their memory may die for want of an epitaph: fo I would with fuch as wrong good poets, no worfe punifhment, then to have fome vile verfe written of him, whofe reading (as Martial faith) might make a man's phyfick work the better with him; fuch as for the most part those lazie friers were wont to write; for my part, though Wickham's epitaph be but feven or eight lines, and this elegie (I think) about twenty times feven lines, yet I must confeffe, it were leffe tedious to me at this prefent to read the seven score, then the feven. And hereby your highneffe may obferve how vaine that foolish tradition is which my author difcreetly omitted, as not beleeving that fome will still maintain that Wickham was unlearned, and only a furveyer of buildings, and by a kinde of fraud deceived King Edward 3. (no likely prince to be fo deceived) begging the parfonage of Eaftmeane, to which by like autho rity they will have the bithoprick of Winchefter annexed as unfeparably as the earledom of Arundle to Arundle-Castle, for who could think that such a King as Edw. 3. would make Sir John Laclattin, firft his fecretary, then privie-feale, then master of the wards, and treasurer of France, and laftly prelate of the garter, and chancellor of England, and fo much of the firft Wickham. Of STEPHEN GARDINER, Because I will not be alwayes prayfing, but fometimes when just cause is given, reprehend mens' demerits, as well as magnifie their merits, I will take occafion to fpeake fomewhat of Stephen Gardiner, twice bishop of Winchefter; and therefore may challenge to be twice remembered, though for fome things of him that were to be wifht they were ever forgotten, my author directs this reader to Mr. Foxes booke of Martyrs, for a more full relation of his doings; but that is so full (though I affure my felfe it is very faithfull) that I doubt your highneffe will find it over tedious to read; my purpose is therefore but to note fome important obfervations out of this ftory, and after, as I did of Wickham in Latin, so to adde fame English poetrie written of him, and to him, which is not to be found in Mr. Fox, though fome of it helps to confirme fomething concerning him, affirmed by Mr. Fox, and called in queftion by others. Mr. Fox therefore first greatly prayseth his naturall gifts of minde, his tharpe wit, his excellent memory, which is indeed the ftore-house of all learning and knowledge, for tantum fcimus quantum meminimus. But to these (faith he) he had great vices, as pride, envie, and cruelty, flattering to his prince, fubmiffe to his fuperiours, envious to his equals (namely to Cromwell) and haughty to his inferiours, thefe or the like are Mr. Foxes words. It feemes further in relation of his life and death, he was a Catholick-Proteftant, or a protesting Catholick, for as he fhowes at large out of his books and fermons, though he received the Pope's authority in Queen Marie's time; yet his opinion was as his writings before declared, and as the wifer fort I thinke, do ftill hold of it, that it is but a temporall conftitution of men, and agreement of princes, to allow the fame, which upon juft occafions they may reftraine or exclude, as they fhall find caufe; but yet I obferve this, that although it was neceffary for Queen Mary, in refpect of her birth to admit of the Pope's authority, as the contrary was as neceffary for her fifter, yet this fo Catholicke Queen, and this fo popifh prelate could keep out the Pope's legat out of England by her royall prerogative when he would have fent a legat hither not to her liking; again, he was earneft against marriage of minifters, yet he confeffeth frankly, that a married man may be a minifter: He de fended fended the reall prefence, yet he allowed the communion under both kinds; he writ in defence of images, yet he publickly approved their pulling down when they were fuperftitiously abused. Finally, he faid at his death, that that would marre all, to teach the people, that they are freely juftified by the blood of Christ, and yet even then, when hee could not diffemble, he confeffed it to be true doctrine, Loe how farre this ftout prelate, cedere nefcius (as Mr. Fox faith of him) did yeeld in those many points of popery. 1. Supremacy. 2. The marriage of fome ministers. 3. The Sacrament in both kinds. 4. Removing images. 