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SILAS VRldltTbliNNlNG 1 BEQUEST , UNIVERSITY o, MICHIGAN
I U CajJERAL LIBRARY J
A5
1X7.
.-275-
REPORT AND TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
DEVONSHIRE ASSOCIATION
FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE,
AND ART.
[TORQUAY, JULY, 1893.]
VOL XXV.
PLYMOUTH : WILLLA.M BRENDON AND SON.
1893.
AU riglUi rtaerved.
[ 2 ]
The Editor is requested by the Council to make it known to the Public, that the Committees and Authors alone are responsible for the facts and opinions contained in their respective Eeports and Papers.
It is hoped that Members will be so good as to send to the Editor, the Rev. W. Habplby, Clayhanc:er Eectory, Tiverton, not later than 16th January, 1894, a list of any errata they may have detected in the present volume.
[ 3 ]
CONTENTS.
List of Officers Places of Meeting, &c. Rules
Fsge 6
6
7
11
16
20,21
22
28
25
Bye-Laws and Standing Orders
Report
Balance Sheet
Property
Selected Minates of Council appointing Committees
President's Address
Obituary Notices — John Hill — Edward Parfitt — Frederic Sanders Pulling, M. A.— Edward Vivian, if. A. — William Adderly Barton Wren . . . ... 159
Seventeenth Report of the Committee on Scientific Memoranda. J.
Brooking Rowe, F.8.A., f.l.8. . . . . . 171
Thirteenth Report of the Committee on Devonshire Verbal Provincialisms.
F. T. Elworthy . . ... 181
Eleventh Report (Second Series) of the Committee on the Climate of
Devon. P. F. S. Amery . . ... 212
Fifth Report of the Committee on Devonshire Records. J. Brooking
Rowe, F.S.A., F.L.8., andR. W. Cotton ... 218
The Story of Torbay. Paul Q. Earkeek, m.b.o.8., ico.h. . . . 249
Side-Lights on the Early History of Torquay. R. N. Worth, f.o.8. . 261
The Climate of Torquay. Alfred Chandler, f.r.met.soc. . . . 271
Devonshire Dialect. W. F. Collier . . ... 276
The Devonshire Domesday. Sir Frederick Pollock . . . 286
On the Association's English Version of the Devonshire Domesday.
Sir John B. Phear, M.A., f.o.s. . . ... 299
\ The Identifications of the Domesday Manors of Devon. R. N. Worth,
r.O.S. . . . . ... ij\)v
Syon Abbey. Rev. J. S. Bums . . ... 343
The Marwood List of Briefs, 1714-1774. Rev. J. Ingle Dredge . . 356
Panchard of Heanton-Pnnchardon, County Devon. E. G. Punchard,
D.D., OzoN., Vicar of Christ Church, Luton, Bods. . . . 382
4 CONTENTS.
Page
Wills, the Australian Explorer. T. W. Windeatt . . . 389
Some Further Notes on Ezmonth Warren. J. M. Martin, O.K., etc. . 406
The Author of "The Worthies of Devon," and the Prince Family.
Winslow Jones . . ... 416
A Visitation of St Mary Church in A.D. 1301. The Right Rev.
Monsignor Brownlow, m.a. . . . . . 431
Richard Izacke, and his "Antiquities of Exeter." T. N. Brushfield, m.d. 448
John Tucker: Parish Clerk of Comworthy and Antiquary. Rev.
S. G. Harris, m.a. . . . ... 470
Place-Names in Volume I. of the Publications of the Dartmoor Preserva- tion Association. Robert Bumard and Arthur Prowse, m.d., f.r.c.8. 482
Some Remarks on the Bounds of the Forest of Dartmoor, with Special Reference to the Parishes of Throwleigh, Chagford, and Gidleigh. Rev. T. W. Whale, m.a. . . . . . 610
Arts and Crafts on Dartmoor in the Year when Queen Victoria was
Crowned. J. Phillips . . . ... 535
The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part II. R. N. Worth, F.o.s. . 541
Broadbury and its Ancient Earthworks. J. M. Martin, c.E., etc. . 547
A Few Sheaves of Devon Bibliography. The Fourth Sheaf. Rev.
John Ingle Dredge . . . ... 552
At Last John Phillips . . . ... 602
List of Members . . ... 605
PLATE
Page Old Exeter Conduit . . . ... 462
[ 5 ]
OFFICERS
1893-94. T. N. BRUSHFIELD, Esq., m.d.
His Worship the Mayor of Torquay, W. F. SPLATT, Esq.
E. APPLETON, Esq., ce. L. B. BOWRING, Esq., c.8.i. The Rt. Rev. Monsionor BROWN- LOW, M.A. Rev. E. p. GREGG, m.a. A. H. A. HAMILTON, Esq., j.p., c.c. SAMP30N HAN BURY, Esq., j.p. BRISCOE HOOPER, Esq. Sir EDMUND HORNBY, Kt.
A. R. HUNT, Esq., m.a.,f.o.s.,f.l.8. P. Q. KARKEEK, Esq., m.r.c.s..
President of the Torquay Natural
History Society. J. KITSON, Esq. R. MALLOCK, Esq., m.p. G. A. MUSGRAVE, Esq., f.r.o.8.,
F.Z.S.
T. VICCARS, Esq.
P. F. S. AMERY, Esq., Druid, AshburUm,
1l{on. iroral ZxtuAViXtx, SAMUEL JOHNSON, Esq., Torquay Bank.
fkon, J^rcntarp. Rev. W. HARPLEY, m.a., f.c.p.s., Clayhanger, Tiverton.
Ilton. irocal J^rnrrtarp. FREDE. S. HEX, Esq., 1, Lansdoume Villas, Torquay,
ACLAND, Bib H. W. D. ALDRIDGB, G. ALPORD, D. P. AMERT, J. S. AMBRY. P. F. 8. BLAGKLER, T. A. BROWNLOW. W. R. BRUSHFIELD, T. N. BURNARD, R. BURNS. J. 8. CHANDLER. A CHANTER. J. R. CHAPMAN, C. CLINTON, LORD. COLERIDGE, LORD. COLLIER, W. F. C0L80N, F. H. COTTON, R. W. COTTON, W. COWIE, B.
CUNNINGHAM, J. T. DREDGE, J. I.
Council.
ELWORTHY, F. T. GARSTANG, W. GREGORY, A. T.
H A TiTj X. M.
HAMILTON, A. H. A. HAMLING, J. G. HARPLEY, W. HARRIS, S. G. HINE, J. HOOPPELL, R. E. HUDLE8T0N, W. H. HUTCHIN80N, P. O. JONES, W. JORDAN, W. R. H. KARKEEK, P. Q. LAKE, W. C. LONDON, BISHOP OP MARTIN, J. M. PENGELLY, W. PHEAR, Sib J. B. PHILLIPS, J. PIDSLEY, W. E.
POLLOCK. Sir F. PR0W8E, A. B. PUNOHARD, E. G. RADFORD, D. RADFORD, Mrs. G. RANKILOK, H. M. • ROWE, J. B. SHELLY, J. SHIER, D. SPRAGUE, F. 8. STEBBING, T. R. R. TROUP. Mrs. TUCKER, R. C. VARWELL, P. WEYMOUTH, R. F. WHALE, T. W WINDEATT, E. WINDEATT, T. W. WOODHOUSB, H. B. 8. WORTH, R. H. WORTH. R. N. WRIGHT, W. H. K.
[ 6 ]
PLACES OF MEETING
OF
THE DEVONSHIRE ASSOCIATION,
Place of Meeting.
1862. ExSTEB
1863. Plymouth
1864. Torquay
1865. Tiverton
186a Tavistock
1867. Barnstaple
1868. HoNiTON
1869. Dartmouth
1870. Dbvonport
1871. BiDEPORD
1872. Exeter
1873. Sidmouth 187i. Teionmouth
1875. Torrinoton
1876. Ashburton
1877. KiNOSBRIDQB
1878. Paignton
1879. Ilvraoombe
1880. Totnbs
1881. Dawlish
1882. Grediton
1883. Exmouth
1884. Kbwton Abbot
1885. Seaton
1886. St. Martohurou
1887. Pltmpton
1888. Exeter
1889. Tavistock
•
1890. Barnstaple
1891. Tiverton
1892. Plymouth
1893. Torquay
President
Sir John Bowrmg, ll.!)., f.r.&
0. Spence Bate, Esq., f.r.s., f.ls.
E. Vivian, Esq., M.A.
0. G. B. Daubeny, m.d., ll.p., f.r.8., Pro
fessor of Botany, Oxford. Earl Russell, k.o., K.o.a, f.r.s., &c W. Pengelly, Esq., f.r.s., f.g.s. J. D. Coleridge, Esq., q.c., m.a., m.p. G. P. Bidder, Esq., c.e. J. A. Froude, Esq., m.a. Rev. Canon C. Kingsley, M.A., f.l.s., f.o.s. Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Exeter. Right Hon. S. Cave, m.a., m.p. Earl of Devon. R. J. King, Esq., m.a. Rev. Treasurer Hawker, m.a. Yen. Archdeacon Earle, m.a. Sir Samuel White Baker, m.a., f.r.s., F.R.a.s Sir R. P. Collier, m.a.
H. W. Dyke Acland, M.A., m.d., ll.d., f.b.s. Rev. Professor Chapman, m.a. J. Brooking Rowe, Esq., f.s.a., f.ls. Very Rev. C. Merivale, d.d., d.c.l. Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, m.a. R. P. Weymouth, Esq., M.A., d.ut. Sir J. B. Phear, m.a., F.a.8. Rev. W. H. Dallinger, ll.d., f.r.8., f.l.8., &c. Very Rev. Dean Cowie, d.d. W. H. Hudleston, Esq., m.a., f.r.s., f.q.s.
F.L.8., &c
Lord Clinton, m.a.
R. N. Worth, Esq., f.g.s.
A. H. A. Hamilton, m.a., j.p., o.c.
T. N. Brushfield, m.d.
[ 7 ]
RULES.
1. The Association shall be styled the Devonshire Association for the advancement of Science, Literature, and Art.
2. The objects of the Association are — To give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific enquiry in Devonshire ; and to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate Science, Literature, or Art, in different parts of the county.
3. The Association shall consist of Members, Honorary Members, and Corresponding Members.
4. Every candidate for membership, on being nominated by a member to whom he is personally known, shall be admitted by the General Secretary, subject to the confirmation of the General Meeting of the Members.
5. Persons of eminence in Literature, Science, or Art, connected with the West of England, but not resident in Devonshire, may, at a General Meeting of the Members, be elected Honorary Members of the Association; and persons not resident in the county, who feel an interest in the Association, may be elected Corresponding Members.
6. Every Member shall pay an Annual Contribution of Haif- a-guinea, or a Life Composition of Five Guineas.
7. Ladies only shall be admitted as Associates to an Annual Meeting, and shall pay the sum of Five Shillings each.
8. Every Member shall be entitled gratuitously to a lady's ticket.
9. The Association shall meet annually, at such a time in July and at such place as shall be decided on at the previous Annual Meeting.
10. A President, two or more Vice-Presidents, a General Treasurer, and one or more General Secretaries, shall be elected at each Annual Meeting.
8 RULES.
11. The President shall not be eligible for re-election.
12. Each Annual Meeting shall appoint a local Treasurer and Secretary, who, with power to add to their number any Members of the Association, shall be a local Committee to assist in making such local arrangements as may be desirable.
13. In the intervals of the Annual Meetings, the aifairs of the Association shall be managed by a Council, which shall consist exclusively of the following Members of the Association, excepting Honorary Members, and Corresponding Members :
(a) Those who fill, or have filled, or are elected to fill, the offices of President, General and Local Treasurers, General and Local Secre- taries, and Secretaries of Committees appointed by the Council
{b) Authors of papers which have been printed in exfenso in the Transactions of the Association.
14. The Council shall hold a Meeting at Exeter in the month of January or February in each year, on such day as the General Secretary shall appoint, for the due management of the affairs of the Association, and the performing the duties of their office.
15. The General Secretary, or any four members of the Council, may call extraordinary meetings of their body, to be held at Exeter, for any purpose re(j[uiring their present determination, by notice under his or their hand or hands, addressed to every other member of the Council, at least ten clear days previously, specifying the purpose for which such extraordinary meeting is convened. No matter not so specified, and not incident thereto, shall be determined at any extraordinary meeting.
16. The General Treasurer and Secretary shall enter on their respective offices at the meeting at which they are elected; but the President, Vice-Presidents, and Local Officers, not until the Annual Meeting next following.
17. With the exception of the Ex-Presidents only, every Councillor who has not attended any Meeting, or adjourned Meeting, of the Council during the period between the close of any Annual General Meeting of the Members and the close of the next but two such Annual General Meetings, shall have forfeited his place as a Councillor, but it shall be competent for him to recover it by a fresh qualification.
18. The Council shall have power to fill any Official vacancy which may occur in the intervals of the Annual Meetiugs.
19. The Annual Contributions shall be payable in advance, and shall be due in each year on the day of the Annual Meeting.
s
RULES. 9
20. The Treasurer shall receive all sums of money due to the Association ; he shall pay all accounts due by the Association after they shall have been examined and approved ; and he shall report to each meeting of the Council the balance he has in hand, and the names of such members as shall be in arrear, with the sums due respectively by each.
21. Whenever a Member shall have been three months in arrear in the payment of his Annual Contributions, the Treasurer shall apply to him for the same.
22. Whenever, at an Annual Meeting, a Member shall be two years in arrear in the payment of his Annual Contributions, the Council may, at its discretion, erase his name from the list of members.
23. The General Secretary shall, at least one mouth before each Annual Meeting, inform each member by circular of the place and date of the Meeting.
24. Members who do not, on or before the day of the Annual Meeting, give notice, in writing or personally, to the General Secretary of their intention to withdraw from the Association, shaU be r^arded as members for the ensuing year.
25. The Association shall, within three months after each Annual Meeting, publish its Transactions, including the Kules, a Financial Statement a List of the Members, the Eeport of the Council, the President's Address, and such Papers, in abstract or in extenso, read at the Annual Meeting, as shadl be decided by the Council
26. The Association shall have the right at its discretion of prmting in extenso in its Transactions all papers read at the Annual Meeting. The Copyright of a paper read before any meeting of the Association, and the illustrations of the same which have been provided at his expense, shall remain the property of the Author ; but he shall not be at liberty to print it, or allow it to be printed elsewhere, either in extenso or in abstract amounting to as much as one-half of the length of the paper, before the first of November next after the paper is read.
27. The Authors of papers printed in the Transactions shall, within seven days after tiie Transactions are published, receive twenty-five private copies free of expense, and shall be allowed to have any further number printed at their own expense. All arrangements as to such extra copies to be made by the Authors with the Printers to the Association.
VOL. XXV. B
10 KULES.
28. If proofs of papers to be published in the Transactions be sent to Authors for correction, and are retained by them beyond four days for each sheet of proof, to be reckoned from the day marked thereon by the printers, but not including the time needful for transmission by post, such proofs shall be assumed to require no further correction.
29. Should the extra charges for small type, and types other than those known as Eoman or Italic, and for the Authors correc- tions of the press, in any paper published in the Transactions, amoxmt to a greater sum than in the proportion of ten shillings per sheet, such excess shall be borne by the Author himself, and not by the Association ; and should any paper exceed four sheets, the cost beyond the cost of the four sheets shall be borne by the Author of the paper. *
30. Every Member shall, within three months after each Annual Meeting, receive gratuitously a copy of the Transactions.
31. The Accounts of the Association shall be audited annually, by Auditors appointed at each Annual Meeting, but who shall not be ex officio Members of the Council
[ H ]
BYE-LAWS AND STANDING ORDERS.
