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
to lose his Life for Christ's sake At the stake he kneeled down and read the 51st Psalm then the Sheriff said to him Here is a Letter from the Queen if thou wilt recant thou shalt live otherwise thou shalt be burnt No quoth William I will never recant and so he was fastened to the stake He then said Good People pray for me while you see me alive adding Son of God shine upon me and the Sun immediately shone out of a thick Cloud so full in his face that he was forced to turn his head aside fire being kindled he lift up his Hand to Heaven saying Lord Lord receive my Spirit and so ended his Life in the Flames John Lawrence was burnt at Colchester whose Legs being lame with Irons and his Body weak with cruel usage he was carried to the Stake in a Chair and burnt therein at his burning many young Children being about the fire cried out to him Lord strengthen thy servant and keep thy Promise which was lookt on as a product of Divine Providence who out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings hath ordained strength Thomas Hawks Gentleman was first brought into trouble for refusing to baptise his Child after the Popish fashion This man going to the stake promised his Friends to give them some solemn Token of the clearness and comfort of his Conscience in performance whereof whilst his Body was burning he raised up himself and though having the sense yet having no fear of the Fire joyfully clapped his hands over his head to the Admiration of all the Beholders There was an Idol called the Rood of Dover-Court in this County to which multitudes of People went in Pilgrimage Divers zealous Protestants at Dedham being much troubled to see the Almighty so dishonoured by wicked Idolatry went from thence in a Frosty Moonshine Night 10 Miles to the place where the Idol was where they found the Church Doors open the Popish Clergy boasting the power of this Rood was such that no man could shut the doors of the Church where it stood These Persons taking the Image from the place where it stood carried it a quarter of a Mile off and there burnt it to ashes for which three of them were by the bloody Papists hanged in Chains In 1605. a great Porpus was taken at Westham in a little Creek alive a Mile and half within the Land and within a few days after a Whale came up the Thames whose lenght was seen divers times above Water and judged to exceed the largest Ship in the River but when she tasted the Fresh-Water and scented the Land she returned into the Sea This County contains 20 Hundreds 21 Market Towns and 415 Parish Churches It is in the Diocess of London and elects 8 Parliament men for the County 2. Colchester 2. Harwich 2. Malden 2. and gives the Title of Earl to Arthur L. Capel GLOCESTERSHIRE hath Worcester and Warwickshire on the North Oxford and Wiltshire on the East Somersetshire on the South Herefordshire with the River Wye on the West the River Severn runs through it and Malmsbury the old Historian thus describes it The ground of this Shire throughout saith he yieldeth plenty of Corn and bringeth forth abundance of Fruits the one only through the natural goodness of the ground the other by diligent manuring and tillage insomuch that it would provoke the most lazy Person to take pains Here you may see the High ways and common Lanes full of Apple-trees and Peer-trees not ingrafted by the industry of Mans hand but growing naturally of their own accord the ground itself is so inclined to bear fruit and those both in taste and beauty far exceeding others and will endure till a new supply come There is not any County in England so thick set with Vineyards as this is so plentiful of increase and so pleasant in taste the very Wines made thereof have no ill taste and are little inferiour to the French the Houses are innumerable the Churches very fair and the Towns standing very thick but that which addeth a greater glory to it is the River Severn than which there is not any in the Kingdom exceeds it for breadth of Channel swiftness of stream or for Fish better stored There is in it a daily rage and fury of the Waters which I know not whether to call a Gulf or Whirlpool of Waves raising up Sands from the bottom winding and driving them upon heaps and sometimes overflowing its banks roveth a great way on the bordering grounds and then returneth again into its usual Channel unhappy is the Vessel which it taketh full upon the side but the Watermen being aware of it when they see it coming turn their Vessels and cut through the midst of it and thereby avoid the danger Thus far he This encounter of the salt and fresh water as is supposed here mentioned is called in this Country the Higre and by some the Eagre for the keenness and fierceness thereof which is such that it is equally terrible with the flashings and noise to those that see and hear it much more to them who feel it of which there can be no reason rendered since the Thames where we find the same cause hath no such disturbance Hear how the Poets describe this Higre Vntil