5. Juftification. But now for his fharp perfecuting, or rather revenging himselfe on Cranmer and Ridley, that had in King Edward's daies deprived him, his too great cruelty cannot be excused. Laftly, the plots he laid to entrap the Lady Elizabeth, his terrible hard ufage of all her followers, I cannot yet scarce think of with charity, nor write of with patience. My father, onely for carrying a letter to the Lady Elizabeth, and profeffing to with her well, he kept in the Tower twelve moneths, and made him fpend a thousand pounds ere he could be free of that trouble. My mother, that then ferved the faid Lady Elizabeth, he caufed to be fequeftered from her as an heretick, infomuch that her own father durft not take her into his house, but she was glad to fojourne with one Mr. Topcliff; fo as I may fay, in fome fort, this bishop perfecuted me before I was born. Yet, that I fpeak not all in paffion, I muft confeffe I have heard some as partially praife his clemency and good confcience, and namely, that he was caufe of reftoring many honourable houfes, overthrown by King Henry the eighth, and in King Edward's minority. The Duke of Norfolke (though Mr. Fox faith, that Gardiner made him ftay long for his dinner one day) yet both he, and those defcended of him were beholding to him: with the house of Stanhops, and the Lord Arundell of Warder; and I have heard old Sir Matthew Arundell fay, that Bonner was more faulty than he, and that Gardiner would rate at him for it, and call him affe for using poor men fo bloodily; and when I would maintain the contrary, he would say, that my father was worthy to have lain in prifon a yeer longer, for the faucy fonnet he wrote to him from out of the Tower. But to thew a pattern, what partiality can paint in his praife, an elegy was written, in English, by one Mr. Prideaux, in commendation, and the fame was answered in execration of the bishop. Which of thefe wrote trueft I will not take upon me to judge, left I fhould be thought partiall; but that faying appeares true: Scribit in marmore lafus. Therefore I will conclude against all partiall poets, with two verfes of Horace : Falfus honor juvat et mendax infamia terret Doctor JOHN WHITE. He was born of a worshipfull house, and in the diocess of Winchester, and became after warden of Winchester, thence for his great learning, and vertuous life, prefer'd to the bishoprick of Lincoln, and after upon the death of Stephen Gardiner, made bishop of Winchefter; wherefore of him may fay, his fame did well anfwer his name, and fo would all men fay (how contrary foever to him in religion) but for one black fermon that he made; yet for the colour it may be faid he kept decorum, because that I was was a funerall fermon of a great queen both by birth and marriage, I mean Queen Mary. But the offence taken against him was this. His text was out of Ecclef. 4. 2. Laudavi mortuos magis quam viventes, & fœliciorem utroq; judicavi qui nec dum natus eft. And fpeaking of Queen Mary her high parentage, her bountifull difpofition, her great gravity, her rare devotion, (praying fo much as he affirmed that her knees were hard with kneeling) her justice and clemency in reftoring noble houfes, to her own private loffe and hindrance. And laftly her grievous yet patient death: he fell into fuch an unfaigned weeping, that for a long space he could not fpeak, Then recovering himself, he faid fhe had left a fifter to fucceed her, a lady of great worth alfo, whom they were now bound to obey; for faith he melior eft Canis vivens Leone mortuo, and I hope fo fhall raign well and profperouily over us, but I must say still with my text Laudavi mortuos magis quam viventes; for certain that is, Maria optimam partem elegit: thus he, at which Queen Elizabeth taking juft indignation, put him in prifon, yet would proceed no further than to his deprivation, though fome would have made that a more haynous matter. He was a man of auftere life, and much more mortified to the world, than his predeceffor Gardiner, who was noted for ambitious, but yet to his prince very obsequious. But if Doctor White had had a true propheticall fpirit, he might have urged the fecond part of his text, Sed faliciorem utroque judicavi qui nec dum natus eft; for that may feem verified indeed in the king's majesty that now is, who was then unborn, and hath fince fo happily united these kingdoms; yet least that which I would make in him a prophecy, others will take in me for flattery; I will proceed to the next, or rather I fhould fay to another, for of the two next