preserve their Virginities from the Danes than their beauty or favour whereupon these cruel Heathens burnt their Monastery and all of them therein Malcolm King of Scots was a very magnificent and couragious Prince in 1067. of which he gave proof in the beginning of his Reign for being informed of a Conspiracy against his life he dissembled the knowing of it till being abroad one day a hunting he took one of the chief Conspirators aside challenged him as a Traitor adding Here now is a fit place to do that manfully which you intended to perform by Treachery now if you have any valour kill me honourably and none being present you can incur no danger With this Speech of the King the man was so daunted that he fell at his Feet confessed his fault asked forgiveness and proved ever after Faithful and Loyal This King repealed that barbarous Statute of K. Eugenius 3 by the persuasion of his Virtuous Lady Margret Sister to K. Edward Atheling which ordained That when a man was married his Lord should lye with his Bride the first night He allowing it to be redeemed with half a Mark of Silver which sum is to this day put into the Leases which the Lords make to their Vassals this King besieging Aldwich Castle an English Knight unarmed only with a light Spear in his hand on the end of which he carried the Keys of the Castle came riding into the Camp where being brought to the King and bowing his Spear as though he intended to present him with the Keys ran him into the left Eye and left him for dead and by the swiftness of his Horse escaped hence some say came the great Family of the Pierceys His Queen hearing of her Husband and Sons death beseeched the Almighty that she might not survive them and had her desire dying within a days after In 1137. Kentigern was Bishop of Glasgow a man of rare Piety and exceeding bountiful to the poor It is recorded that an Honourable Lady having lost a Ring which her Husband gave her as she crossed the River Clayd her Husband grow Jealous as if she had bestowed it on one of her Lovers upon which she went to Kentigern intreating his help for the safety of her honour who after he had used his Devotionâ— went to the River and spoke to one who was fishing to bring him the first Fish he caught which he doing the Ring was found in the Fishes Mouth and the Bishop sent it to the Lady who was thereby freed of her Husbands Jealousy This good Bishop saith A. B. Spotswood lived till he was 185 years old In 1550. The Persecution waxing hot in Scotland against the Protestants many Prodigious signs were observed saith A. B. Spotswood a Comet like a fiery broom or besom flamed the whole months of November December and January great Rivers in the midst of Winter were dryed up and in Summer swelled so high that divers Villages were therewith drowned and numbers of Cattle feeding in the low grounds were carried into the Sea Whales of an huge bigness were cast up in divers parts of the River Forth Hailstones as big as Pigeons Eggs fell in many places which destroyed abundance of Corn And which was
Stone to be seen at this day for the horrid crimes of the Inhabitants also the wonderful discovery of several Murders c. 6. Admirable Deliverances from imminent Dangers and Deplorable Distresses at Sea and Land Lastly Divine Goodness to Penitents with the Dying Thoughts of several famous Men concerning a future state after this life as St. Austin The Emp. Charles 5. Philip 3. K. of Spain Prince Henry The E. of Northampton Galleacius H. Grotius Salmasius Sir F. Walsingham Sir P. Sydney Sir H. Wotton A. B. Vsher E. of Rochester L. Ch. Justice Hales and others Faithfully Collected from Ancient and Modern Authors of undoubted Authority and Credit and imbellished with divers Pictures of several remarkable passages therein Price One Shilling II. HIstorical Remarques and Observations of the Antient and Present State of London and Westminster shewing the Foundation Walls Gates Towers Bridges Churches Rivers Wards Halls Companies Government Courts Hospitals Schools Inns of Court Charters Franchises and Priviledges thereof with an Account of the most Remarkable Accidents as to Wars Fires Plagues and other occurrences for above 900 years past in and about these Cities and among other particulars the Poisoning of K. John by a Monk The Resolution of K. Henry 3. utterly to destroy and consume the City of London with Fire for joyning with the Barons against him and his seizing their Charters Liberties and Customs into his hands The Rebellion of Wat Tyler who was slain by the Lord Mayor in Smithfield and the Speech