they be imbraced In Severns Soveraign Arms with whose tumultuous Waves Shut up in narrower bounds the Higre wildly raves And frights the stragling Flocks the Neighbouring shores o flie Afar as from the Main it comes with hideous cry And on the angry front the curled foam doth bring The Billows ' gainst the Banks when fiercely it doth fling Throws up the slimy Ouze and makes the scaly brood Leap madding to the Land affrighted from the flood O'returns the toyling Barge whose Steersman doth not launch And thrusts the furrowing beak into her dreadful paunch We read that in the 2. of King Richard 3. at that time when the Duke of Buckingham intended to pass with his Army over the Severn there was so great an Inundation of Water that men were drowned in their Beds Houses were overturned Children were carried about the Fields swimming in their Cradles and Beasts drowned even upon the Hills which rage of the Waters continued for the space of 10 days and is called to this day in those parts The Great Water In the 17 of Q. Elizabeth Feb. 24. being a hard frost after a flood which was not great there came down the River of Severn such a swarm of Flies and Beetles that they were judged to be above an 100 Quarters the Mills thereabout were dammed up with them for the space of 4 days and then were cleansed by digging them out with Shovels In 1607. a mighty West-wind which continued 16 hours brought the Sea into the Severn after a great rain and at a spring Tyde with such violence that the River began to overflow its banks from as far as the Mount in Cornwall along on both sides up into Somersetshire and
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
are to be delivered de Ira Dei from the Wrath of God and understanding the name of one of the Youths was Alle They ought saies he to sing Allelujah to the living God upon this Gregory was mighty desirous to come hither to convert these Heathens but could not at that time yet after Pelagius his death being chosen Bishop of Rome and remembring his former intentions he sent Austin with about 40 more Preachers to undertake this work This Nation enjoys a soil equally participating of ground fit for Tillage or Pasture most of her other Plenties and Ornaments are expressed in this old verse following Anglia Mens Pons Fons Ecclesia Foemina Lana For Mountains Bridges Rivers Churches fair Women and Wool England is past compare For the Mountains here and there lift up their lofty heads and give a gallant prospect to the lower grounds all of them having Mines in their Bowels or else are clothed with Sheep or adorned with Woods the Bridges are in number 857 the chief whereof are Rochester Bridge over Medway Bristol Bridge over Avon and London Bridge over the Thames the Rivers are 325 the Principal being the Thames of which a German Poet thus truly spake Tot CÃ mpos Sylvas tot Regia tecta tot Hortos c. We saw so many Woods and Princely Bowers Sweet Fields brave Pallaces and stately Towers So many Gardens drest with curious care That Thames with Royal Tyber may compare The Churches before the General Suppression of Abbles were most exquisite The Women are generally handsomer than in other places sufficiently endowed with natural Beauties without the Adulteration of Art In an absolute Woman say the Italians are required the parts of a Dutch Woman from the Girdle downward of a French Woman from the Girdle to the Shoulders over which must be placed an English Face as their Beauties so likewise their Prerogatives are the greatest of any Nation neither so servilly submissive as the French nor so jealously guarded as the Italian but keeping so true a decorum that as England is termed the Purgatory of Servants and the Hell of Horses so it is acknowledged the Paradise of Women And it is a common by-word among the Italians That if there were a Bridge built over the narrow Seas all the Women of Europe would run into England For here they have the upper hand in the Streets the upper place at the Table the Thirds of their Husbands Estates and their equal share in all Lands which are Priviledges wherewith other Women are not acquainted they were of high esteem in former times amongst Forreign Nations for the modesty and gravity of their Conversations but the Women of these times are so much addicted to the light Garb of the French that they have lost much of their honour and reputation among sober Persons abroad who before admired them The Wool of England is of exceeding fineness of which are made excellent broad cloaths dispersed over all the World to the great benefit of England as well in return of so much Mony which is made of them as in setting to work so many poor People who from it receive sustenance Having thus briefly gone through the Method of the old Verse it is time now we should look upon the Men and they are commonly of a comely Feature and a gracious Countenance for the most part grey Eyed pleasant beautiful bountiful courteous and much resembling the Italians in Habit and Pronunciation In matters of War they are both able to endure and