1. In the interests of the Association it is desirable that the President's Address in each year be printed previous to its delivery.
2. In the event of there being at an Annual Meeting more Papers than can be disposed of in one day, the reading of the residue shall be continued the day following.
3. The pagination of the Transactions shall be in Arabic numerals exclusively^ and carried on consecutively,, from the b^inning to the end of each volume; and the Transactions of each year shall form a distinct and separate volume.
4. The General Secretary shall bring to each Annual Meeting of the Members a report of the number of copies in stock of each ' Part ' of the Transactions, with the price per copy of each ' Part ' specified; and such report shall be printed in the Transactions next after the Treasurer's financial statement.
5. The Greneral Secretary ' shall prepare and bring to each Annual Meeting brief Obituary Notices of Membera deceased during the previous year, and such notices shall be printed in the Transactions.
6. An amount not less than 80 per cent of all Compositions received from existing Life-Members of the Association shall be applied in the purchase of National Stock, or such other security as the Council may deem equally satisfactory, in the names of three Trustees, to be elected by the Council
7. At each of its Ordinary Meetings the Council shall deposit at interest, in such bank as they shall decide on, and in the names of the General Treasurer and General Secretary of the Association, all uninvested Compositions received from existing Life- Members, all uninvested prepaid Annual Subscriptions, and any part, or the whole, of the balance derived from other sources which may be in the Treasurer's hands after providing for all accounts passed for payment at the said Meeting.
B 2
12 BYE-LAWS AND STANDING ORDKRS.
8. The General Secretary, on learning at any time between the Meetings of the Council that the Gren^al Treasurer has a balance in hand of not less than Forty Pounds after paying all Accounts which the Council have ordered to be paid, shall direct that so much of the said balance as will leave Twenty Pounds in the Treasurer's band be deposited at Interest at the Torquay Bank.
9. The General Secretary shall be authorized to spend any sum not exceeding Ten Pounds per annum in employing a clerk for such work as he finds necessary.
10. The Greneral Secretary shall, within one month of the close of each Annual Meeting of the Association, send to each Member newly elected at the said Meeting a copy of the following letter : —
Devonthire AssocicUion for the Advancemttit of Science, Littrature,
and Art, Sib, — I have the pleasure of informing you that on the of
July, , you were elected a Member of the Association on the
nomination oi
The copy of the Transactions for the current year, which will be for- warded to you in due course, will contain the I^ws of the Association. Meanwhile I b^ to call your attention to the following statements : —
(1) Every Member pays an Annual Contribution of Half a Guinea, or a Life Composition of Five Guineas.
(2) The Annual Contributions are payable in advance, and are due in each year on the day of the Annual Meeting.
(3) Members who do not, on or before the day of the Annual Meeting, give notice in writing or personally to the General Secretary of their intention to withdraw from the Association are regarded as Members for the ensuing year.
The Treasurer's Address is — Edward Vivian, Esq., Woodfield, Torquay. — I remain. Sir, your faithful Servant,
Hon, Sec,
11. The reading of any Keport or Paper shall not exceed twenty minutes, or such part of twenty minutes as shall be decided by the Council as soon as the Programme of Reports and Papers shall have been settled, and in any discussion which may arise no speaker shall be allowed to speak more than ten minutes.
12. Papers to be read to the Annual Meetings of the Association must strictly relate to Devonshire, and, as well as all Reports intended to be printed in the Transactions of the Association, and prepared by Committees appointed by the Council, must, together with all drawings intended to be used in illustrating them in the said Transactions, reach the General Secretary's residence not later than the 24th day of June in each year. The General Secretary shall, not later than the 7th of the following July^ return to the Authors all such Papers or drawings as he may decide to be unsuit-
BYE-LAWS AND STANDING ORDERS. 13
able to be printed or to serve as illustrations in tbe said Transac- tions, and shall send the residue, together with the said Eeports of Committees, to the Association's printers, who shall return the same so that they may reach the General Secretary's residence not later than on the 14th day of the said July, together with a state- ment of the number of pages each of them would occupy if printed in the said Transactions, as well as an estimate of the extra cost of the printing of such Tables, of any kind, as may form part of any of the said Papers and Eeports ; and the General Secretary shall lay the whole, as well as an estimate of the probable number of Annual Members of the Association for the year commencing on that day, before the first Council Meeting on the first day of the next ensuing Annual Meeting, when the Council shall select not a greater number of the Papers thus laid before them than will, with the other documents to be printed . in the said Transactions, make as many sheets of printed matter as can be paid for with the sum of 60 per cent, of the subscriptions for the year of the said probable number of Annual Members, and any part or the whole of such balance, not derived from Compositions of existing Life Members, or from prepaid Annual Subscriptions, as may be lying at interest, as well as that which may be iu the Treasurer's hands ; this ' sum ' shall be exclusive of the extra cost of tbe printing of such aforesaid Tables, which have been approved and accepted by the Council, provided the aggregate of the said extra cost do not exceed 6 per cent, of the said subscriptions ; exclusive also of the printers' charge for corrections of the press ; and also exclusive of the cost of printing an Index, a list of Errata, and such Eesolu- tions passed at the next Winter Meeting of the Council, as may be directed to be so printed by the said Winter Meeting; and the number of Papers selected by the Council shall not be greater than will, with the Eeports of Committees, make a Total of 40 Eeports and Papers.
13. Papers communicated by Members for Non-Members, and accepted by the Council, shall be placed in the Programme below those furnished by Members themselves.
14. Papers which have been accepted by the Council cannot be withdrawn without the consent of the Council
15. The Council will do their best so to arrange Papers for reading as to suit the convenience of the authors ; but the place of a Paper cannot be altered after the Programme has been settled by the Council
16. Papers which have already been printed in extenso cannot be accepted unless they form part of the literature of a question on which the Council has requested a Member or Committee to prepare a report.
14 BTS-LAWS AND 8TANDINO 0BD1B8.
17. Every meeting of the Council shall be convened by Circular, aent by the Greneral Secvetaiy to each Member of the Council not lees than ten days before the Meeting is held.
18. All Papers read to the Association which the Council shall decide to print in extenso in the Transactions, shall be sent to the printers, together with all drawings required in illustrating them, on the day next following the close of the Annual Meeting at which they were read.
19. All Papers read to the Association which the Council shall decide not to print in extenso in the Transactions, shall be returned to the authors not later than the day next following the close of the Annual Meeting at which they were read; and abstracts of such Papers to be printed in the Transactions shall not exceed one- fourth of the length of the Paper itself, and must be sent to the General Secretary on or before the seventh day after the close of the Annual Meeting.
20. The Author of every Paper which the Council at any Annual Meeting shall decide to print in the Transactions shall be expected to pay for all such illustrations as in his judgment the said Paper may require.
21. The printers shall do their utmost to print the Papers in the Transactions in the order in which they were read, and shall return every Manuscript to the author as soon as it is in type, hut not before. They shall be returned intact^ provided they are written on loose sheets and on one side of the paper only.
22. Excepting mere verbal alterations, no Paper which has been read to the Association shall be added to without the written approval and consent of the General Secretary ; and no additions shall be made except in the form of notes or postscripts, or both.
23. In the intervals of the Annual Meetings, all Meetings of the Council shall be held at Exeter, unless some other place shall have been decided on at the previous Council Meeting.
24. When the number of copies on hand of any * Part ' of the Transactions is reduced to twenty, the price per copy shall be increased 25 per cent. ; and when the number has been reduced to ten copies, the price shall be increased 50 per cent on the original price.
25. The Association's Printers, but no other person, may reprint any Committee's Eeport printed in the Transactions of the Associa- tion, for any person, whether a Member of the said Committee, or of the Association, or neither, on receiving, in each case, a written permission to do so from the Honorary Secretary of the Association,
BTB-LAWS AND STANDING OBDEBS. 15
but not otherwise; that the said printer shall pay to the said Secretary^ for the Association, sixpence for every fifty Copies of each half sheet of eight pages of which the said Report consists ; that any number of copies less than fifty, or between two exact multiples of fifty, shall be regarded as fifty ; and any number of pages less than eight, or between two exact multiples of eight, shall be regarded as eight ; that each copy of such Eeprints shall have on its first page the words ** Eeprinted from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science,
Literature, and Art for with the consent of the Council of
the Association," followed by the date of the year in which the said Keport was printed in the said Transactions, but that, with the exception of printer's errors and changes in the pagination which may be necessary or desirable, the said Eeprint shall be in every other respect an exact copy of the said Report as printed in the aaid Transactions without addition, or abridgment, or modification of any kind.
26. The General Secretary shall, within one month after each Annual Greneral Meeting, inform the Hon. Local Treasurer and the Hon. Local Secretary, elected at the said Meeting, that, in making or sanctioning arrangements for the next Annual General Meeting, it is eminently desirable that they avoid and discourage everything calculated to diminish the attendance at the Greneral and Council Meetings, or to disturb the said Meetings in any way.
27. The Bye-Laws and Standing Orders shall be printed after the ' Rules ' in the Transactions.
28. All resolutions appointing Committees for special service for the Association shall be printed in the Transactions next before the President's Address.
29. Members and Ladies holding Ladies' Tickets intending to dine at the Association Dinner shall be requested to send tiieir names to the Hon. Local Secretary on forms which shall be pro- vided ; no other person shall be admitted to the dinner, and no names shall be received after the Monday next before the dinner.
30. Members admitted by the General Secretary during the interval between two Annual General Meetings, and who decide when admitted to compound for the Annual Contributions, shall be entitled to receive the publications of the Association during the Association's year then current, provided their compositions are paid not later than the last day of January, but shall not be thus entitled if their compositions are paid between that date and the next Annual General Meeting of the Association.
[ 16 ]
t
ii
/
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.
AiprctCHled to Ou Gfn^rai M<4i\wj, Torqu/ty, July tStk^ ISBS.
The Thirty-first Annual Meeting of the Association was heli at Plymouth, on Tuesday, July 26th, and following day! The proceedings commenced with a meeting of the Cound at 2 p.m. at the Athenaeum, and at half-past three there wa a gathering in the Council Chamber of th» Guildhall, wbei the Mayor (Alderman F. W. Harris) formally welcomed th members of the Association, ilr. K. N. Worth, the retirini President, thanked the Mayor, on behalf of the Assodatioi for his cordial welcome. Refreshments, which had bee provided in the Council Chamber by the Mayor, were the: partaken of, and immediately afterwards the General Meetin was held at the Athenaeum.
In the evening, at 8 p.m., Mr. A. H. A. Hamilton deliver© his Introductory Address.
On Wednesday, at 11 a.m., the reading and discussion c the following Programme of Papers commenced, and wa continued imtil 4 p.m. The attendance was good, and th discussions were well sustained throughout.
Fomteenth Report of the Barrow Committee R. N, TKorfA, F.O.S. Eleventh Report of the Committee on ) » r* o a
Devonshire Folk-Lore . .]^'^'^' '*'^^^'
Tenth Report of the Committee on Climate E, E, Glyd€, f.b. met. soc.
Fourth Report of the Committee on Devon- \ J. Brooking Hoic^, F.8.A-, F.L. shire Records ) JL W. Cotton.
Herrick in Devonshire . . . , F, H. Colson, m.a.
Notes on Roman Devon . . , R X. Worth , f.g.s.
On the Caoses affecting the Oririn of» -, , „ j ^ ,. , ^
Plymouth ..... } T^^'^^'^^'if Saunders, F.iut;.s.
,| Samuel Hieron— a Devonshire Vicar in the ) i. o r^ rr • « .
reiKn of Elizabeth and James L . . ) ^r. 5: G. Harris, m.a.
Some Sixty Years' Reminiscences of Ply- ) rwr c /-» »7- mouth .\^^' ^- ^**^^'^''-
Thomas Larkham Mrs, O. H. Rmf/ord.
Additional Discoveries at the Castle, ) e- tx m ..«.««., Exeter . ' J oir John Phfor, m.a., f.o.8., J,
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 17
St Boniface in England .... Very Eev. Canon Br<wnlow,u.A,
Sir John de Sully, k.o Winslow Jovies,
The Stone Rows of Dartmoor . . , JL N, Worth, F.o.8.
Materials for a Census of Devonian Granites | ^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ and Felsites ) '
A Chapter in Deyonshire History — County \ p v g Ameru Defence in 1794-7 . . . . j * * ' Tncry.
The Church of All Sain to, East Budleigh . T, N, BrushfiM, M.D.
Canonsleigh F, T, Elworthy.
On some New or Rare Marine Animals j
recently discovered on the Coast of \ W, Qarstang, M.A. Devonshire )
The Bounds of the Forest of Dartmoor . A, B. Prowae, m.d., f.b.c.8.
"Dick of Devonshire" .... Bev. J). P. Al/ord, m.a.
The Froudes or Frowdes of Devon . . Bev.C.E.Hooppell,u.A.,LL.r>.,D.c.u
Ellis Veryard, of Plymtree . . . Mrs, Frances B, Troup,
Recent Additions to our Knowledge of the \
Natural History of some Devonshire | J, T, Cunningham, m.a. Sea Fishes * /
^ ^She^ Ul"" ""^ ^'^""^ ^^^^;°«"f ^y- } Bev, J, IngU Dredge,
In the evening, at 7 p.m., the Annual Dinner was held at Matthews's Eestaurant, Bedford Street. The President occupied the chair, and there was a good attendanca
On Thursday, at 10 a.m., the reading and discussion of papers was resumed, and continued until shortly after 3 p.m., when the concluding General Meeting was held, followed by ' the final meeting of the Council.
By the kind invitation of Mr. W. H. Alger and Mrs. Alger, members and associates subsequently attended a garden party at the Manor House, Stoke. The company, numbering about 200 persons, assembled at Mr. Alger's residence about four o'clock, and spent a very pleasant time in the house and grounds until about half-past six. They were received by Mrs. Alger. Excellent refreshments were provided in the library and dining-room, while opportunities of amusement were offered in the shape of a jungle rifle-target, tennis, croquet, bowls, &c. The band of the Bedfordshire Eegiment played a very nice selection of music. The afternoon being fine, the party was much appreciated by the visitors.
In the evening the members of the Association and their friends paid a visit to the Marine Biological Laboratory, by the invitation of the director, Mr. W. L Calderwood, and members of the stafll The many interesting objects contained in the Laboratory were examined, Mr. Calderwood, Mr. Cunningham, and Mr. Garstang giving explanations and information whenever desired. There was a display of nets
18 RBPOBT OF THE COUHCIL.
and fishing gear, and a good deal of interest was shewn in the specimens of local marine fauna, as well as the other objects contained in the Laboratory. Befreshments were provided bj^ Mr. and Mrs. Calderwood, whose efforts to make the visit a pleasant one were successful in every way.
Friday, as usual, was devoted to excursions. The weather being beautifully fine, these excursions proved successful in the highest degree, thanks also to the excellent arrangements made by the local committee. At 11 a.m. a large number of members of the Association went on board the steamer Princess Royal at the West Hoe Pier, and after running out to the western side of the harbour, steamed across, outside the breakwater, to the mouth of the Yealm. Ascending the river some little distance, a capital luncheon, provided by the local committee, was partaken of on board, after which the party returned to Plymouth. The sea being smooth the trip was much enjoyed.