of Jack Straw at his Execution the deposing of K. Rich. 2. and his mournful Speech at his resigning the Crown with the manner of his being Murdered The D. of York's coming into the Parliament and claiming the Crown in K. Henry 6. time The Murder of K. Henry 6. and likewise of Edw. 5 and his Brother by Rich. 3. call Crook-back The Execution of Empson and Dudley the Insurrection in London in K. Henry 8. time and how 411 Men and Women went through the City in their Shifts and Ropes about their necks to Westm Hall where they were pardoned by the King The Speeches of Q. Ann Bullen the Lord Protector and Q. Jane Gray at their several Deaths upon Tower hill With several other Remarques in all the Kings and Queens Reigns to this Year 1681. And a description of the manner of the Tryal of the late L. Stafford in West Hall Illustrated with Pictures of the most considerable matters curiously Ingraven on Copper Plates with the Arms of the 65 Companies of London and the time of their Incorporating by Rich. Burton Author of the History of the Wars of England c. Price One Shilling III. The Wars in England Scotland and Ireland Or AN Impartial Account of all the Battels Sieges and other remarkable Transactions Revolutions and Accidents which have happened from the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First in 1625. to His Majesties happy Restauration 1660. And among other particulars The Debates and Proceedings in the Four First Parliaments of King Charles the First with their Dissolutions The Siege of Rochel The Petition of Right The Murther of the D. of Buckingham by Felton The Tumults at Edinbrough in Scotland upon Reading the Common-Prayer The Et caetera Oath The Cursed Plots and Designs of the Jesuits and other Papists for imbroiling these Three Kingdoms The Insurrection of the Apprentices and Seamen and their Assaulting of Archbishop Lauds House at Lambeth Remarks on the Tryal of the E. of Stafford and his last Speech The horrid and Bloody Rebellion of the Papists in Ireland and their Murthering above Two Hundred Thousand Protestants in 1641. The Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom with the King's Answer thereunto The Proceedings about the Five Impeached Members An Account of the Parliament at Oxford January 22. 1643. with their proceedings and Dissolution An Abstract of the Fights between the King and Parliament The Death of A. B. Laud Mr. Chaloner and Tomkins Sir John Hetham Sir Alexander Carew Duke Hamilton Earl of Holland Lord Capel and others The Illegal Tryal of King Charles the First at large with his last Speech at his Suffering Jan. 30. 1648. Together with the most considerable matters which happened till the Year 1660 Illustrated with Pictures of several Remarkable Accidents curiously engraven on Coper Plates Price One Shilling 〈◊〉 FINIS
and likewisâ— King Charles the Martyr In the Reign of K. Henry 8. 1544. Anthony Persons a Priest Robert Testwood a Singing man of the Quire and Henry Filmer Churchwarden of Windsor who had Articled against their Superstitious Vicar were all three burnt together at Windsor for the Protestant Profession when Persons was fastned to the Stake he laid a great deal of Straw on the top of his head saying This is Gods Hat I am now armed like a Souldier of Christ Robert Testwood was condemned for dissuading the People from Pilgrimages for walking in Windsor Chappel he saw multitudes of Pilgrims that came flocking out of Devonshire and Cornwall with Candles and Images to offer at the Shrine of King Henry of Windsor Testwoods Spirit was much moved to see this Idolatry and thereupon he mildly exhorted them to leave that false Worship performed to dumb Images and to learn to Worship the living God aright shewing them how God plagued his own People the Jews for going a Whoring after such stocks and Stones and would certainly plague them and their posterities if they did not reform This so much prevail'd upon some that they said They would never go on Pilgrimage again Testwood going farther saw another Company licking and kissing a white Lady of Alabaster that stood behind the high Altar rubbing their hands upon it and then stroking their heads and faces therewith which so provoked him that with a Key he had in his Hand he struck off a piece of the Images Nose saying See good People this is nothing but a piece of Earth that cannot help itself how then is it like to help you When these three were burning King Hen. 8. came by the place on Horseback and having an account of their Christian and patient death the King turning his Horses â—ead said Alas poor Innocents a better speech it had â—een from a private Person than a Prince who is bound â—y his Office not only to pity but protect oppressed â—nnocence however by this occasion other persecuted People were pardoned and preserved There is a Proverb in this County that the Vicar of Bray will be Vicar of Bray still Bray is a Village well known in this Shire and the Ancient Vicar thereof living under K. Henry 8. K. Edward the 6. Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth was at first a Papist then a Protestant then â— Papist then a Protestant again he had seen some Martyrs burnt two miles off at Windsor and found this Fire too hot for his tender temper this Vicar being â—axed by one for being a Turncoat and an unconstant Changeling No said he that 's your mistake for I always kept my Principle which is this to live and die the Vicar of Bray and no doubt there are some still of the same saving Principles who though they cannot turn the wind will turn their Mills and set them so that wherever it bloweth their Grist will certainly be grinded In the Reign of K. Will. Rufus 1100. at Finchamsted in this County a Well boyled up with streams of blood and continued so 15 days together and the waters discoloured all others where they came and great flames of fire were seen in divers places at several times In the year 1348 there was a very great Plague all over Europe and then was Wallingford being a bigger and more considerable Town than now it is almost dispeopled with it In 1237. Ottoâ—on a Cardinal came as Legate from the Pope to K. Henry 3. and lying at Osney Abby there happened a difference between his Servants the Schollars at Oxford in which contention a Brother of his was slain and the Legate for fear got him into a Steeple till the Kings Officers coming from Abingdon conveyed him to Wallingford after which the Cardinal cursed and interdicted the Schollars and University so that the Colledges grew desolate and the Students were dispersed into other places for half a yearâ— time till the Monks and Masters of the University were forced to go bare-footed and bare-headed a great way to the Legates Lodgings and there upon their humble submission and great Mens intercession they were pardoned and absolved and the University restored to its former Estate such was the pride of the Superior and the base-spirit edness of the Inferiour Clergy in these days of Popery and Slavery In the time of Hen. 6. 1431. certain lewd Persons began an Insurrection at Abington which might have occasioned much mischief if the chief Author thereof one Mundevile a Weaver had not been taken and hanged In the year 1647. Several freakish and enthusiastick Women at Newbery in this County pretended to Divine Revelations and Dreams wherein very glorious things were discovered to them and the chief of them had such strange gestures and Fits as astonished the Spectators this Woman declared she had a Revelation that such a night she should be taken up into Heaven at which time many of her deluded Followers assembled together and took their solemn leave of her with Tears and the hour being come out they all go to see her ascension it was a Moonshine night and as they expected when an Angel should fetch her up in a Chariot a Cloud covers the Moon whereupon they all cry out Bebold he comes in the Clouds but the Cloud soon vanished and thereby their hopes were frustrated after a while comes a flock of Wild-Geese a great way off upon which they again cry out He comes he comes but when the Wild-Geese were gone they were fain at length to return home again as wise as they came having made themselves ridiculous to the Spectators Reading is the chief Town in this Shire It is divided into 20 Hundreds wherein there are 12 Market Towns 140 Parishes and out of it are Elected 9 Parliament Men that is for the County 2 New-Windsor 2 Reading 2 Wallingford 2 Abington 1. Eaton is adjoining to Windsor by a wooden Bridge over the Thames wherein there is a fair Colledge of that name and a famous School of good Learning founded and built by K. Henry 6 in which besides the Provost 8 Fellows and the singing Choristers there are 60 Schollars instructed in Grammar and in due time preferred to the University of Cambridge this County is in the Diocess of Salisbury and gives the Title of Earl to the Right Honourable Thomas L. Howard BEDFORDSHIRE hath Northamptonshire on the North Huntington and Cambridgeshire on the East Hartfordshire on the South and Buckinghamshire on the West thereof in the year 1399. just before the Wars broke out between the Houses of Lancaster and York on New-years-day the deep River which runs between Suelstone and Harwood two Villages not far from Bedford Town called Cuse suddenly stood still and divided itself so that by the space of three miles the bottom remained dry and backwards the waters swel'd up to a great height which wonder many judicious Persons thought did presage the division of the People falling away from the King and a while after