ready to undertake the hardest Enterprises and for their Courage are deservedly renowned throughout the World K. Edw. 3. and his Son did carry their victorious Arms through all France K. Hen. 6. was crowned King at Paris The D. of Bedford was Regent of France and being slain in a Battle was buried in Roan whose Monument when Charles 8. K. of France came to see a Nobleman standing by advised him to raze it Nay answered he let him rest in peace now being dead of whom in War whilest he lived all France stood in fear Marshal Biron said He liked not the English March being beaten by the Drum because it was so slow Sir Roger Williams a gallant Souldier answered him That as slow as it was yet it had gone through all France Our Wooden Walls the Ships are a great security to this Nation the English having been generally accounted the strongest in the World What service did our Ships do us in 88. Sir Francis Drake and after him Thomas Cavendish Esq within the space of Three Years and Three Months travelled about the Globe of the whole Earth Sir Richard Greenvill in a Ship of Q. Elizabeths fought against a great Navy of the Spaniards and his single Vessel was fought within turns by 15 other great Ships whereof the great St. Philip of 1500 Tuns Prince of the 12 Sea Apostles was one yet this valiant Knight sunk Two of their best Ships and killed a Thousand Men He is called by the Spaniards still Don Richard of the Greenfield and they fright their Children with him Our Nation without Vanity may assume to itself the Praise considering its narrow Limits to have produced as many Schollars admirable in all degrees of knowledge as any Country on this side the Alps and received the Christian Faith as some say from St. Peter and Paul and Lucius was the first Christian King of any in Europe Among many other worthy Men Bishop Jewel Bishop Andrews Bishop Whitgift and Dr. John Reynolds are very famous of the last of whom the following account is very remarkable this Jo. Reynolds had a Brother named William who was at first bred up a Protestant of the Church of Eng. and John was trained up in Popery beyond the Seas William out of an honest zeal to reduce his Brother to this Church made a Journey to him where after a conference between them it so fell out that John being overcome by his Brothers Arguments returned into Eng. where he became a very strict and serious Protestant and William being convinced by the reasons of his Brother John staid beyond Sea where he proved a very rigid and violent Papist of which strange accident Dr. Alabaster who had tryed both Religions and among others had some notable whimsies made this ingenious Epigram Bella inter geminos plusquam Civilia fratres c. In point of Faith some undetermin'd jars Betwixt two Brothers kindled Civil Wars One for the Churches Reformation stood The other thought no Reformation good The points propos'd they traversed the Field With equal skill and both together yield As they desir'd his Brother each subdues Yet such their Fate that each his Faith did lose Both Captives none the Prisoners thence to guide The Victor flying to the vanquish't side Both joy'd in being Conquer'd strange to say And yet both mourn'd because both won the day The Government of England is Monarchical of a perfect and happy Constitution wherein the King hath his full Prerogative the
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
Emperor Augustus who Pliny says was but two foot and an hand-breadth high but whether he were at his full growth or proportionable he doth not tell us The County of Rutland is divided into five Hundreds wherein are 2 Market Towns 48 Parish Churches and is in the Diocess of Peterborough It elects only 2 Parliament Man for the County and gives the Title of Earl to John L. Mannours SHROPSHIRE hath Cheshire on the North Worcester Hereford and Radnorshires on the South Montgomery and Den bigh shires on the West It produceth Iron Pitcoal Barley Wheat Cattle Wood and Cloth The Shire Town is Shrewsbury which for Circuit Trade and Wealth doth surpass Ludâ—ow and is inferior to few of our Cities her buildings are fair her Streets many and large her Inhabitants rich her Trade chiefly in our Staple Commodities of Cloth and Freezes In the reign of King John 1197. Robert of Shrewsbury was Bishop of Bangor whom this King afterward in War with Leoline Prince of Wales took Prisoner in his own Cathedral Church and enjoyned him to pay 300 Hawks for his ransome which seemed not so proper that a man of Peace should be ransomed with Birds of Prey yet we read that in the Reign of K. Charles 1. a Nobleman was ransomed at the Isle of Rhee for a brace of Greyhounds neither may it be wondred how the Bishop procured them of a sudden since many were brought from Norway and he might also furnish himself out of Pembrokeshire This Bishop seemed somewhat humorous by a passage in his Will wherein he ordered his Body should be buried in the midst of the Market place of Shrewsbury which may be imputed either to his humility or his foresight that the fury of the Wars