At 3 p.m. another excursion started firom West Hoe Pier to go up the Tamar to Cothele House, which the members of the Association had been invited by the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe to visit, the steamer Princess Royal being again chartered for the occasion. A large company joined the trip. The tide being out, progress up the river was somewhat slow, but the time passed pleasantly, the scenery being much admired. Having reached Cothele Pier and disembarked, the party walked up to Cothele House, where tea was provided in the courtyard of the ancient mansion. The Earl of Mount Edgcumbe had intended to receive the party, but in con- sequence of the volunteer encampment commencing on that day he was reluctantly compelled to be away. Mr. Worth kindly undertook to explain the history of the Edgcumbe family and their connection with Cothele House, and drew attention to the various objects of antiquity and historical interest which hung on the walls of the large hall. After- wards the company inspected the various rooms of the house in parties of twenty at a time, great interest being shewn in the handsome oak furniture, the beautiful tapestry, and the general anangement of the mediaeval apartments. It was also pleasant wandering about the gardens, from which some beautiful views were obtained. Starting back at eight o'clock the party made the return journey in the shades of the evening, reaching Plymouth about half-past nine, well pleased with their day's outing, and regretting that the second Plymouth meeting of the Association haid come to its conclusion.
KEPOKT OF THE COUNCIL. 19
It having been decided that the next Annual Meeting shoold be held at Torquay, the following were elected officers for the occasion :
President: T. N. Brushfield, Esq., m.d. Vice-Presidents: The Worshipful the Mayor of Torquay, W. F. Splatt, Esq. ; CoL K Appleton, c.e. ; Col. Bainbridge ; L. B. Bowring, Esq,, C.S.L, J.P. ; The Very Eev. Canon Brownlow, m.a. ; Eev. E. P. Gregg, M.A, ; A. H. A. Hamilton, Esq., J.P., c.C. ; Sampson Hanbury, Esq., J.P., CO. ; Briscoe Hooper, Esq. ; Sir Edmund Hornby, J.P. ; A. R Hunt, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., F.L.8.; P. Q. Elarkeek, Esq., M.R.C.S.; J. Kitson, Esq.; R Mallock, Esq., M.P. ; K A. Musgrave, Esq. ; Admiral Sir Thomas Symonds ; T. Viccars, Esq. Hon. Local Treasurer : Samuel Johnson, Esq., Torquay Baiik, Torquay. Hon. Secretary : Eev. W. Harpley, M.A., F.C.P.S., Clayhanger, Tiverton. Hon. Local Secretary: Fred. S. Hex, Esq., 1, Lansdowne Villas, Vansittart Road, Torquay.
The Council have published the President's Address, together with Obituary Notices of members deceased during the preceding year, and the Reports and Papers read before the Association; also the Treasurer's Report, a List of Members, and the Bules, Standing Orders, and Bye-Laws ; they have since added an Index, kindly prepared by Mr. P. 0. Hutchinson, and a Table of Corrections.
A copy of the Transactions and Index has been sent to each member, and to the following Societies: The Boyal Society, linnaean Society, Geological Society, Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Boyal Institution (Albemarle Street), the Society of Antiquaries, Devon and Exeter Institution (Exeter), Plymouth Institution, Torquay Natural History Society, North Devon Athenseum (Barn- staple), Royal Institution of Cornwall (Truro), the Library of the British Museum, the British Museum (Natural History, Cromwell Road), the Bodleian Library (Oxford), and the University Library (Cambridge).
The Council desire to express their gratification at the termination of the labours of the Domesday Committee. The work which the Committee was appointed to do has been done, and has resulted in the publication of two thick octavo volumes. The cost of printing has been great, and for several years has caused a great strain upon the finances of the Association. This strain is now removed, and the Council confidently trust that the adverse balance which the Treasurer's Report has for some time exhibited will soon disappear.
[ 20 ]
Treaswrei's Report of Receipts and Expenditun
Beceipta.
Arrean of ContribntioiiB for 1890-91
Arrean of ContribatioiiB for 1891-92
AnDiud Contribations for 1892-98
Prepaid Annual ContxibntionB for 1893-94
life Gompodtiona
Ladies' Tickets
Sale of " Transactions"—
2 copies for 1863 .
2 ditto 1864 .
2 ditto 1865 .
1 co{)y for 1866 .
2 copies for 1867 . 1 copy for 1868 . 1 ditto 1886 .
1 ditto 1887 .
2 copies for 1888 . 8 ditto 1889 .
1 copy for 1890 .
2 copies for 1891 .
ff
Sale of ''Devonshire Domesday 5 copies of Part L
5 ditto Part II.
6 ditto Part IIL 6 ditto Part IV. 6 ditto Part V. 6 ditto Part VL 4 ditto Part VII. 4 ditto PartVIIL 2 ditto Part IX.
1 Index to VoL of ** Transactions *' for 1885
1 ditto ditto 1886
1 ditto ditto 1887
1 ditto ditto 1888
1 ditto ditto 1889 4 ditto ditto 1890
2 ditto ditto 1891 1 ditto ditto 1892
Dividends on Consols to Jolv 25th, 1893 (net) Amount paid by Dr. Broshneld for excess of sheets
his "paper*' Balance due to Treasurer
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0
£ t, ii
1 1
14 14
157 10
9 9 21 0
1 0
0 4 0 6 0 5 0 3 0 12 0 6 6 0 8 0 0 10
0 12
1 2 0 5 0 12
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 6 0 0
0 10
1 0 1 4 0 7 0 7 0 12 6 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 5 0
0 0 0 6 6
6 6 6 6 6 0 0 6
occupied by
5 6 <
8 0 1(
15 15 <
50 2 i
Annual Contributions unpaid, due July 28th, 1891 . Ditto ditto July 26th, 1892 .
£289 10 i
. 7 7 ( . 25 14 (
I have examined the foregoing Accounts with the Vouchers^ and found them
correct.
{Signed)
EDWARD APPLETON, Auditor.
[ 21 ]
during the year ending 25/A J%dy, 1893.
(CjcpenHttare.
Baltnce due to Treasurer
Brendon and Sod, Printinfi^^'TraQsactioDS,'' yd. xxiy
1892 Ditto Index to vol. xxiii. , 1891
Ditto " Devonshire Domesday," Part IX
Ditto Cards, Circulars, kc
Ditto Postage and Carriage of Parcels
Ditto Stationery
Gregory and Tozer for Treasurer's Receipt Forms Hon. General Treasurer, Petty Expenses . Hoc General Secretary, Pettv Expenses . Hon. General Secretary's Assistant Hire of Boom for Winter Meeting of Council Interest on Temporary Loan
£ s. d. 88 4 2
154 0 0
2 17 6
50 17 0
7 5 6
19 0 0
0 4 6
;£289 10 8
{Signed)
W. HARPLET, Hon. General Ssoretabt.
[ 22 ]
STATEMENT OP THE PROPERTY OF THE ASSOCIATION. July tsth, 18BS.
|
« .. A j |
||
|
Puoded rru[>erty, CouhoIh |
. 300 0 0 |
|
|
Ancara of Annilal C'DQCribntioDa (valuod at} |
. 10 0 0 |
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"TraQBiictionB" m Stock. 1803 ... 70 copia |
at &. Od, . 7 0 0 1 |
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1864 ... B8 |
3s. Od |
. 12 18 0 |
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1865 ... 81 |
2s. Bd |
. 10 2 6 |
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1868 ... 81 |
3s. Od |
9 3 0 |
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1887 ... Bl |
8b. Od |
. 18 6 0 |
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1888 ... 30 |
8s. ed |
. 11 14 0 |
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1870 ... 18 |
6a. Od |
. 6 8 0 |
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isri ... n |
8s. Cd |
6 12 0 |
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1873 ... 2B |
8b. Od |
. ■ 7 10 0 |
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187* ... 32 |
8b. ed |
. 13 12 0 |
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1876 ... 12 |
lOs. Od |
.800 |
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1878 ... 16 |
16b. Od |
. 11 6 0 |
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1877 ... 18 |
9b. 8d |
. 8 11 0 |
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1878 ... t |
12a. Od |
. 2 8 0 |
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1879 ... 23 |
7s. Od |
8 1 0 |
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1880 .„ 23 |
12s. 6d |
. 14 7 6 |
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1881 ... 30 |
ti,s. Od |
9 0 0 |
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1S82 ... 60 ., |
IOb. Od |
. 25 0 0 |
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1888 ... 66 |
8s. Od |
. 2^ 0 0 |
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1884 ... 69 |
12s. Od |
. 41 a 0 |
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1S86 ... 7i |
8b. Od |
. 29 12 0 |
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1888 ... 87 |
Sb. Od |
. 84 18 0 |
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1887 ... 68 |
lOs. Od |
. 28 0 0 |
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1888 ... 48 |
Ss. Dd |
. 14 8 0 |
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1889 .„ 49 |
7s. ed |
. 18 7 6 |
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,. „ 1890 ... 68 |
6b. Dd |
. 14 0 0 |
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1891 ... 98 |
6b. Od |
. 29 8 0 |
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1892 ... 68 |
86L0d |
. 23 4 0 |
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Index to do. (extra copiei), 1884 ... 48 |
0B.6d |
.14 0 |
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188S ... 47 |
Os. 8d |
.18 8 |
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1888 .. 48 |
Ob. 6d |
.18 0 |
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1887 ... 47 |
Os. Bd |
13 8 |
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1888 ... 47 |
Os. 6d |
1 3 6 |
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„ „ 188B „. 47 |
Os. 6d |
1 3 6 |
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1890 ... 45 |
Os. 8d |
1 2 8 |
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1891 „, iS |
Os. 8d |
. 1 4 0 |
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1892 ... 49 |
Os. 6d |
. 1 4 6 |
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"DevoiialiiwDomosdaj-,"Part I., 143 |
23. Od |
. 14 B 0 |
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Part II., 181 |
4a. Od |
. 32 4 0 |
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Part in,, 174 |
4a. Od |
. 34 16 0 |
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Part IV., 146 |
Is. 6d |
. 10 17 6 |
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Pan v., 145 |
Is. 6d |
. 10 17 6 |
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Part VI., 143 |
2s. 6d |
. 17 17 6 |
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Part VII., 152 |
2s. 6d |
. 19 0 0 |
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PifnviiL,i9a |
2b. 6d |
. £4 10 0 |
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Part IX., 168 |
2b. ed |
. 19 10 0 |
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(Si?W) W. IJARPLEY, m«. S-rr^'tr,,. |
£946 ii 0 |
|
|
When Uie number of OTpies o.i li'.,,.! nl iiii |
'Part '"lit |
the TntiiEutlioiis |
|
II reduced to twenty, tha price jwr copy shall be iDcreasad |
2fi pet cent, and |
|
|
when the nnmbor iiua been Toduit J to ten copies |
tbfl price |
60 per cant on the orieinal pTk-6."~.'ili.iiiJiii</ Order, Aij. 24.
The Tranuirtions in stock nre insured Bgainat Sre in the ram of £400. Tht <rola. pablitbed in 1882, 188B, and 1872 aie out of print
[ 23 ]
SELECTED MINUTES OF COUNCIL, APPOINTING
COMMITTEES.
Passed at the Meeting at Torquay. JULT, 1893.
10. That Rev. Professor Chapman, Rev. W. Harpley, Sir J. B. Phear, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, Mr. A. H. A. Hamilton, and Mr. R N. Worth be a Committee for the purpose of considering at what place the Association shall hold its Meeting in 1895, who shall be invited to be the Officers during the year beginning with that Meeting, and who shall be invited to fill any official vacancy or vacancies which may occur before the Annual Meeting in 1894 ; that Mr. Harpley be the Secretary ; and that they be requested to report to the next Winter Meeting of the Council, and, if necessary, to the first Meeting of the Council to be held in July, 1894.
11. That Mr. J. S. Amery, Mr. F. Brent, Rev. W. Harpley, Dr. Brushfield, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, and Mr. R. N. Worth be a Committee for the purpose of noting the discovery or occurrence of such Facts in any department of scientific inquiry, and con- nected with Devonshire, as it may be desirable to place on permanent record^ but which may not be of sufficient importance in themselves to form the subjects of separate papers ; and that Mr. J. Brooking Rowe be the Secretary.
12. That Mr. P. F. S. Amery, Mr. D. 0. Evans, Rev. W. Harpley, Mr. P. Q. Karkeek, Mrs. Radford, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, Mr& Troup, and Mr. H. B. Woodhouse, be a Committee for the purpose of collecting notes on Devonshire Folk-Lore ; and that Mr. P. F. S. Amery be the Secretary.
13. That Dr. Brushfield, Lord CliflPord, Mr. A. H. A. Hamilton, Mr. G. Pycroft, Mr. J. Shelly, and Mr. R N. Worth be a Com- mittee to prepare a Report on the Public and Private Collections of Works of Art in Devonshire; and that Mr. J. Shelly be the Secretary.
24 RESOLDTIONS APPOINTING COMMITTEES.
14. That Mr. J. S. Amery, Dr. Brushfield, Mr. F. T. El worthy, Mr. F. H. Firth, Mr. P. O. Hutchinson, Mr. P. Q. Karkeek, Dr. W. C. Lake, and Mrs. Troup be a Committee for the purpose of noting and recording the existing use of any Verbal Pro- vincialisms in Devonshire, in either written or spoken language; and that Mr. F. T. Elworthy be the Secretary.
15. That Mr. J. S. Amery, Rev. W. Harpley, Mr. P. O. Hutchinson, Sir John B. Phear, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, and Mr. R. N. Worth be a Committee for editing and annotating such parts of Domesday Book as relate to Devonshire ; and that Mr. J. Brooking Rowe be the Secretary.
16. That Mr. P. F. S. Amery, Dr. Brushfield, Mr. P. O. Hutchinson, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, and Mr. R. N. Worth be a Committee to collect and record &cts relating to Barrows in Devonshire, and to take steps, where possible, for their investiga- tion ; and that Mr. R N. Worth be the Secretary.
17. That Mr. F. H. Firth, Rev. W. Harpley, Mr. E. A- Shapland, and Mr. R. C. Tucker be a Committee for the purpose of making the arrangements for the Association dinner at South Molton in 1894, and that Mr. R C. Tucker be the Secretary.
18. That Mr. James Hamlyn, Mr. A. Chandler, and Mr. P. F. S. Amery be a Committee to collect and tabulate trustworthy and comparable observations on the climate of Devon ; and that Mr. P. F. S. Amery be the Secretary.
19. That the Right Rev. Monsignor Brownlow, Dr. Brushfield, Mr. J. R Chanter, Mr. R W. Cotton, The Very Rev. the Dean of Exeter, Rev. J. Ingle Dredge, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, Mr. E. Windeatt, and Mr. R. N. Worth be a Committee for the purpose of investigating and reporting on any collections of Manuscripts, Records, or Ancient Documents existing in, or relating to, Devon- shire, with the nature of their contents, their locality, and whether in public or private hands ; and that Mr. J. Brooking Rowe and Mr. R W. Cotton be the Secretaries.
PRESIDENrS ADDRESS.
When I acceded to the wish of the Council to become the President of this Association for the present year, I naturally turned to the examination of the subject-matter of those Addresses delivered by the former occupants of this Chair, especially with a view to the selection of some topic relating to this county. Ascertaining that Devonshire literature had not formed the theme of any, I have selected it on the present occasion,, especially as I may declare myself, with a slight alteration of a well-known Horatian phrase —
" Laudator biblioram actonxm."
If an apology for such a selection were needed, Carlyle has more than amply supplied it. " In books," he remarks, " lies the soul of the whole Past Time ; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream. . . . All that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been ; it is lying in magic preserva- tion in the pages of Books. They are the chosen possession of men."
As a reverential lover of books — and surely no man has a right to describe them unless he be such a lover — I may exclaim with Chaucer —
" Books in mine herte have hem in reverence So hertely, that there is game none, That fro my bookes maketh me to gone."