is in the Diocess of London and out of it are elected 8 Parliament Men For the County 2. Westminster 2. London 4. and gives the Title of Earl to Charles L. Sackvil who is also Earl of Dorset NORFOLK hath the German Ocean on the North and East thereof Suffolk severed by the River Waveny on the South Cambridgshire parted by the River Owse and part of Lincolnshire on the West it is 50 miles East and West and 30 North and South all England saith Dr. Fuller may be carved out of Norfolk represented therein not only to the kind but the degree thereof for here are Fens and Heaths and Light and Deep and Sand and Clay-ground and Meadows and Pastures and Arable and Woody and sometimes Woodless grounds so that herein is sufficiency of profit and pleasure collectively in this County it abounds in Corn Worsteds Stuffs Wool Coals and Rabbets who are an Army of Natural Pioneers whence men have learned the Art of undermining they thrive best in barren ground and gow fattest in the hardest Frosts their flesh is fine and wholsome if the Scottish men tax our language as improper and smile at our Wing of a Rabbet let us laugh at their Shoulder of a Capon great store of Herrings and very good are caught nigh Yarmouth and vast profit raised out of them We may conclude the natural Commodities of this County with this memorable passage of a modern Author who writes thus the Lord F. W. assured me of a Gentleman in Norfolk who made above Ten Thousand pound of a piece of ground not 40 yards square and yet there was neither Mineral nor Mettal in it he after told me it was a sort of fine Clay for the making of a choice sort of Earthen Ware which some that knew it seeing him dig up discovered the value of it and sending it into Holland received so much mony for it It is recorded that one chief occasion of the Danes invading this Kingdom proceeded from the following Accident About the year 867. one Lothbrook a Nobleman of the Royal Family of Denmark being upon that Shoar his Hawk in pursuing her Game fell into the Sea he to recover her got into a small Cockboat alone and by a sudden Tempest was driven with his Hawk to the Coast of Norfolk near Rodham where being seized for a Spy he was sent to Edmund K. of the East Angles but having declared his birth and misfortune the King took affection to him for his skill in Hawking and his other good parts and preferred him but Berick the Kings Falconer envying this favour as they were hunting together in a Wood privately murdered him and hid him in a Bush Lothbrook was soon missed and by no inquiry could be found till it pleased God his Dog which would not forsake his dead Masters Corps came fawning to the King several times and then went back to the wood which the King observing at length followed the Hound who brought him to the place where Lothbrook lay and Berick being found guilty of the murder was sentenced to be put into Lothbrooks Boat without Tackle or Sail as he arrived here but behold the Event the Boat returned to the same place in Denmark from whence it had been driven for Berick as it were to be punished for this Murther here the Boat being known Berick was taken who to free himself from that bloody Fact added Treason to Murther affirming That King Edmund had put Lothbrook to death in Norfolk In revenge whereof Inguar and Hubba the 2 Sons of the murdered Lothbrook being made Generals of a Danish Army arrived in England and burnt up the Country sparing neither Sex nor Age and breaking into Norfolk sent this Message to K. Edmund That Inguar the most victorious Prince dreadful both by Sea and Land having brought divers Countries under his subjection was now arrived in these parts where he meant to winter and requireth thee Edmund to be subject and a vassal to him to yield up to him thy hid Treasures and all other the riches of thine Ancestors and so to reign under him which if thou refusest to do he adjudges thee unworthy both of life and Kingdom Edmund hearing this proud Pagan Message after advising with his Council returned this answer Go said he and tell thy Lord that Edmund the Christian King for the love of a Temporal life will not submit