then between the English and Welch would fall fiercest on Churches as the fairest Market that men preferring their profit before their Piety would preserve their Market Places though their Churches were destroyed He died 1215. In 1402. K. Henry 4. was made sensible that a Crown can hardly sit easy upon the head if it be not set right on at first for now a new conspiracy was hatched against him the Piercies Earls of Northumberland and Worcester with Henry Hotspur began at this time to fall off from K. Henry because at their request he denied to redeem their Kinsman Mortimer from Glendours slavery that he denied them the benefit of such Prisoners as they had taken of the Scots at Hamilden whereupon they themselves procured Mortimers delivery and then entred into a League Offensive and Defensive with Glendour whereby they agreed to divide the Kingdom into three parts between them wherein Glendour persuaded them they should fulfill a Prophecy as though K. Henry were the Mouldwarp cursed of Gods own mouth and they were the Lyon the Dragon and the Wolf who should divide the Land among them all England from the Severn to Trent South and Eastward was to be the portion of the Earl of March all Wales and the Lands beyond Severn Westward to be Owen Glendours and all the remainder of the Land from the Trent Northward to be the L. Piercies â—n the mean time K. Henry not unacquainted with the Conspiracy published by Proclamation that Mortimer Carl of March had voluntarily caused himself to be taken Prisoner that the Rebels having him in their Custody might pretend some colour for their Conspiracy â—nd therefore he had little reason to take care for his â—eliverance Hereupon the Piercies assisted with a Company of Scots with the E. of Stafford Richard Scroop Archbishop of York and many others resolved to join with Glendour but first they framed certain Articles against the King and sent them to him in writing That King Henry had falsified his Oath given at his landing swearing that he came only to recover his Inheritance and would not meddle with the King or Crown That most Traitorously he had taken Arms against his Soveraign Lord King Richard 2. had Imprisoned him and then most barbarously caused him to be murdered and without any Title or Right had procured himself to be made and crowned King That ever since the Murder of King Richard he had unjustly kept the Kingdom and Crown from his Cousen Edmund Mortimer Earl of March to whom of night it belonged That when no want compelled him he had imposed divers subsidies and Taxes upon the People to their great grief of which they would willingly but durst not complain That no Justice could be expected from him since contrary to his Coronation Oath he had by Letters sent into divers Counties procured such Parliament Men to be chosen as upon occasion might serve his turn And lastly that whereas for Affinities sake he ought to have ransomed his Cosen the Earl of March from his strait and loathsome Imprisonment he not only denied it but falsely and untruly published that he became a voluntary Prisoner for all which and many other causes they utterly defied Henry as a Traytor and Vsurper and as an Enemy vowed his destruction and the restoring the said Earl to his Right K. Henry could not but know that all these Articles against him were true yet since this knowledge did not hinder him from seeking the Crown when he had it not it would less hinder him from seeking to keep it now he he had it and if he were able being a private man to get it from a King he was likely to be more able being now a King to keep it from private Men and as for any objections of Conscience he could answer them all by this That if his Title were good against King Richard by his resignation it was good against Mortimer by his swearing Allegiance and upon these grounds with a mind as confident as if all Circumstances were on his side he raised an Army and marched toward the Lords taking care they might by no means join with the Welch and in Battlefield near Shrewsbury he encountred them in which Fight though the Scots and Henry Hotspur shewed muâ—â— valour yet the Victory rested on the Kings side Hotspâ—â—r being slain the Earl of Worcester taken Prisoner with several others On the Kings part the L. Stafford who that day revolted to him and nine who were that morning Knighted were slain and 1600 common Soldiers but of the Conspirators above 6000 The King was once unhorsed by Dowgâ—â—ss who in his presence slew Sir Walter Blunt who was that day attired in all things like the King Dowglas being afterward taken Prisoner by the fall of his Horse was by the Kings Command for his valour set at liberty without ransom In this Battel the young Prince Henry though wounded in the face with an Arrow lost not his Courage but continued fighting still After this Victory the King caused publick thanks to be given and then ordered the Earl of Worcester to be beheaded and many others to be hanged drawn and quartered after which he sent Prince Henry into Wales with his whole Army but before