In attempting to give some account of Devonshire Works and their Authors, I do not purpose to pass beyond the year 1640, when the meeting of the Long Parliament became "a definite and distinct turning-point in our printed literature " (Arber) ; and the exigencies of an Address of this kind will not enable me to give more than a faint and somewhat blurred outline. My aim will be to point out in what directions English literature generally, as well as locally, has been aided by the labours of Devonshire men and of Devon-
VOL. XXV. c
26 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
shire residents ; at the same time to draw attention to some of the more notable works and institutions, that stand out prominently above their fellows. In so doing, I hope the time spent will not be deemed altogether profitless; more particularly I trust I may not be accused of misdirected energy, and so fall under the definition included in the scathing lines of J. R Lowell, as —
*' A reading machine, ever wound up and going, He mastered whatever was not worth the knowing.''
As a matter of convenience we may divide our subject into periods, differing much in duration, being for the most part marked by some prominent historical event, rather than by any order of time.*
First Period, -1087.
Our first period extends from the earliest times to the death of William I. in 1087.
The earliest literary man to notice belonging to this county, of whom we have any cognizance, is Winfrid or WiNFRiTH (680-755), a native of Crediton, more widely known as St Boniface, ** the apostle of Germany " ; born in the year when Ctedmon, the Anglo-Saxon poet, is reported to have died. Up to this time, learning and learned men had been more especially identified with the north and north-east of England, and with Ireland. Wilfred, Benedict Biscop, Csedmon, Ceolford, Bede, were Northumbrians. The life of St. Boniface was one of too much activity to afford him much leisure for literary work. In addition to a set of ecclesiastical statutes, some sermons, and minor religious works, he wrote a Latin poem termed uEnigmata de Virtutibus, addressed to his sister. This entitles him to be considered as the earliest Devonshire poet of whom we possess any record. He is, however, best known for his Hpistolcc, the correspondence between himself and his friends, during the period of his missionary work in Germany, 718-755 — the earliest collection of letters of an Englishman that we possess. In the opinion of Green, the historian (i 4), "the letters of Boniface and Alcwine . . . form the most valuable contemporary materials," for the history of England of the period in which they were written. Social and general and personal history, the trials and labours of his missionary work, all find a place in them. His literary character displays itself in his fondness for books, his friends being
♦ In Appendix A will be found a list of the authorities cited. The references m figures are to notes in that appendix.
DR. brushfield's presidentul address. 27
frequently urged to send him some, of which he records the titles, &c., the works of Bede being mentioned several times. €.g. In a letter to Abbot Cuthbert he writes, "Interea rogamus, ut aliqua de opusculis sagacissimi investigatoris scripturarum Bedan monachi." (Epistle xxxvii) These letters "seem to have been the delight of our forefathers during the ninth century, and . . . deserve to be better known than they are, even at the present day." (T. Wright, i. 48.) It is a matter of r^ret that an annotated translation into English has never been made. To the Eev. Dr. Giles we owe a collected edition of his works in 1844, forming two volumes of the Patres Ucclesice Anglicance}
To St. Willibald (700-785), also born at Crediton, is usually attributed the memoir of his uncle St. Boniface, De Vita vel Passione BecUissimi Martyris Bonifacii Aiictore Willibaldo ; but Dr. Giles {Op. dt. ii. 8, where, in the heading of the memoir, the author's name appears as "Willibaldus Presbyter") affirms it was " not the celebrated bishop of that name, as was long supposed, but another Willibald, of less merit and pretensions," and Heinschenius, in his Acta Sanctorum^ makes a similar assertion. (T. Wright, i. 344-5.) Be that, however, as it may, it is the earliest known biography of a Devon worthy. The Itinerary of St. Willibald (721- 727), "written from his own recital by a nun of Heidenheim," is one of the earliest recorded travels in the Holy Land. (Printed at length in T. Wright's Early Travels in Palestine^ 1848, 13-22.) The convent of Heidenheim had for its abbess St Walburga, the sister of St. Willibald, and as the nun who acted as his amanuensis is known to have been his kinswoman, she was probably his own sister, and the author also of the life of St. Wuuebald, the brother of St. Willibald.^
St. Burchard (-754), said to be a Devonian by Prince, was associated with St. Boniface in his missionary work, and died one year before him. His claim to our notice rests on some sermons still preserved at Wurzburg (where he was the first bishop), portions of which have been printed in Germany.
Alfredus or Alfricus (-981?), abbot of Malmesbury, was consecrated bishop of Crediton, circ, 977. Godwin (320), on the authority of Hooker, affirms he wrote two books, the history of his abbey (J)e rebus ccenobii sui), and a scientific treatise (Be rerum naiuris), neither of which are now known.^
Lyfino or LiviNGUS (-1047), next but one in succession to Alfredus as Bishop of Crediton (1032-1047), was previously
c 2
28 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
Abbot of Tavistock. This "eloquent bishop," as he* is termed in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle^ accompanied Canute to Borne, and is stated by Prince (567) to have written Camutus's Pilyrimage and his own doings, of which we know nothing but the title.*
The successor to Lyfing in the See was Bishop Leofric (-1072), whose birthplace is unknown. He removed the seat of the diocese from the open village of Crediton to the walled town of Exeter, of which he was the first bishop. Although in many ways a man of mark, he was not an author ; but as a lover and a collector of books, the possessor of what was then regarded as a large private library, at a period when books were expensive luxuries, he demands our atten- tion. His name, and his great love of Saxon works, point out his Saxon origin, although by some authors he is thought to have been a Breton. He gave, amongst other presents to the cathedral, between sixty and seventy volumes, some for the daily services, others for the cathedral library. " These church books were evidently in Anglo-Saxon, because he contrasts them with the subsequent list of books in Latin." (T. Wright, Joum, Brit Arch. Assoc, xviii. 222.) The list of works is recorded in his will, and is of especial interest to Devonians, for beiug " the earliest catalogue of an English library now known to exist" {Ibid, 224.)^ Of all the works therein enumerated, only one is preserved in the present library, but it is one of the most important Anglo-Saxon MSS. in England. It is entitled, Ofie great English hook on various subjects composed in verse, and, as the Codex Exoniensis, was published, by the Society of Antiquaries, in 1842, under the editorship of B. Thorpe. This is rendered of especial value to philological students by having in parallel columns the original text and an English translation.^ The MS. is of small folio size, with vellum leaves, wanting a few at the beginning and end of the work, and, excepting towards the latter, in fair condition of preservation. The writing is in large characters, and believed to be of the tenth century. The contents are of a miscellaneous kind, relating chiefly to moral and religious subjects, drawn from various sources, and vary much in interest and value. The poems are nearly fifty in number, many of them fragmentary. With one exception, they exhibit the main characteristics of Anglo- Saxon poetry ; that is, they consist of short rhymeless lines, written like prose (the line-lengths being marked by points), and having a regular alliteration so arranged, that in every couplet the first line contains two words, and the second one,
DR. BRUSHFIELD*S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 29
commencing with the same letter. Here is an example from "The Exile's Complaint," in the Codex (443).
** rindon dena dimme " dim are the dells
duna up— hea." the downs high."
The exception alluded to is termed by Thorpe the *' Biming Poem/' from the lines terminating in proper rhymes, but the alliteration is unchanged.^ The longest, and the only poem whose author is known, is "the legend of St. Guthlac"; a metrical paraphrase of the life of that saint by Felix, a monk of Croyland Abbey. The volume contains a curious collection of riddles, a form of amusement to which our Anglo-Saxon forefathers appear to have been very partial. Probably the gleeman, as a foil to, and after the recital of, more serious pieces, wound up the evening's amusement by propounding one or more of these riddles.^ We can readily believe that some of the compositions were by Devonians, belonging to some religious house, such as the one at Tavi- stock. The probability of this is increased by the circum- stance that the Leofric Missal, one of the volumes given by Leofric to his cathedral, used there during his episcopate, and now preserved in the Bodleian Library, belonged originally to Tavistock Abbey, of which his predecessor Lyfing had been abbot
A fitting conclusion to this notice of our first period may be made, in a brief allusion to the Great Survey of the country, ordered to be carried out by William I. within a short period of his death, and recorded in the well-known Ihnu&iay Book of the Exchequer, It contains a complete territorial record of this country. Of even greater interest to us, is the supplementary volume known as The Exeter Domesday (which has remained in the custody of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter for 800 years), as it possesses the marked advantage of fuller details than the original work. It would be simply impertinent to expatiate upon its im- portance.®
Second Period, 1088-1300.
Our second period carries us on to the end of the 13th century, during which many works on religious subjects are recorded to have been written, some of which are now unknown.
Of BoBERT FOLIOT (-1186), a Devonian (Fuller, i 251) and Bishop of Hereford, it is reported by Pits (236) that he wrote De Sacramentia antiquce et nouce legis; Concionum;
80 DR. bbushfield's presidential address.
and another work, of which the titles alone have descended to us.
BiCHARD FiSHACRE 01 FiZACRE (-1248), a native of Exeter (Pits, 317,8tate8 "patria Deuoniensis, ex territorio Exoniensi*'), was a learned Dominican, and the intimate friend of Bobert Bacon. He wrote several treatises on Divinity, Commentaries, &c., of which the titles are given in Pits^s work. Some of his MSS. are said to be preserved at Oxford.^^
Although Hooker (in Godwin's Bishops) affirms Bartholo- mew (-1184) to have been called "Iscanus of Isca," and "a meane Citizen's sonne " of Exeter, his most recent biographer (T. A. Archer in Diet Nat. Biog.) states that he was a native of Brittany. He was, however. Bishop of Exeter for the long period of twenty-three years (1161-1184). Histori- cally, he is known as one of the great opponents of the policy of Becket, yet, after the death of the latter, he was selected to preach the sermon on the re-opening of Canterbury Cathedral This "luminary of the English church" wrote several works on divinity, of which Pits (250) gives a list. None of them have been published.^^ .
Bartholomew was the active friend of Baldwin (-1190), a native of Exeter, and Archbishop of Canterbury (1184-1190). They esteemed each other so highly that a life-long friendship resiJted, and they " mutually dedicated books to each other's commendation, so that neither wanted praise nor praised himself." (Fuller, L 274.) His own productions were princi- pally theological, and were included in the works of the Cistercian fathers, printed in 1662. (Wright, ii. 295.) According to Dr. Hook, they "do not contain any matter of deep interest." {Abps. of Canterbury, iL 546.) Several of his original MSS. are in the Lambeth Library. His De corruptis irwrilms cleri et populi contains much of value relating to the social history of the period, and describes " the expectation so prevalent in the twelfth century that the world was approaching to its end." (Wright, iL 294.) His De Sacramento Altaris, written in Ford Abbey before he was abbot there, is of peculiar interest for having been printed, in 1521, at Cambridge, by John Siberch, the year when the printing press was first introduced there. It was the fourth work executed by Siberch.^^
To the historical student he is better known for his celebrated tour through Wales in the year 1188, on a mission to preach a crusade for the recovery of Jerusalem from the Saracens. Dr. Hook remarks, ** The interior of Wales was as little known as the interior of Africa at the present time . . .
DR. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 31
of the Welsh language the missionaries were ignorant: equally ignorant were the Welsh themselves of Latin, Anglo- Saxon, or Anglo-Norman." {Op, cit. ii. 560-1.) Notwith- standing these drawbacks, the success is reported to have been marvellously great His Itinerary, written by Giraldus de Barri (Cambrensis), and published in Latin in 1585, was translated by Sir Ii. C. Hoare, and issued in 1806.
The Bishop, successively of Hereford and of London, Gilbert Foliot (-1187), a near kinsman of Robert Foliot, already noticed, was born at Tamerton Foliot. (Fuller, i. 251.) He wrote several theological and other treatises, of which the titles are given by Pits (251-2), and we can but regret his Vitas aiiquot sandorum Anglioe has not come down to us. The only work now known of his, A Treatise on Solomon^s Sang ("De Cantica Canticorum "), was printed in 1638. Many of his letters have been preserved, and are of much interest They were published by Dr. J. A. Giles in 1845, and more recently in Materials for the Life of Becket (1877) Rolls Series. Of Becket he was a determined opponent.
Ford Abbey, during this period, had, said Fuller, " more learning therein than three convents of the same bignesse." (L 263.) Baldwin belonged to it, as well as the two following literary men.
RooEK DE Ford, or Roger the Cistercia.n (-1181) "lived (neer the place of his birth) at Ford Abbey." (Fuller, i. 263.) He wrote the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Flanders; A Narrative of the Martyrdom of the 11,000 Virgins at Cologne; and a metrical poem, ETicomium Marioe, Of these three Latin MSS., none of which were printed, the first was at one time among the Cottonian MSS. (Otho, A. xii.), the second is in the library of St. John's College, Oxford, and of the third nothing more is known. Pits (246) gives the titles of the three.
John de Ford, or Devonius (-1220) "carrys the signature of his country in his forehead " (Prince, 295), but his birth- place is unknown. Dr. Oliver (Monasticon, 339) states he "resigned in 1191, Bindon Abbey," to become Abbot of Ford, which he retained until his death in 1220. Pits (276-7) gives a list of thirteen of his works, nearly all theological : some of the MS. copies are still in existence, but none have been printed. One volume contained 120 Homilies. Had it been preserved, his Acta Joannis Regis would probably have been of interest, as he was Confessor to that King. He wrote the Life of St, Wulfrk, the hermit of Haselberg, of which there are MS. copies in the Cottonian MSS. (Faustina,
32 DB. brushfield's presidential address.
B. iv. 3.), as well as in the Library of Eton College; and each possesses separate dedications to Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter, and to Archbishop Baldwin. ^^ Dr. Oliver {Ibid, 339) points out that as the former died about the time of the translation of the latter to Canterbury (1184), "it is possible that the book may not be a genuine work." The author having dedicated it to the former, and learning he was dead, probably wrote a second dedication without interfering with the first. As Dr. Oliver adds, "Anyone who is friendly to the memory of the Abbot, and has read the biography, must be pleased to think that he was perhaps not the author of such a production," it is probable that the character of the work may have biassed his mind with respect to the authorship.
The poets and poetry of this period will not occupy much of our time. The metrical work of Eoger de Ford has already been mentioned. The next author, Simon Ash, or Fraxinus (12th century), is called by Prince (15) a Devonian, on the authority of Hooker. He wrote a metrical abridgement, in French, of the Consolations of Boethius, or The Bomunce of Dame Fortune, as a MS. copy in the Bodleian Library is named. He was a great friend of Giraldus Cambrensis, with whom he corresponded in Latin verse. In a similar form of composi- tion, and under the title of Apologia Rythmica, he defended the latter when attacked by the Abbot of Dore in " contume- lious verses," for having written Speculum Ucclesice, in which Giraldus commented severely upon abuses amongst the clergy and laity. (Printed in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. 641, et seq,) Some of his epigrams and short poems (AIS.) are in the Libraries of Lambeth, and of Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge. (Wright, ii. 350.) i*
" The most eloquent poet of that age," according to Camden, was Joseph of Exeter — Josephus Iscanus (/. 1190), whose birthplace is recorded in his name. His principal work, De Bello Trojano, a Latin epic poem in six books, was written at the time that Archbishop Baldwin (said to be his uncle, and to whom he dedicated his work) was preaching the Crusade in Wales, for which Henry II. was making preparation, so that it must have been composed between 1184 and 1190. It has been printed many times abroad, once in England (1675), but has never been translated into English. Of another poem, AntiocheiSy only a fragment remains, printed by Wartoii (L clxvi.), and is an eulogy of British heroes. It was found by Leland in the library of Abingdon Abbey. Pits (276) gives a list of other of his pieces, the correctness of which
DR. BRUSHFIKLD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 33
has been doubted. He is highly praised by Warton, who remarks of his poem on the Trojan war, " The structure of the versi6cation approaches nearly to that of polished Latin poetry." (i. clxiii) Wright (i. 402) designates him " the best of our medifleval Auglo- Latin poets"; while Fuller (i. 274), alludes to him as " a golden Pott in a leaden age, so terse and elegant were his conceipts and expressions." The only adverse critic appears to be H. Morley, who somewhat sneer- ingly remarks of him, " He wants also, and will always want, readers. Having Homer, we can spare Joseph of Exeter upon the Trojan war." {Op, cit, 600.)^^
Passing from thep domain of poetry to that of law, we arrive at the name of our most important author up to thi^ period, the eminent ecclesiastic and judge, Henry db Bracton, Bratton, or Buetton (-1268), who, although at one time claimed to have been a Somersetshire man, is now generally assigned to Devonshire, and to have been a native either of Bratton Clovelly, near Okehampton, or of Bratton Fleming, near Barnstaple. His great and only known literary work, JDe Legilrus et 'Consuetiidinibtcs Anglice, is yet one of our great legal classics. Up to the time of its composition, it formed a complete digest of the laws and customs of England, and was "the first attempt to treat the whole extent of the law in a manner at once systematic and practical." It was not the first work of its kind in England, as one, generally attributed to Ranulf de Glanville (-1190), of Suffolk, had been written in the previous century, but it lacks the comprehensiveness of Bracton's work. Through Coke, Bracton's "influence has been effective in moulding the existing common law of England"; and one of his great merits consists in " citing cases iti support of the principles he enunciates." (These quotations are from Bid. Nat. Biog.) The fearless character of his writings may be gleaned from the following extracts :
''A king is a king so long as he rules well; he becomes a tyrant when he oppresses the people committed to his charge . . . when the king turns aside to do injustice, he is the minister of the devil" (Lib. L ch, viii.)