I need add nothing, my author having teftified by both their epitaphs, that they lived and died well. Doctor THOMAS COOPER. I intend therefore to speak next of Dr. Cooper, because of Bishop Herne, and Bishop Watfon, I cannot add any thing upon fure ground, for of the former times, I have either books of stories, or relation of my father's that lived in those dayes; but of these that lived in the first twenty yeeres of the queen's raign when I was at fchool, or at the university, I could hear little, yet at my first coming to the court, I heard this pretty tale, that a bishop of Winchefter one day in pleafant talk, comparing his revenue with the arch-bishop's of Canterbury, fhould fay, your graces will fhowe better in the rack, but mine will be found more in the manger, upon which a courtier of good place faid, it might be fo in diebus illis; but faith he, the rack ftands fo high in fight, that it is fit to keep it full, but that may be, fince that time, fome have with a provideatur fwept fome provender out of the manger and because this metaphor comes from the ftable, I fufpect it was meant by the Mr. of the horfe. To come then to Bifhop Cooper, of him I can fay much, and I should do him great wrong, if I should fay nothing; for he was indeed a reverent man, very well learned, exceeding induftrious, and which was in those days counted a great praise to him, and a chief cause of his preferment, he wrote that great dictionary that yet bears his name; his life in Oxford was very commendable, and in fome fort faint-like; for if it be faint-like to live unreprovable, to bear a croís patiently, to forgive great injuries freely: this man's example is fampleless in this age. He married a wife in Oxford, for that fpeciall juft caufe (I had almost faid faid onely caufe) why clergymen should marry, viz. for avoiding of fin. Melius eft enim nubere quam uri, yet was that his very hard hap that the proved too light for his gravity by many grains, or rather many pounds. At the firft he winkt at that with a focraticall and philofophicall patience, taking, or rather miftaking the equivocating counfel of Erafmus Ecchoe. Quid fi mihi veniat ufu quod his qui incidunt in uxores parum pudicas parumq; frugiferas? Feras. Atqui cum talibus morte durior eft vita? vita; wherein I obferve in the two ecchos, how in the firft Ferus fignifies either the verb, fuffer, or that nown, wild beafts, or fhrews. In the latter, vita fignifieth the nown life, or the verb fhun or efchew: fo he (good man) conftrued Feras, Vita, fuffer during life, and I fhould take that vita Feras fhun fhrews. But this Fera whom his Feras made Feram, committed wickedness even with greedinefs, more than was in power of flesh and blood to bear: wherewith being much afflicted, having warned his brother privately, and born with him perhaps 70 times feven times. In the end taking him both in place and fashion (not fit to be named) that would have angred a faint, he drave him thence (not much unlike) as Tobias drove away the spirit Afmodeus, for that was done with a rofte, and this with a fpit. It was high time now to follow the counfel, Dic Ecclefiæ, fo (as all Oxford knows) her paramor was bound from her in a bond of one hundred pound, but they thould rather have been bolts of an hundred pound. The whole univerfity in reverence of the man and indignity of the matter, offered him to feparate his wife from him by publique authority, and fo fet him free, being the innocent party. But he would by no means agree thereto, alledging he knew his own infirmity, that he might not live unmarried; and to divorce and marry againe, he would not charge his confcience with fo great a scandall. After he was bishop, mad Martin, or Marprelate wrote his booke or rather libell, which fome (playing with Martin at his own weapon) anfwered pleasantly both in rhyme and profe, as perhaps your highneffe hath feen, or I wish you fhould fee, for they are thort and fharpe. But this bishop with authority and gravity confuted him foundly; whereupon Martin Madcap, (for I think his cap and head had like proportion of wit) replying, and anabaptized his bastard book by the name of Work for the Cooper; and had not the wisdome of the state prevented him, I think he and his favourers would have made work for the tinker. And fo much of Bishop Cooper, though I could adde a report, that a great lord dying in his time bequeathed him a great legacy, but because