himself to a Pagan Duke unless he will resolve to become a Christian whereupon Inguar and Hubba with their furious Danes pursued the King to Thetford who raising an Army gave them Battle but being overpowered by his Enemies he retired to Framingham Castle where pitying the terrible slaughter of his People he submitted himself to the Danes but because he would not renounce the Christian Religion these bloody Heathens beat him with sticks and whipt him with rods but he still fervently calling upon the name of Jesus they were so inraged that binding him to a stake they with their Arrows shot him to death and cutting off his head scornfully threw it into an hedg But his body was afterward honourably buried at St. Edmundsbury from whence that Town had its name At Walsingham in this County there was a Chappel built in the year 1601. dedicated to the Virgin Mary and renowned throughout England for a Pilgrimage to our Lady of Walsingham and those who did not visit and present her with offerings were counted irreligious hear the description of Erasmus an Eye-witness concerning this place About four miles from the Sea side saith he standeth a Town that lives on nothing else almost but the resort of Pilgrims to this place there is a Colledge of Regular Canons which hath scarce any other Revenues than from the liberality of this Virgin for the greater oblations are preserved but the Mony and other Offerings of smaller value go to the maintenance of the Fryers the Church is fair and neat yet the Virgin dwells not therein that honour forsooth she hath done to her Son she hath her Church to her self in the right hand of her Son neither doth she dwell there for all this for the building is not yet finished small light there was in it but by Tapers or Wax-Candles yielding a pleasant smell and when you come into it you would say it were an heavenly habitation indeed so bright shining all over it with precious Stones and Gold and Silver This Chappel with all the Trinkets therein fell in the general destruction of Popish Monasteries by K. Henry 8. At St. Bennet in the Holm there was a great Abby built by Canutus the Dane which was afterward so fortified by the Monks with Walls and Bulwarks that it seemed rather a Castle than a Cloyster insomuch that K. William the Conqueror could not win it by assault till a Monk betrayed it into his hands upon condition he himself should be made Abbot thereof which was done accordingly but the King presently hanged up this new Abbot for a Traitor and so
he was justly punished for his Treachery K. Stephen had only one Son named Eustace a Prince of much blossoming valour as being cut off at 18 years of Age some say by drowning and others by a stranger Accident but strange Relations must not alwaies be rejected for though many of them be forged yet some no doubt are true and who knows but it may be of this kind which some writers relate of this Prince That being at the Abby of Bury in the Diocess of Norwich and denyed some money he demanded he presently in a rage went forth and set the Cornfields belonging to the Abby on fire but afterward sitting down to Dinner at the first morsel of bread he put into his mouth he fell into a fit of madness and in that fit dyed certainly the Persons of Princes are for more observation than ordinary People and as they make Examples so they are sometimes made Examples In the 11th of K. Hen. 2. there was so great an Earthquake in Norfolk and some other Counties that it overthrew many who stood upon their feet and made the Bells towl in the Steeples In his 18th Year the Cathedral Church at Norwich with the Houses thereto belonging was burnt and the Monks dispersed In the Reign of K. Richard 1. a Jew being turned Christian at Lynn in Norfolk he was persecuted by those of his own Nation and assaulted in the street who thereupon flying to a Church hard by was followed thither also and the Church assaulted which the People of the Town seeing in defence of the new Christian they fell upon the Jews of whom they slew a great number and after pillaged their Houses By this Example the Jews were assaulted in other places and vast multitudes of them massacred and some of them being blocked up in a Castle at York cut the Throats of their Wives and Children and cast them over the Walls on the Christians Heads and then burnt the Castle and themselves neither could this Sedition be stayed till the King sent his Chancellour the Bishop of Ely with force of Arms to punish the offenders In the 5th of Hen 5. a great part of the City of Norwich was burnt and all the Houses of the Friers Preachers where two of the Friers themselves were burnt in the flames In the 2d of Edward 6. 