"The King hath for his superior God, as also the law by which he is made King ... if the King be without a bridle, that is without law, then ought they to bridle him." (Lib. i ch. xvi.)
We cannot wonder that the Puritan leaders quoted fireely from Bracton s writings. Judge Bradshaw did so at the trial of Charles I., and Milton quoted the first of the
34 DB. brushfield's presidential address.
above extracts, in his Defence of the People of England, It is marvellous to reflect that, at the time when regal authority was paramount, a judge had the hardihood to indite such opinions. We must, however, bear in mind, that even the most tyrannical ruler always professed respect for law and justice, and all that Bracton did was to record the law of England, a law that was directly opposed to the doctrine of passive obedience.
Of its wide professional popularity the number of MS. copies bears testimony, but although it was repeatedly quoted as the great authority on the subject, it was not published in a complete form until 1569. The most important edition is that of Sir Travers Twiss (Eolls Series, 6 vols. 1878-1883), which possesses the advantage of an English translation. Bracton gave some MSS. to the Cathedral library. i®
Third Period, 1300-1477.
Our next period takes us down to' the introduction of printing into England (1477), and practically includes the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Except in a very few instances the literature of the county during this long period received no important additions, and the number of recorded writers is remarkably small The terrible wars with France, and the troubles with Scotland, at home the civil Wars of the Eoses, the Peasant Eevolt, with the repeated pestilences and general misery, may to a certain extent account for this ; and yet the literature of the fourteenth century was enriched with the works of Chaucer and Gower, Wycliffe and Langland, and in the fifteenth the printing press was introduced into England.
Taking precedence of the writers, comes the name of one who promoted and advanced the study of literature, by founding a college for scholars of Devon and ComwalL Walter de Stapeldon (-1326), born at Annery, in the parish of Monkleigh (Dr. Oliver, Bps, of Exeter, 55), Bishop of Exeter (1308-1326), founded and liberally endowed Hart's Hall and Stapeldon's Inn, Oxford, the name being subsequently changed by Bishop Stafford into Exeter College ; " and he left funds to establish in St. John's Hospital [Exeter] ... a grammar school to prepare them for that university." {Ihid. 57.^^
. Commencing with authors on religious subjects, the first is Robert DE Plympton (-1320), of whom but little is known.
PK. BKUSHFIELD'S presidential ADDRESa 35
Pits (408) assigns him to Devonshire, and that he was a Canon of the Augustinian priory of Plympton, also that he was the author of two works, De PoiniteTitia and Sen/tones Dominicales, of which nothing is known.^® William of Exeter (-1330), Canon of Exeter Cathedral, is asserted by Pits (426) to have been the author of several religious treatises, the principal being one against the Ockhamites. Nothing further is known of thein, or of works on theology and philosophy of another writer of the same period, John DE Bampton (-1341), of which the titles of two are given by Pits (449). He was a Cluniac monk, and, according to a doubtful tradition, was the first lecturer on Aristotle at Cambridge. Equally unknown are the literary labours of WiLUAM Slade (-1415) a Devonian, according to Hooker, Abbot of Buckfastleigh, and Rector of Exeter College. At Buckfastleigh he is reported to have left ** behind him xiii books of his own penning."^® Walter of Exeter (Jl. 1301), a Cluniac monk, is said to have written The History or Life of Chiy Earl of Wanvick (Prince, 354), but more probably it was a version of the ordinary romance of Guy of Warwick, of which unfortunately no trace has descended tous.^
Happily we are in possession of another romance of the latter part of the same century, and one of considerable philological importance. The exploits of Charlemagne were long the theme of song and romance, first in France and afterwards in the neighbouring countries.^* All the Charle- magna romances, whether in verse or prose, were popular. The one that found the most favour in England was designated Sir Ferumbras (a corruption of the original name Fierabras), a gigantic Saracen knight, whose adventures it related. Of this an English metrical version, preserved in a MS. in the Bodleian Library, was for the first time printed in the year 1877, by the Early English Text Society. The Editor (Mr. S. J. Herrtage) states, **The poem is written in a southern (probably Devonshire) dialect, but has an unusually large admixture of midland and northern forms," probably from the author having resided " for some consider- able time in counties north of his own." (xviii.) From its ifUemal evidence he believed " the author of the poem was a clergyman, and . . . most likely . . . lived at Exeter " (xvi., xviii.) ; wliile Mr. W. H. Black, from the external evidence of its "antient covers," concluded "that the author was a clergyman, lived in the diocese of Exeter (probably in that city), and composed his work shortly after 1377, or early in
36 DK. brushfield's presidential address.
the reign of Richard 1 1." 22 it is not at all improbable that the poem (translation) was the work of " John Brygge, the vicar of Bucfastleghe."
Although it contains a large amount of alliteration, it is not an alliterative poem. It has two different rhyming metres. As far as at present known, it is the earliest work containing a distinct Devon dialect.^ As an example, I may quote the following from the remarks of Mr. Herrtage: "The e is very frequently omitted before the th in the third person singular. ... In many cases this peculiarity, which still exists in Devonshire, serves to distinguish between the singular and plural." (xxiv.) The following line (1513), taken from the work, shows a remarkable variant of the Cornish " one and all " :
'* Peynymes thei were alle and some."
The only historian of this period was Richard Chichester {fl, 1348), whom Bishop Bale and Fuller claim as a Devonian, and a member of the family of Ralegh, of Pilton. "He wrote a chronicle from Hengistus the Saxon, to the year of our Lord, 1348, done indeed ^ JTistorica." (Fuller, i. 263.)"
The publication of the letters and papers of John Shilling- ford, Mayor of Exeter, 1445, 7, and 8 {Camd. Soc. 1871), was an important contribution to the history of that city.^ They relate to a quarrel of long standing between the civic and the ecclesiastic authorities ; the Mayor claiming " sole jurisdiction within the whole city including the Bishop's palace," while the Bishop claimed that the latter was "separate, distinct from, and out of the jurisdiction of the Mayor." Hence a very pretty *' difference of opinion " which terminated in a compromise in 1448. The letters show the great antagonism between the two parties, as well as the vigorous manner in which the Mayor fought for the asserted rights of the city. There is a short notice of the contest in Izacke's Antiquities of Exeter, It is rather singular that Dr. Oliver makes no allusion to it in any of his works.
" The first author who had the merit of reducing Heraldry to a system," and ** the most ancient author of this country whose works on the subject of Heraldry are extant," is Nicholas Upton {fl. 1440), a Devonian, and believed to have been born at Postlinch. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, per- suaded him to retire from the military service, and he then became a priest In return, as his patron, he dedicated to the Duke his first work on Heraldry. It consists of four books, two of which (translated), printed for the first time.
DR. BRUSHFIELD's PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 37
formed a portion of the Bohe of St, Albans of Juliana Berners, published in 1486. The complete work appeared in 1654, edited by Edward Bysshe.
William Wey or Weye (1408-1476) is the only Devonian traveller during this period, whose written account of his wanderings has been preserved.^® As a pilgrim he visited Compostella in 1456, and Jerusalem in 1458 and 1462. The original MS. (in prose, and verse) and large map, are in the Bodleian Library, and under the editorship of the Bev. 6. Williams, the former was printed in 1857 (map in 1867) under the title of The Itineraries of William Wey. (Roxb. Club.) From this the following is quoted as a specimen, ** In this Boke conteynyd ys the wey to Jerusalem and the boly placys in that sam centre.
" Fro Venyse to Port Jaff by the see Hyt ys ij"* myle and hundrys thre ; And yn that see ther is a place Wher the whale swalowyd Jonas. Thcr ys in the same, besyde that, A ston that seynt Petyr fyschyd at. Also att Jaff ther was a place Wher Dorkas fro deth reysyd was." (8)
If the literary work of anyone of this period be still r^arded with the highest degree of respect, and as of great authority on the subject of it, most assuredly it will be that of the next writer to notice, *' one of the worthies of the county of Devon, of whom it may be justly proud " (Foss, Judges of England (1870) 276), viz., Sir John Fortescub (1394 ?-1476 ?), " that notable Bulwarke of our Lawes," as he is termed by Ralegh {Hist, of World (1614) 247), Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and ** Lord Chancellor to King Henry VL" His birthplace is unknown, except it is generally conceded to be in this county. He was the author of several works, nearly all of them relating to legal matters,^^ but the two for which he is celebrated are —
De Lavdibus Legum Anglice.
De Dominio Regali et Politico.
The first — A Treatise of the Laws of England^ and his principal work, was written about 1470, while an exile in France with the Queen and Prince Edward, whither they had gone, when the Lancastrians were defeated at the battle of Hexham, in the year 1464. For the education of the prince, who was entrusted to his care, he wrote this Latin work, in the form of a dialogue between the prince and himself. In it, and accompanied with many illustrations from Scripture, he taught him the duties and responsibilities of a
38 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
king. The first chapter, '' An Exhortation to the Study of the Laws," terminates thus: "To depart from Evil, the Laws teach and caution ; whereby they also produce that Fear of God, which is the true Wisdom." The ninth chapter, " The Nature of a Government which is Political," is a memorable one, and has been frequently quoted in the Law Courts as well as in Parliament. The following is a noteworthy passage in it: "A King of England cannot, at his Pleasure, make any Alterations in the Laws of the Land, for the Nature of his Government is not only Regal but Political" The work, "after more than three centuries, is referred to as the first treatise that entered minutely into the history of our legal institutions and described the professional education and habits of the period." (Fobs, Op. cit. 276.) First printed in 1537, it has passed through many editions, both in the original Latin, and translated into English (first in 1567).
His second treatise. The Difference between an AbsoliUe and Limited Monarchy^ was written in English.^ In some portions, notably those relating to the kingly power, it is a paraphrase or expansion of the former work, and was certainly written after it. In it he contrasts the Constitution of England with that of France, much to the disparagement of the latter country, and is based on his enquiries and observation when an exile there. Of the French peasantry he gives a lamentable description. The twelfth chapter is headed, " Hereafter ys schewyd, what Harme would come to England, if the Commons thereof were Pore," as the French were ; and he points out that the well-being of the Commons is the welfare of the State.
His works have the singular merits of being of simple diction, short, and to the point His remains were interred in Ebrington Church, Gloucestershire, and the final couplet of his Latin epitaph has been thus translated —
" To latest times shall Fortcscue be known, And in the law's just pmise we read his own.'*
Before quitting our notice of the literary records of this period, some important works relating to ecclesiastical and general history, and which until recently remained in a MS. state, and inaccessible to the student, must not be overlooked.
The first is an Account of the Executors of Thomas db BiTTON or Button, Bishop of Exeter (1292-1307). edited for the Camden Society (1874) by Archdeacon Hale, and the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe, containing many interesting particulars bearing upon the manorial history of the county, as well as
BB. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 39
upon social maimers of the century. As he is one of the bishops about whom little is known, and whose £egisters have long since perished, the account is of especial value.
The second is the Issue Boll of Thomas de Brantii^gham, Bishop of Exeter (1370-1394) and Lord High Treasurer of England : a statement of payments made out of His Majesty's Eevenue, 44 Edw. 3 (1370), published in 1835. It was the year of Brantingham's consecration as Bishop of Exeter. As an indication of its value, it contains entries relating to Henry de Bracton, as well as to Chaucer.^
The third is the Liber Pontificalis of Bishop Lacy (1420-1455), edited by R. Barnes, and published in 1847. The original MS. was the property, and in the use, of the bishop, and at his death was deposited in the Cathedral Library, where it yet remains. It is believed to belong to the 14th century, and is the ancient^ ritual used by him in all those services in which he took the leading part
The fourth and last of this series is the publication, still in progress, of the Bishops' B£GIST£RS (Index and full Abstract), by the Rev. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph, of which three goodly volumes have appeared. It would be difficult to over-estimate, or to express in adequate terms of commend- ation, the worth of these results of his industry and self- denying labours. Suffice it to say, that a knowledge of the contents of these precious Registers has, for the first time, been made practically available to the student of parochial and of general history.
Fmrth Period, 1477-1558.
The period extending from 1477 to the accession of Elizabeth, although historically a highly important one, was, notwithstanding the introduction of the printing press, not marked by any increase in the number of Devon authors, judging from the number of their published works. It may be regarded as the procemium to the numerous literary pro- ductions that were to spring up during her reign.
The earliest printed work that can be claimed for this county, emanated from one who was a resident but for a short time. Alexander Barclay (1475 ?-1552), a priest, and probably of Scottish origin (although assigned to Devon- shire, by Pits, 745), on his return from the Continent was by Bishop Cornish, Warden of the College of Ottery St. Mary, appointed to a chaplaincy there. During his foreign sojourn.
40 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
he could not have been insensible of the extraordinary popularity of Sebastian Brandt's Narrenschiff,^ published in 1494. His first English work was a translation of Pierre Gringoire's Le Chateau de Labour (1499), under the title of The Castell of Labouriy printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1506. Whether this can be regarded as a Devon work is unknown, but there can be no doubt of the next, a translation of Brandt's work, entitled The Shyp of folys, and published by Pynson as a good folio in 1509, being claimed for this county, from the following note at the end of the Latin dedication to Bishop Cornish :
"This present Boke named the Shyp of folys of the worlde was translated in the College of saynt Mary Otery in the counte Deuonshyre: out of Laten, Frenche, and Doche into Englysshe tonge by Alexander Barclay Preste : and at that tyme Chaplen in the sayde College, translated the yere of our Lorde god. M.ccccc.viij. Inprentyd in the Cyte of London in Fletestre at the signe of Saynt George. By Eycharde Pynson to hys Goste and charge : Ended the yere of our Saviour. M. d. ix. The xiiij. day of December."