I have not feen his last teftament, I cannot precisely affirm it. WILLIAM WICKHAM. This bifhop my authour profeffeth to reverence for his name's fake, and his predeceffor's fake; and I much more for his own fake, and his vertues fake. About the yeere 1570, he was vice-provoft of Eaton, and as the manner was, in the school-master's abfence would teach the schoole himself, and direct the boyes for their exercises (of which my self was one) of whom he fhewed as fatherly a care, as if he had been a fecond tutor to me. He was reputed there a very milde and good natured man, and efteemed a very good preacher, and free from that which St. Paul calleth idolatry, I mean covetoufneffe; fo that one may fay probably, that as the firft William Wickham was one of the richest prelates that had been in Winchester a long a long time, and beftowed it well; fo this was one of the póoréft, and endured it well, He preached before the queen at a parliament, I think the last time that ever he preached before her; and indeed it was cygned vor, fweeteft, being neereft his end, which if I could fet down as he delivered, were well worth the remembering. But the effect was this, that the temporalities of bishopricks, and lands of colledges, and fuch like, were from the beginning for the most part the graces, gifts, and almes of princes, her majefties progenitors, that for fome exceffes and abuses of fome of them, they had been and lawfully might be fome quite taken away, fome altered, fome diminished; and that accordingly they were now reduced to a good mediocrity; for though there were fome farré greater bishopricks in France, Spaine, and Germany, yet there were fome alfo leffe and meaner even in Italy. But yet he most humbly befought her majefty to make ftay of them at leaft in this mediocrity; for if they fhould decay fo faft in thirty yeeres to come, as they had in thirty yeeres paft, there would hardly be a cathedrall church found in good repaire within England; which inconvenience (he faid) would foon fpread from the clergy to the temporality, that would have caufe with Hippocrates twins to laugh and weep together. This, as he spake zealoufly, fo the queen gave eare to it graciously, and fome good effect was fuppofed to follow it, for which they both now feel their reward; and thus much of Wickham. WILLIAM DAY. It was faid that a pleasant courtier and fervitor of King Henry the Eighth, to whom the king had promised fome good turn, came and prayed the king to bestow a living on him, that he had found out, worth 1001. by the yeere more then enough; why, faith the king, we have none fuch in England; yes fir, faid his man, the Provoftship of Eton; for (said he) he is allowed his diet, his lodging, his horse-meat, his fervants wages, his riding charge, his apparell, even to the points of his hofe, at the colledge charge; and 1001. per annum befides. How true this is, I know not, but this I know, that Mr. Day having both this and the deanry of Windfor, was perfwaded to leave them both, to fucceed him (that had been once his vice-provoft of Eaton) in the church of Winchester. He was a man of a good nature, affable and courteous, and at his table, and in other converfation pleafant, yet always fufficiently containing his gravity. When he was firft deane of Windfor, there was a finging man in the quire, one Woolner, a pleafant fellow, but famous for his eating rather then his finging; and for the fwallow of his throat, then for the fweetneffe of his note. Mafter Deane fent a man to him to reprove him for not finging with his fellows; the meffenger thought all were worshipful at least that did then weare white furplices; and told him Mr. Deane would pray his worship to fing; thank Mr. Deane (quoth Woolner) and tell him, I am as merry as they that fing; which anfwer, though it would have offended fome man, yet hearing him to be fuch as I have defcribed, he was foon pacified. He brake his leg with a fall from his horfe, that started under him; whereupon fome waggith schollers, of which my self was in the quorum, would fay it was a juft punishment, because the horse was given him by a gentleman to place his fonne in Eaton, which at that time was thought had been a kind of facriledge, but I may alfo fay, Cum eram parvulus fapiebam ut parvulus. He had in thofe daies a good and familiar fashion of preaching, not mincing the word, as fome doe, with three words to feed 3000 people, that |