1549 a dangerous Rebellion broke forth in Norfolk about Grievances for Inclosures The Rebels had got one Ket a Tanner to be their Leader who with others encouraged them to pull down Inclosures and in short time they grew to a Body of 20000 so that the Sheriff of Norfolk commanding them in the Kings name to depart or else he would proclaim them Traitors he had been certainly slain had not his Horse been too swift for them they furnished themselves with Arms and Artillery and for their better security they fortified themselves upon Monshold hill near St. Leonards hill by Norwich where they carried a face as it were of Justice and Religion for they had one Convers an Idle Fellow for their Chaplain who morning and evening read solemn Prayers to them also Sermons they had often and as for Justice they ordained a Seat of Judgment in an old Tree whose Canopy was the Cope of Heaven in this Tree sate the Tanner as Chancellour and chief Judge giving out Warrants in the Kings name and as his Deputy committed many Persons of Quality to Prison he was assisted by two chosen men of every hundred among them from whom Commissions were sent to bring in to them Powder Shot Victuals and all things necessary and here such as had exceeded their Commission were ordered to be imprisoned so that this Tree was called The Oak of Reformation whence likewise some Sermons were delivered to the People and once by the Reverend Dr. Parker which had like to have cost him his Life and now beginning to grow to a height they presented certain Complaints to the King requiring he would send an Herald to give them satisfaction the King though he took it for a great Indignity to have such base Fellows capitulate with him yet framing himself to the time he returned this answer That in October following he would call a Parliament wherein their Complaints should he heard and all their Grievances redressed requiring theâ— in the mean time to lay down their Arms and return to their houses and thereupon granting them a general pardon But this was so far from satisfying the Seditious that thereupon they first assaulted the City of Norwich took it and made the Mayor attend them as their servant and then returned again to their Station at Moushold Soon after the Marquess of Northampton the L. Sheffeild with several other Lords 1500 Horse and a small Band of Italians were sent against them whom the Seditious so stoutly opposed that much mischief was done on both sides the L. Sheffeild falling with his Horse into a Ditch was taken Prisoner and as he pulled off his Helmet to make himself known he was struck down dead by a Butcher so that the Marquess with his Forces not prevailing the Earl of Warwick was sent with 6000 Foot and 1500 Horse and many other Persons of Quality When the Earl approached the Camp of the Rebels he sent a Herald offering them the Kings Pardon if they would disband which they were so far from accepting that a lewd Boy turned up his naked Breech toward the Herald and bid him kiss it upon this many skirmishes passed between the Earl and them with loss sometimes of one side and sometimes of another at last they came to a Battle where the Rebels placed in the Front all the Gentlemen they had taken Prisoners designing they should first be slain of whom yet very few were hurt but of the Rebels above 2000 were killed and now once again the Earl of Warwick offered them pardon but for all their losses they continued obstinate at last the Earl sent to know if they would entertain their Pardon if he should come in Person and assure them of it this moved them much and they answered That they knew him to be so honourable that from himself they would embrace it whereupon he went to them and causing their Pardon to be read again he confirmed it by his words so effectually that they all cast away their Arms and with one voice cried God save K. Edward The day following Robert Ket the Tanner and Arch-Rebel was taken and hanged in Chains upon the Castle of Norwich and William Ket the younger was hanged upon the high Steeple of Wimondham and 9 of the other principal Rebels were hanged upon the Oak of Reformation and thus ended the Sedition in Norfolk the day of the defeat of the Rebels being a long time after observed as a Festival by the Citizens of Norwich with no less joy than the Jews did when they escaped the sword of wicked Haman In 1578. the 20 of Q. Elizabeth Matthew Hamond of Hitherset 3 miles from Norwich Plow-Wright for