He left Devonshire for Ely about 1508.31
Under the allegory of a ship laden with fools of all ranks and classes, Brandt satirises their weaknesses and vices. Each individual or class is taken and described by itself in verse, and illustrated by a satirical woodcut. There is no attempt at any plot, or even any connection between the several chapters. " It was the first printed book," according to Max Muller, "that treated of contemporaneous events and living persons, instead of old German battles and French knights," and was "just such a satire which ordinary people would read, and read with pleasure."^
Barclay's work is much more than a simple translation of the original satire. He himself states, " It is not translated word by worde acordinge to ye verses of my actour." It reproduces the matter but not the manner of Brandt's volume. Its metre is different; it frequently paraphrases the original, and to the larger number of sections is added a verse or verses of Barclay's own, as " The enuoy of Barklay to the Folys." ^ To its general merit, Max Muller thus testifies : " In some parts his translation is an improvement on the original."
It is, moreover, of especial value for two distinct reasons, first to the philologist, for being an excellent example of the English of the period. " Written midway between Chaucer and Spenser, it is infinitely more easy to read than either."
DR. BRUSHFDUiD^S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 41
(Jamieson, i. xx.) And, secondly, for containing ''the most graphic and comprehensive picture ever preserved of the folly, injustice, and iniquity which demoralized England, city and country alike, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and rendered it ripe for any change, political or religious.'*'* From this it will be understood that Barclay's work is not a translation, but an adaptation to English life and manners. Written, not in Latin for the learned, but in English for the people, he thus excuses '' the rudenes of his translacion," and which is " confessedly written in the com- monest language of the common people " ( Jamieson) :
" My speche is rude my termes comon and rural And I for rude peple moche more conuenient Than for Estates, lemed men, or eloquent." (i. 2.)
It is full of apothegms, proverbs and wise saws; and although at times humorous, is terribly in earnest. He remarks, "I write no jest ne tale of Eobyn hode." He attacks all classes, and, curiously enough, the first on his list is the bibliomaniac, the man who collects books and does not read them.
** For to bane plenty it is a plesaunt thynge In my conceyt and to have them ay in honde But what they mene do I not understonde." (i. 20.)
Gluttons and drunkards, backbiters, flatterers, mockers and £alse accusers, talebearers, " the vyce of vnkyndnes," are all included in his list. In the section " Of newe fassions and disgised garmentes " he tritely remarks :
** Comonlv it is sene that nowe a dayes One Fofe gladly folowes another's wayes."
It may be of interest to know that his remarks on fashions are confined to the men. He is especially severe on those ** that make noyses rehersynges of talys and do other thynges unlawfnll and dishonest in ye chvrche of God," condemning the practice of those who take dogs or hawks into the sacred edifice, e.g, :
'^ On his fyst a Sparhauke or fawcon, Or els a ookow." (i. 221.)m
He makes occasional allusion to Devonshire people, some- times by name, as Sir John Kirkham, and "Mansell of Otery." One verse he devotes to eight secondaries of the Ottery St. Mary College, whom he designates as his " eyght neyghbours." His opinion of the local parochial clergy is not a very high one :
" For if one can flater, and here a hawke on his fyst. He shalbe made Person of Honyngton or of Clyst." (i. 22.)"
VOL. XXV. D
42 DR. BBU8H7ISLD S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
The illustrations in Barclay's work are facsimiles of those in Brandt's. Its great popularity led to the publication of other English versions, as well as to many imitations, confined in some instances to the title alone. Several ballads also appeared under a similar title.'^ The most memorable work in all probability suggested by, written in a similar vein to, that of Barclay, and published in the year following, is Morioe Encomium : or the Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, in Latin (subsequently translated into English by Bishop Kennet). In this, Folly *' mounts a pulpit in cap and bells, and pelts with her satire the absurdities of the world around her, the superstition of the monk, the pedantry of the gram- marian, the dogmatism of the doctors of the schools, the selfishness and tyranny of kings." (Green, ii. 85.) In his prefatory epistle to Sir Thomas More, he makes the punning statement : " The first hint [of the work] was your own simame of More^ which comes cus near the literal sound of the word, as you yourself are distant from the signification of it ; and that in aU men's judgments is vastly wide."
No account of the literature of this county could be deemed complete without it included the name of Miles CovERDALE (1488-1568), who was not a Devonian, but held the Bishopric of Exeter, 1551-3. Although a voluminous author, none of his writings are attributed to him during the time he held the See. Be that as it may, every church in Devonshire (as throughout England generally) was supplied, in 1535, with a copy of the Bible in English, the work of Coverdale; and in 1549, with one of the translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament, a portion of which was also Goverdale's work, viz., the dedication to the second volume, and the translation of the epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians.^
Any speculative historian would certainly include in a chapter of history that might have been, the projected marriage of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire (1526 ?-1556), first with Mary when queen, afterwards with Elizabeth.^ He was imprisoned at the age of twelve with his father, when the latter was convicted of high treason, and was not released until the year 1553, when Mary came to the throne. While a prisoner he translated in 1548, an Italian work by Antonio della Paglia, under the title of The Benefit of Christ's Death,^ "It was deemed to be an apology for the reformed doctrines," and as such might con- ciliate the king in his favour, but in this it failed. The MS. is preserved in the Cambridge University Library, and con-
DB. brushfield's pbbsidential addbess. 43
*
tains two autographs of Edward YI. It was printed for the first time in 1858.
Dr. John Morbman (-1554), bom at Southhole, near Hartland, was Canon of Exeter, and by Prince is recorded as having written a work upon St Paul's epistle to the Bomans, that was intended for publication, but never printed.*^ While Vicar of Menheniot the historian Hooker was instructed by him.
On the authority of Wood (L 195) John Morwen, b.d. (/. circ, 1550), was a Devonian. He was celebrated as a learned Greek scholar, and an instructor of Bishop Jewel, although afterwards " a hater of his opinions." He translated from the Greek into Latin many Greek poems and lives of saints, and composed a few epitapha Some of his MSS. are in the Bodleian library, but none appear to have been printed.
A native of Kingsbridge, David Tolley or Talley (1500 ? -1552?), also Tavelegus and TAULiEUS, published at Antwerp in 1547, a Greek grammar, entitled ProgymncLsmata GrcBce Orammatices, written, according to the author, eight years previously, ''as well as a Latin grammar already printed." He is recorded to have compiled the former for the use of Prince Edward, but whether so or not is unknown. It may have been founded on the circumstance that the copy in the British Museum, printed on vellum, and with the title-page and initial letters illuminated, has the autograph of Edw. VL on the back of the title-page, in all probability a presentation copy. Pits (738-9) mentions three other works of his, including Orammaticam regiam (which may have been the Latin grammar), but nothing of tiiem is now known but the tities.
Our information that Hugh Ehodes (Jl, circ, 1550) was a native of this county, is derived from a statement in his work. The boke of Nurture, or Schoole of good rnaners : for mtfiy seruants, and children, published some time before 1554.^ It is written parfly in prose and partly in verse, and concludes thus: "Compyled by Hugh Ehodes of the Einges Chappell" (where he was probably master of the choristers). In the opening lines of the metrical portion (9-12) he describes himself —
** Corrupt in speeche, be sore, am I, my oreefes from loDges to know, And born and bred in Deuonshyre to as playne my tearmes doe show."
A careful examination of the work fails to prove that his
D 2
44 DR. bkushfield's presidential address.
t
" tearmes " were specially those peculiar to Devonshire, and this is Mr. Elworthy's opinion.**
Apart from the general advice and directions for the tuition of those to whom it is addressed, it contains many quaint sayings, proverbs, &c. Here is an example of a well- known proverb, with a singular variant of it
*' A byrde is better in thy hande, then in Wood two or three. "
"A byrd in hand, as some men say, is worth ten flye at large."
(E.E.T.S. 91, 98.)**
On the authority of Warton (iv. 146), who must have seen a copy, Bhodes wrote a poem of 360 octavo stanzas, printed by John Cawood in 1555, and entitled " The Song of the Chyld-bysshop, as it w£U3 songe before the queenes maiestie in her priuie chamber at her manour of saynt James in the GTeeldes on saynt Nicholas day and Innocents day this yeare nowe present, by the chylde bysshope of Poules churche with his company." London. 1555.
This was evidently a revival of the festival of the boy- bishop.** According to Warton it was "a fulsome pane- gyric on the queen's devotion." But " courtly adulation " of the reigning sovereign was a common proceeding, and even Elizabeth received many high-flown compliments.
The amount of literature relating to the Great Bebellion of the West in 1549, is remarkably smalL The result of the examination of a large number of historical tracts made by Mr. Davidson (as recorded in his Bibl. Devon, 61), resulted in the discovery of four only. Of these, two are royal procla- mations, dated respectively July 11th and 12th. The third, A Message sent by the Kynges Maiestiej to certain of his people, assembled in Deuonshire, dated the 8th of July, and printed by Richard Grcrfton. And the fourth, A Copye of a letter contayning certayne newes, and the articles and reqtiestes of the Devonshyre and Corny she rebelles, B.L. (1549), dated " from a village, nygh Sainct Mary Otery, the xxvij of Julii" Then follow " The articles," signed by five " Chief Captaynes," and "the foure Gouernours of the Campes," the names of the latter being "Jhon Thompson, Priest, Henry Bray Mayer of Bodman, Henry Lee Mayer of Torriton, Roger Barret Prieste." All four are exceedingly rare. Copies of the proclamations are in the British Museum ; of the Message, in St. John's College, Cambridge; and of the Letter, in
DB. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 45
Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The two latter are also in the library of the Hon. Mark Eolle at Stevenstone, who has kindly permitted the author to examine them.
We may close our notice of this period, with a brief account of the early history of the art and craft of printing in this county. The earliest notice of a printing press in Devonshire yet recorded, is in the year 1525, nearly fifty years after its introduction into England by Caxton, and employed at the great Benedictine monastery at Tavistock.^ The proof of this is, that copies of two works printed there are still preserved. The first is a translation, made in 1410 by John Walton, Canon of Osney, of De consolatione phUo- Sophie, by Boethius,*^ under the title of The Boke of Comfort, and with this colophon at the end : ** Emprented in the exempt monastery of Tauestok in Densh}rre. By me Dan Rychard monke of the sayd Monastery. To the instant desyre of the ryght worshjrpful Esquyer Mayster Eobert Langdon, Anno D*MD xxv. Deo Graicas."*®
The second is, T?ie Confirmation of the Charter perteynynge to all the tynners wythyn the contey of Deuonshire, printed there in 1534.** According to Timperly {Hist, of Printing, 234) " a book called the Long Grammar " was issued from the same press, " but no copy of it has been found/'
The next authentic date obtainable, is from a return made in the year 1571, of provincial printers, to the Stationers' Company, and among the number is "Henry Bolte in Exeter." We gather from the entry that he had probably been established there some years earlier.^
The earliest book at present known to have been printed in Exeter, is Fuller's Good Thoughts in Bad Tim£s, " Exeter Printed for Thomas Hunt 1645," and thus recorded in the Author's Dedicatory Epistle: "Accept these grapes, if not for their Goodnefse, for their Novelty : though not sweetest rellisht, they are soonest ripe, being the First Fruits of Exeter prefse." In Plvmouth the first printing press was set up in 1696. (Worth, History ofPlym/mth (1890) 464.)
Fifth Period, 1558-1640.
From whatever point it may be viewed, the period extending from the accession of Elizabeth to the meeting of the Long Parliament, is the most important — certainly from a literary point of view — in the history of England. A new phase of English life, a phase marked by intensity of feeling and
46 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
determined action, now commenced, which, fiom various causes, had been kept in subjection during the previous reigns. Men appeared for the iBrst time to speak and to write freely, from the sudden removal of restraint Owing to the rapid increase in the number of authors, it is deemed preferable to group them in classes, under the head of sub- jects. The first to treat of is that relating to Religious Matters; and the alterations in the forms of religion soon created a number of polemical writers. The man above all others, who may be said to have kindled the flame of religious controversy, was John Jewel (1522-1571), a native of Berrynarbor, termed by Camden "the wonder of his age for Divinity, and a strenuous defender of the Eeformed Eeligion." A Protestant exile in the reign of Mary, he returned to England in the first year of Elizabeth, and in the same year was nominated Bishop of Salisbury. Sermons delivered by him at Paul's Cross, in which he uttered a challenge to the Somish party, were published in 1560 ; and two years afterwards appecu^ his Apologia pro EccUsia Anglicana, It was written in Latin, " as it was intended for circulation on the Continent, where Elizabeth's proceedings had been systematically misrepresented."^^ It is "the first methodical statement of the position of the Church of England against the Church of Borne, and forms the ground- work of all subsequent controversy."^* From this time to the year of his death (1571), Jewel's life was one of active literary controversy. Seven members of the Bomish Church entered the lists against him,^^ only one of whom needs an extended notice, but he was the most doughty of them all. Dr. Thomas Harding (1516-1572), born in North Devon (at Combe Martin or Bickington), had been to the same school as Jewel, and both were members of the same University. The latter fled to the Continent on the accession of Mary, and returned at her death. Under Mary, Harding became a Boman Catholic, and when she died, quitted England never to return.
In 1564 Harding published An Answere to Maister Jvelles Challenge of 1560, and in the following year A Confutation of Jewel's Apology, Those were followed by the publication of Jewel's two great works, A Beplie vnto M. Hardinga Answer (1565), and A Defence of the Apologie of the Church of Englafid (1567). In these he replied to the whole of Harding's statements paragraph by paragraph." We may form a faint estimate of the immense amount of labour expended in their composition from the fact, that the former
DB. BRUSH?ISU)*S P&ESIDENTIAX ADDRESS. 47
extends to 472, and the latter to 652, closely-printed pages (edit of 1611), exclusive of prefatory and other matter. The literary dud between these controversialists (the subjects of which " involved the whole of the Bomish controversy ") continued with but little interruption until the death of Jewel in 1571, followed by that of his adversary in the following year. Of this controversy Hallam (i 571) asserts, ** in length and learning it far surpasses our earlier polemical literature." In learning and general abilities they were fairly equal, but Harding was at times rather scurrilous.^ The two last-named works of Jewel were deemed so important by Archbishop Parker and others, that they were directed to be supplied to all churches in the kingdom for the use of the public, and many copies are still preserved, and occasion- ally with the chains that secured them to their desks. Bishop Jewel wrote many other works, sermons, commentaries, &c., only one of which is of present interest In March, 1570, was published by Pius V., "the Bull of Excommunication and Deposition " against Elizabeth, '* which had been secretly issued in the preceding year" (Green, ii. 38), and on May 15 following, a copy of it '*was found nailed against the Bishop of London's door." (Froude, x. 59)^ In reply to this, Jewel preached a sermon in Salisbury Cathedral (pub. in 1569), entitled, A View of a Seditious Bull sent into Bngland from Pius QuintuSj Bishop of Rome. His love of literature, other than polemical, he manifested in many ways, especially in the erection of a library for Salisbury Cathedral. Fuller thus tersely summed up his labours: ** He wrote learnedly, preached painfully, lived piously, died peaceably."
In addition to Dr. Harding, there are several other Eoman Catholic authors to mention, but none of great eminence.
How the burning religious questions of the day divided members of the same family, we have a well-marked example in the brothers William and John Sainolds or Beynolds, natives of Pinhoe, and " zealous maintainers both of the Beform'd and the Popish Beligion in their turns." (Camden, Britannia (1695), 40). «» "Strengthened by each other's arguments," exclaims Wood, "William turned a zealous Catholic, and John a strong Puritan." (i. 613.) William Bainolds or Beynolds (-1594), the elder brother, translated the works of Dr. Harding into Latin, " but for want of money they could not be printed." {Ibid, i. 413.) He wrote several controversial works, published in Paris or Antwerp, and usually under the name of Will. Bossseus. The most
48 DB. BRUSHFIELD'S PBESIDSNTIAL ADDRESa
noteworthy (a posthumous one) is entitled Caivino-ISircismtis (Antwerp, 1597), in which he "endeavours to prove that Calvin's religion is worse in condition, and less probable in reason, than that of the Turks." John Bainolds or Eeynolds, d.d. (1549-1607), Dean of Lincoln, is designated by Hallam (i. 572) " the most eminently learned man " of the reign of Elizabeth, and is regarded as one of the pillars of Puritanism. He was a very voluminous writer, and, with one notable exception, on religious subjects. Many of his works are of a controversial character, his best known being T?ie Svmme of the Conference (1584) between him and John Hart, a Roman Catholic priest, then in prison, " touching the head and the faith of the Church." (Ed. of 1609, 675 pages) '^ His JvdgmeTvt concerning Episcopacy whether it be Ood's Ordinance (1598), on which his opinion was of an adverse character, was reprinted many years later (1641), when the subject became a prominent one by the action of Archbishop Laud.^ Some of his Sermons were in series, such as those on The Frophecie of Obadiah (1613), and on Haggai (1649). At the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, between the Puritans and the English Churchmen, he was the leading member of the former. It led to a new translation of the Bible, and Bainolds was one of the most eminent of the translators.
" The ornament of Douay College," as Dr. Oliver terms BoBERT Turner (-1599), was a native of Barnstaple; became a priest in 1574, and spent the remainder of his life abroad, principally at the University of Ingolstadt, of which he was first a professor, and afterwards the rector. To the English student he is well known as the author of a work (under the pseudonym of '' Obertus Barnstaplensis), in which he attempted to vindicate the character of Mary Queen of Scots, from the charge of being accessory to the murder of her husband. Lord Darnley, and in it she is termed " Martyr Ecclesise." (1588). This is thought to be a reply to a work by George Buchanan, published 16 years before (1572), relating to this murder, and to Mary's relations with Bothwell ("foedo cum Botheulio Adulterio ").® His other works (all in Latin), comprising Orations, Commentaries, Letters, and, in later editions, a Narrative of the Death of Edward Campion, who was executed for treason on December 1, 1581, were issued in a collected form in 1584, 1599, and 1604.«>
The last Boman Catholic to mention, Edward Coffin or Hatton (1571-1626), S. J., was a native of Exeter, and the
DB. BRUSHFIELD's PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 49
author of several polemical and other theological works, an account of the death of Cardinal Bellarmine, and a transla- tion of a work by him under the title of The Art of Dying Well (1621). His Treatise in Defence of the Celibacy of Priests (1619) was answered by Dr. Hall, the future Bishop of Exeter, in The Honour of the Married Clergy Maintained (1620.)^ In 1623 appeared his Marci Antonii de Dominis Archiepiscopi SpakUrensis Palinodia^ qvd reditils sui ex Anglid rationes explicat, St. Omer.®^ He usually wrote under the signature of C. E.
The present is perhaps the most fitting place to notice John Molle (1557-1638), born in South Molton. He went with Lord Eoss to Eome as travelling tutor, and died in the prison of the Inquisition there after a detention of thirty years. According to Fuller, " the pretence and allegation of his long and strict imprisonment was because he had trans- lated Da Plessis, his book of The Visibility of the Church out of French into English" (Ch. Hist. bk. x. 48-9.) There is no record of its publication.®* In the opinion of the Eev. J. Ingle Dredge, he also translated from the Latin of P. Camerarius, The Living Librarie ; or, Meditations and Observations His- torical, Natural, Moral, Political, and Poetical. " Done into English by J. Molle, Esquire : with some Additions by H. MoUe, his Sonne." Fo. 1621, 1625.« Another copy (1621) bears the title of The Walking Librarie.
A bitter enemy to, and writer against, the Eoman Catholics was John Gee (1596-1639),son of John Gee, vicar of Dunsford. At first a Protestant, he became a Eoman Catholic, and was one of the audience at the "Fatal Vespers" in Blackfriars on October 26th, 1623, when so many were killed.®* He returned to Protestantism, and in the following year published The Foot out of the Snare : with a detection of sundry late practices and impostures of the Priests and Jesuites in Eng- land^ (1624), the title .of which is sufficiently indicative of the character of its contents. Four editions were issued in that year, the two latter having the addition of " a gentle excuse unto Master Musket for stiling him Jesuite"; as well as a supplementary work, New Shreds of the Old Snare. All these are now exceedingly rare, having, according to Wood (ii 391), been " bought up by Eoman Catholics before they were dispersed, for fear their lodgings, and so consequently themselves, should be found out and discovered," owing to the catalogue of their names and addresses being printed at the end of the book.®*^ Judging from the number of editions, his most popular work was Steps of Ascension; or, A
50 DB. BRUSHFISLD'S presidential ADDRESa
Ladder to Heaven ; containing Prayers and MeditcUians for every Bay in the Week, and for all other Times and Occasions (1625). Wood records the 27th edition in 1677, bnt assigns the authorship erroneously to Edward Gee (1565-1618), his uncle, Hector of St. Mary Tedburn (ii 260), whose sole claim to literature consists in three printed sermons (post- humous).^
Although the controversy between the two great religious bodies continued, and sometimes with great virulence when occasion offered, yet there were signs of its abating. Not so, however, in the instance of Matthew Sutcliffe, ll.d. (1550 ?-1629), Dean of Exeter for the long period of forty years.®^ He was the author of many disputatious and other religious works, and wrote with determined vigour against the Somish Church, and especially against Cardinal Bellarmine, and Bobert Parsons. His first work, A Treatise of Ecclesiastical Discipline^ is dated 1590. He retorted on William Eainolds' Calvino Turcismus, already referred to, by publishing in the following year De Turco-Fapismo (1599), " on the resemblance between Mahometanism and Popery/' A volume entitled The Fractice, Proceedings, and Lawes of Armes, described otU of the doings of most valiant and expert Captaines (1593), is assigned to him, but its character is so entirely different from his other writings, that if really his, it may be considered as having been a literary recreation, in the intervals of his more serious studies.'^®
Two well-known Bishops of Exeter of this period, well known for their printed works, were not Devonians, and added but little to our county literature during their respective occupancy of the See. William Alley, d.d. (Bp. of Exeter, 1560-1570), a native of Buckinghamshire, is best known as the author of The Poore Man's Ltbrarie, written prior to his elevation to the See. He however claims our notice for his Judgment concerning the doctrine and discipline of the Church (1562) ;^^ and as a revisor of the Book of Deuteronomy for the Bishops' Bible, printed in 1568. Of Gervase Babington, d.d.,^* a native of Notts, during the short time he was Bishop of Exeter we have no work to record. His writings were very popular, especially those on the Lord's Prayer and on the Commandments, and continued so up to the time of the Civil War. Although several editions of each were published, they are now very rare and are much in request, but all (with perhaps one exception) preceded his translation to Exeter.
We now come to a large group of religious works written
DR. BBUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 51
by Protestant clergymen, and as a rule differing in character from those already described. They consist mainly of sermons (usually of undue length), and of religious treatises ; written for the most part by those who derived their inspiration from the Genevan School. As time rolled on, their writings became of a more pronounced Puritan type, both in their contents and titles, the latter often marked by painful alliteration, of which the following is a well-marked example : — Munition against Mans Misery and Mortality a Treaiice containing the most effectuall remedies against the miserahU staie of man in this life. By "Eichard Smyth preacher of Gods word in Barnstaple in Devonshire." 2nd ed., Oxford, 1612 ; 3rd ed., 1634. The first was probably issued on "Januarie 1, alias Newyeares day," of 1609. Of Richard Smyth nothing more is known.
It is unnecessary to give a detailed account of all these writings, and names of the authors unnoticed here will be found in Appendices A and B.^^
A thick volume of the theological treatises of John DowNE, B.D. (1570 ?-1631), Vicar of Instow, was published in 1633-5, with a commendatory letter by Bishop Hall, and his funeral sermon by Dr. George Hakewill, "a neere neighbour and deere friend vnto him,'' containing all that is known of his history. He was born at Holsworthy. He is reported to have been a very learned man, and a good linguist.
Very little appears tp be known of William Est. {fl, circ. 1600.) He was instituted Rector of Bideford in 1592, and his printed works extend to the year 1617. All, except one, are religious treatises, and with Puritanical alliterative titles, such as The Mirror of Mercy (1611), Sathan's Souring Season (1611), The Bight Rule of a Religious Life, or the Olasse of Godliness (1616). The exception is a translation of a work by B. Pirkheimer of Nuremberg, and entitled The Praise of the Oout: or The Gouts Apology. A Paradox both pleasant atid profiiaile. (1617).^* Probably written during his forced retirement for a time, owing to an attack of that malady. Nearly all his works are dedicated to Sir Bernard Grenville.
No divine of this county is better known by name than Samuel Hieron (1576 ?-1617), who, though not a born Devonian, we claim as Vicar of Modbury (1599-1617).^^ Although Puritan in principle, he adhered closely to the Church of England. All his works are on religious subjects, a few of them being controversial. Their popularity was well- marked. Although at first issued separately, they were
52 DB. BRUSHFIELDS PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
subsequently published in one laige folio volume in 1614, and again in 1620 (upwards of 1300 pages) and 1635. Of his Hdpe vnto Devotion^ the Bev. J. Ingle Dredge gives particulars of twenty-two editions up to 1650, and probeibly there were some later issues. Penance far Sinne, or David^s PenUentiall Psalme opened, was perhaps his principal work. He was the author of A Defence of the Ministers Reasons, for Rcfosall of Svbscription to the Booke of Common prayer and of Covformitie (1607-8), published anonymously. It was a reply to several writers (divines) on the subject.^*
John Carpenter (-1621), a native of Cornwall, was instituted to the rectory of North Leigh, near Honiton, Sept 23, 1587, and remained there till his death. He was the author of The Plaine Mans Spirituall Plough (1607), and other religious treatises, the principal one being Schelomo- nocham, or King Solomen his Solace (1606), dedicated to James I.^^ "Two godly and fruitfull sermons" entitled, Bemember Lot's Wife (1588), were, singularly enough, dedicated to Mary, wife of Bishop Woolton. His son, Nathan ael Carpenter (1589-1628?), bom at Northleigh,^ one of the leading scientific men of his time, is recoided to have published only two treatises of a religious nature, first preached at Oxford as Sermons. One is AchUophd, or The Picture of a Wicked Politician (1627, 1659), of a politico- religious character, and very popular, as Mr. Dredge notes eight editions of it. Eespecting this book, W. Prynne makes a singular statement in his Canterburies Doome (1646), " wherein were divers passages against Arminianisme, averring it to be planted among us by Jesuiticall PolititiaTis to undermine our Religion by degrees, and covertly to introduce Popery it self : which Booke was presently called in, and all the passages against Arminianisme expunged by this Bishop's [Laud's] Agents, which done, it was reprinted at London without them Anno 1629, to the great injury both of the truth and Author : as was attested by Mr, Prynne and Michaell Spark Senior, and evident to all who will compare these two Editions " (166). Wood (ii 422) quotes from Prynne, " as a busy body saith." The other is Chorazin and Bethsaida's Woe, or waming-Peece, (1633, 1640.)
John Chardon or Charldon (-1601) a Devonian bom, according to Wood (i. 715), Vicar of Heavitree and Bishop of Down and Connor, was more celebrated as a preacher than a writer. He published several sermons, and translated a work by Cornelius Valerius, under the title of The Casket of Jewels, a treatise of moral philosophy.
DR. brusufield's presidkntial address. 53
Two thick folios of Biblical Commentaries on the Proverbs of SoUmum (1638), and on the Booke of Ecdesiastes (1639), comprised the whole of the religions works of Michael Jermin (c. 1591-1659), born at Knowston.
A very learned and volnminous writer on many subjects was John Prideaux, d.d. (1578-1650), born at Stowford, near Ivybridge. He was Bishop of Worcester in 1641. Some of his works were written in Latin. Many of his sermons were published during his lifetime, but his other religious treatises, especially those of a controversial nature, were not printed until after his death.*^*
One of the most eminent theological writers of his day was George Hakewill, d.d. (1578-1649), a native of Exeter. His earliest work, written at the age of twenty-eight, was The Vanitie of the Hie (1601, 1615, 1633), and is remarkable Irom the incident that led to its composition, having been penned for the comfort of a young lady who became blind from small pox. Several controversial works, sermons, and religious treatises of his were published, but several of his writings were never printed, much to be regretted, as he was a most able writer. Appointed chaplain to Prince Charles, he wrote Tfie Aundent JScclesiasticall Practice of Confirmation (1613), when the Prince was confirmed, and twelve sermons preached before him appeared in 1621, with the title King David* s Vow for Reformation of Himself e, his Family, his Kingdome, He expressed the general feeling of the English people in his Treatise against the proposed match of the Prince with the Infanta of Spain, which led to his banishment from court.^ His literary fame rests on his Apologie of the Power and Providence of Ood in the Chvemment of the World. (1627.) Although of folio size, two other editions were issued (1630, 1635) with much additional matter.^i The work not only displayed his great learning and extensive reading, but was far in advance of the scientific opinions of his day; accordingly it led to some " Animadversions." The second portion of the title expressed its general character: "An Examination and Censvre of the Common Errovr tovching Natvres perpetuall and Universall Decay." He refutes this opinion, and so far from decaying shows that the world is a progressive one. " There is," he affirms, " both in wits and Acts as in all things besides, a kinde of circular progresse as- well in regard of places as times." He even foreshadows the great fact of the Correlation of Forces, so amply demon- strated during the present century, by the labours of Faraday, Grove, Tyndall, and others.®^ It is certainly one of the
54 DB. brushfibld's pbesidbnual addbess.
great works of the first part of the seventeenth century, and of its English it is sufficient to state that it " helped to form Johnson's styla"^
Historical events, local or general, occurring during this period formed the subject of many Devonian sermons. The "Gunpowder Plot" of 1605 was commemorated in this manner. Under the title of " The Bvine of God's Enemies," the Vicar of Modbury, S. Hieron, preached one on the anniversary, and while the event was vivid in men's memories, as, although undated, it must have been delivered before 1617. Another headed Iliggaion and Selah (1621, 1636), was preached at Oxfoi-d by Dr. Prideaux, when Sector of Exeter Golleg& While two works relating to the same plot were written by Dr. Geo. Hakewill.**
The occasion of another of especial local interest is thus alluded to by F. Godwin : — " The City of Excester in memory of this their delivery [by the royal troops during the rebellion of 1549] hath ever sithence with an anniversary solemnity kept the sixt of August holy."®* One of the com- memorative sermons was delivered in 1594, by Johk Chardon or Charldon, d.d. (-1601), a Devonian (already noticed). Under the heading of Fvlfordo et FvlfordiB it was published in the year following, and presented to Master Thomas Fulford (to whom it is dedicated) and his wife Ursula, "as a simple New-yeares gift" It is curious to note that the discourse relates mainly to the endowments of the clei^gy.^ Prol^ably a sermon continued to be delivered annually until the period of the Civil War.
During the episcopate of Bishop Hall " a dreadful plague ravaged Exeter, and the prodigious accumulation of dead bodies in St Peter's Close (which was then, and had been from time immemorial, the common burial place of the citizens) threatened the most alarming consequences." Through the Bishop's exertions land for a new burial ground "in the Friemhay," was presented by the Mayor and Corporation, "and the spot was walled in, at the joint expence of the church and city." (According to a MS. in the Library of the Devon and Exeter Institution, the ground had " bin long vsed by the fifullers, with racks to hang theire cloth in.") The Bishop consecrated it on Aug. 24, 1637, and the Sermon he preached on the occasion is printed in his Works, V. (426-442).8'
On the discovery of the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, John Bainolds preached a thanksgiving Sermon "to the
DR. bru^hfield's presidentul address. 55
public assembly of Scholars in the University of Oxon./' pub. in 1586 and 1613.
In all departments of literature writers will be found who delight in subjects out of the ordinary track. Of these we have two examples.
The first, William Tooker, d.d. (-1620), a native of Exeter, Canon of Exeter, and Dean of Lichfield, wrote a Latin work on Touching for King*$ Evil (1597), praised by Wood and Fuller \^ one, entitled Of the Fahrique of the Church and Church-mens Livings (1604), fully one-half of which is devoted to the consideration of pluralities ; and a third, in Latin, SingtUare Certamen cum Martina Becano Jesuita, &c. (1611) in which "he learnedly vindicates E. James I. in his Apology for the Oath of Allegiance," &c. (Prince, 736.) The other, John Reynolds (/. 1620), bom in Exeter, and a merchant there, was the author of The Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the crying and execraile sinne of WUfuU and Premeditated Murther. (1621.) A very popular work, and passed through many editions. The second (1635) was considerably enlarged, by the addition of " Thirtie severall Tragicall Histories."®* To the 6th (1679) was added, "Eevenge against Adultery." Wood aflBrms the " Histories " to be '' mostly taken from French printed copies, which'' the author "had gathered in his travels into Prance." (ii 149.) But this Reynolds, in his " Readvertise- ment to the Judicious Christian Reader" (1635) vehemently denies, whether in regard to " Matter, Mfinner, or Method, or Phrase, Place, or Persons," and declares he " composed and penned them according to the rule of " his " weak Fancie and Capacity." It is singular however that all are of foreign examples. He was also the author of The Flower of Fidelity (1650), a romance containing some poetical pieces. Some Translations from the French have been credited to him.®®
One of the most luminous as well as voluminous writers of the reign of Elizabeth, was Joseph Hall (1574^1656), ** the Christian Seneca," as he has been termed. A native of Leicestershire, he became Bishop of Exeter Dec. 23, 1627, and remained in that see until his translation to Norwich in Nov. 16, 1641, a period of much trouble to the English Church.*^ Although he wrote many Commentaries, Sermons, and politico -religious treatises, after he became a Bishop, the bulk of his literary labors belongs to his previous life.
One of his most charming Exeter works is entitled OoMsiional Meditations. (1634.) It consists of 140 short
56 DR. brushfield's presidsmtial address.
articles in Latin, with an English translation to each, of a very miscellaneous character, and anything that struck him during his daily life he appears to have jotted down. Here are some of the titles : — " On the sight of a dial," "On the ourfd of a cracked bell," "On a red cross on a door," a sign of a plague-afflicted house, probably often seen by 1dm. This is the commencement of a short article, " On the sight of a great library " : — " What a world of wit is here packed up together ! I know not, whether this sight doth more dismay, or comfort me : it dismays me, to think that here is so much, that I cannot know ; it comforts me, to think that this variety yields so good helps, to know what I should. There is no truer word than that of Solomon ; 'There is no end of making many books.* This sight verifies it. There is no end : indeed, it were pity there should." {Works, vi. 165-6.) Then follows, as in all the rest, some religious meditations on the subject, couched in most beautiful and trite language.®^
Another Exeter work is a large folio issued in 1633, a Paraphrase on all the hard Texts from Genesis to Mevelation^ which testifies to his eminent abilities as a Biblical commen- tator. One of his controversial volumes is called The Old Meligion: a Treatise wherein is laid dovme the true state of the difference betvrixt the Reformed and Roman Church &e. (1628, 1633.) While never avoiding controversy, the tone he adopted was more peaceful in character than that of previous writers. He was ever ready to defend his Church in the pulpit and by his pen, and this ultimately brought him into collision with the Parliament Being a moderate Puritan, he was not favored by Laud, who, however, directed him to write the politico -religious essay, JEpiscopactf by Divine right asserted^ but Laud altered much of it before it was printed in 1640, and as Hall was regarded as the tool of the latter, it led to both of them incurring the ill will of the Puritan party. It was probably one of the events that led to and culminated in the execution of the former on January 10th, 1645. Hall subsequently published An Humble Remon- strance to the High Court of Parliament, by a dutiful son of the Church (1640), wherein he warmly defended Episcopacy as of " Divine institution," and upheld the English Liturgy. This led to an active controversy between him and a section of the Puritans under the uneuphonious name of Smectymnus,** memorable for the prominent part that Milton subsequently took in it. Between 1640 and 1642, thirteen different works appeared, of which three or four were by Hall and five by
DR. BRUSHFIKLD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 57
Milton, whose first dated treatise (1641) is of interest for being amongst the earliest of his prose works.^
The last of the religious writers to notice, the one who towers above all others of this burning period, and who obtained and still retains the respect of all sects and classes (''the first really great name in English theology since the Seformation/' affirmed Mr. Gladstone in The Romanes Lecture^ 1892), is Richard Hooker (1554 ?-1600), the nephew of John Hooker, the Exeter historiaD, born at Heavitree, and whom Hallam (ii 200) designates *' the finest as well as the most philosophical writer of the Elizabethan period." His literary life is all that concerns us here, and though some of his sermons and other theological works have been published, his JSceUsiastical Polity is the only one needing our attention, and is that on which rests his great literary fame.
Passing over the details of his early life, we find him appointed Master of the Temple in 1585, where he officiated at the morning services, his sermons being those of a moderate Churchman. In the afternoons, Walter Travers, an unsuccessful Candidate for the Mastership, continued to lecture, and as he was an advanced Puritan, we are not surprised at Fuller's remark, that "the Pulpit spake pure Canterbury in the Morning, and Geneva in the Afternoon." (i 264.) Travers was ultimately silenced, but the con- troversy had the eflFect of inducing Hooker to write a work that should " supply the Elizabethan settlement of English ecclesiastical government with a philosophical and logical basis." {Diet. Nat Biog, xxvii. 293.) Weary of personal con- troversy, and convinced that he was unable to prosecute his studies at the Temple, he applied to the Archbishop to remove him, and in his letter to him — an evidence of his charitable and peace-loving character-^he remarks, " I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place, and indeed God and Nature did not intend me for contentions, but for study and quietness. . . . I . . . have begun a Treatise, in which I intend the satisfaction of others, by a demonstration of the reasonableness of our Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity ; and therein laid a hopeful foundation for the Church's peace . . . but ... I shall never be able to finish what I have begun, unless I be removed into some quiet country parsonage, where I may see Grod's blessing spring out of my mother earth, and eat mine own bread in peace and privacy.^'^ His request was complied with, and he was presented with the rectory of Boscombe, Wilts, in 1591, and there completed and published the first four books ol \i\a
VOL. XXV. E
58 DR. beushfield's presidential address.
great work. In 1595 he was translated to Bishopsboume, in Kent, where he died in 1600. A fifth book was published in 1597» and the remaining three after bis death. The doubts as to his authorship of the latter appear to be due to the lack of careful revision by him, such as the former received.
Hooker's Ecdmastical Polity is a learned and elaborate philosophical defence of the Church of England, and, states Buckle, "is still considered one of the bulwarks of our national church." In it he shows that *' a divine order exists not in written revelation only," according to the Puritan system, '* but in the moral relations, the historical develop- ment, and the social and political institutions of men.^ (Green, iii. 30.) An epitome of its contents is simply impossible in this Address. Some of its characteristics are its humble, unaffected piety ; its charity (as in his pulpit), speaking kindly of those who differed from him; its plain but forcible language ; its " grandeur and stateliness of style which raised him to the highest rank among English prose writers " ; its truthfulness and purity. One example of his style may be cited — the opening passage of his work, " He that goeth about to persuade a MiUtitude, that they are not so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want attentive and favourable hearers; because they know the manifold defects whereunto every kind of Begiment is subject ; but the secret lets and difficulties, which in publick proceedings are innumerable and inevitable, they have not ordinarily the judgment to consider.'' Many a modern politician might, if he would, learn wisdom from Hooker. He died almost with pen in hand, with the satisfaction of feeling that he had lived to complete his great literary task. In several respects his closing scene has a parallel in that of another great English theological writer, the Venerable Bede, many centuries before, as related by his disciple Cuthbert
He must ever be regarded, records M. Taine, " not only as one of the fathers of the English Church, but as one of the founders of English prose" {Hist, of Eng, Lit, ii. 190); and, we may add, as a great and good man, faithful in the discharge of a great duty, and one of the worthiest of the sons of Devon.^
Turning from Beligious Literature to that of Poetry, we shall find that Devonshire had during this period few poets, but many versifiers.®^ Some of the latter were more celebrated in other fields of literature, e,g,, N. Carpenter,
DB. beushfield's pbesidential address. 69
J. DowKB, W. Kempe.* Even good Samuel Hieron must be classed as a versifier, and not as a poet, as will be apparent from the following example, taken from his Answer to a Popish rhyme, Lately sccUtered abroad in the West parts, &c (1624) :
"To draw Disciples is no marke, For so doth many a famed Clarke, The Church to truth which doth connert, We doe embrace with all our heart."
The Rev. T. Brice (-1570), claimed by Mr. Chanter as a native of this county, published in 1559, The Register of ail them that were burned, 1553-1558,®® in seventy-six six-line stanzas.
'* The dead season of poetry " lasted from Chaucer to the middle of the 16th century. Its resuscitation dates from 1557, when a publisher named Tottel issued a Miscellany, containing a collection of *' Songs and Sonettes," printed for the first time, and the issue of eight editions of the work in ten years, shows the great success it met with. Sonnets in English had never before appeared in England. They were the work of gentlemen who wrote for their own pleasure, and circulated their MSS. among those of their own circle, without any thought of publication. Most of the writers are unknown, but two of the principal contributors to the Miscellany were the Earl of Surrey and Sir T. Wyatt, the introducers of the sonnet into England from Italy.^^ It speedily became naturalised in this country, and the first to use it in Devonshire, and, as far as we know, the earliest poet of this period belonging to our county was Sir Walter Ealegh^oi (1552-1618), born in East Budleigh parish, whose earliest known literary piece is an eighteen-line stanza by *^ Walter Baweley of the middle Temple, in commendation of the Steele Glas '' of his friend, George Gascoigne, published in 1576, and commencing —
"Swete were the sauce, would please ech kind of tast."^^
It is remarkable tha,t although only in his twenty-fourth year, he should have penned the following couplet in it, doomed in his case to be prophetic —
"For who so reapes, renoune aboue the rest. With heapes oi hate, shal surely be opprest''
We have evidence that he could and did essay several kinds of poetry. Of the pastoral form we have the beautiful reply to Kit Marlowe's " Come live with me and be my love," and both pieces must be well known to the leBudei^ oi
E 2
60 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
Walton's Complete Angler, " His reply to Marlowe," remarks the Bev. S. Hannah, "remains even yet unrivalled as the retort of polished common-sense to the conventionaUties of pastoral poetry." (Courtly Poets (1870), xx.) Here is the first verse —
''If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures miffht me move To live with tnee and be Siy love."*"
To him poetry was a recreation, the offspring of an idle hour, and he never appears to have taken any trouble to preserve it.^^ With few exceptions, it is characterized by an absence of joyousness and vivacity, and the presence of a vein of melancholy. These features of it increased after the death of Elizabeth, when it became semi-religious and some- times satirical. A man's life is often reflected in his poetical writings, and so it was with Ralegh. One important feature, alike in his prose compositions, is the absence of coarseness and scurrility .^^
Leigh Hunt affirmed Ralegh to be " a genuine poet," and to have written "one of the noblest sonnets in the language," the one entitled " A vision vpon this Conceipt of the Faery Queene," printed among the commendatory verses in the first edition (1590) of Spenser's great poem. It commences
" Methought I saw the graue where Laura lay '* ;
and is regarded by Dr. Grosart as " perhaps the greatest of tributes ever paid by one great man to another.^^
A poem written during one of his early imprisonments in the Tower, and known as " The Lie " — equally well known from its first line, " Go, soul, the body's guest " — is stated by Kingsley to be "one of the saddest of poems with its melodious contempt and life weariness." Another of his prison writings, " The Pilgrimage," is usually assigned to 1603, the first year of his imprisonment under James L Edmund Gosse declares it to be " the most extraordinary and most brilliant of his poems." It commences thus —
" Give me my scallop-shell of quiet,
My stafif of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage ; And thus 1 11 take my pilgrimage."
The well-known lines usually termed his " Epitaph," from having been found in his Bible on the day of his execution, and thought to have been written at that period, were
DB. BRUSHHELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 61
discovered a few years since by Mr. A. H. Bollen, to have formed, all but the last couplet, a portion of an amatory poem, and probably this addition was made on the above occasion ; an addition that will be found to give a different complexion to the whole composition.^^^
The most memorable event in the literary life of Balegh, was, when an exile from Court, his visit to Spenser in 1589. The latter has related in his "Colin Clout's come home again," how that Balegh
** tooke in bond My pipe before that emuled of many. And plaid thereon ; (for weU that skill he cond) Himselfe as skilfull in that art as any."
Spenser read to him all that he had penned of his Faery Queen, and Salegh in turn read a poem of his own composed shortly before.
** His song was all a lamentable lay Of great vnkindnesse, and of vsage hard, Of Cynthia the ladie of the sea, Which from her presence faultlesse him debard."'®*
Cynthia (Queen Elizabeth) is the title of Balegh's poem, of which a fragment is all that has been preserved.^^ As told by Spenser and Balegh's biographers, the meeting of the poets is quite idyllic.
Balegh recognised the great merit of Spenser, and induced him to return with him to England, where he presented him to the Queen. This resulted in Spenser's great pastoral romance being, as to its first portion, printed in the following year (1590), prefaced with a dedicatory letter to Balegh, and the great sonnet of the latter. It was the practical admiration of one poet for the genius and greater talent of another. Balegh's part in all this has received but scant acknowledgment.
Until the present century Balegh was scarcely recognised as a poet, and his name was omitted from any list or collected lives of them. Sir E. Brydges was the first to attempt a collection of his poetry, and printed a volume of it in 1813, and again in the following year. Since then the Bev. Dr. Hannah, in 1845 and again in 1870, issued a revised collection.
The works of two poets of this period, and now but little known, require recognition. The first, Humphrey GiFFOKD (/. 1580), a native of Halsbury, published, in 1580, A Posie of Gillojflowers, ecJie differing from other in colour and odour, yet all sweete, embracing both prose aixd ipoeXrc^^
62 DR. bbushfield's presidential address.
the fonner consisting mainly of translations from the Italicm and French : the latter of works " devotional, moral, and narrative." The following is an example of his poetry : —
" A woman's faco is fall of wiles. Her tears are like the crocodile : With outward cheer on thee she smiles. When in her heart she thinks thee ill.^'M*
The other, Willum Strode, d.d. (arc 1600-1645), bom at Flympton, was the immediate predecessor of Herrick as a song-writer. The beautiful example, "Hence, all ye vain delights," in Fletcher's play of The Nice Valour, is attributed to him ; and according to Malone, ** Milton evidently took the hint of his L* Allegro and Penseroso from it."^^^ Some of his pieces were set to music by Henry Lawes.
The first Devonshire poet whose descriptions are wholly drawn from the scenic realities of his native county, es-^ pecially of that portion " Neere Tavie's stragling spring," is William Browne (1591-1643), of Tavistock. His literary fame rests mainly on his Britannia! s Pastorals, his principal and probably earliest work, as the first book was written before he was 20 years of age ("not twice ten sunnes";. It consists of three books, sub-divided into sections or "songs." The first was issued about 1613, the second in 1616, and the third, shorter than the others, and inferior to them, probably from lack of revision, remained in MS. until 1852.^** It not only reveals his intense admiration for Spenser, but the work was influenced by, and in many respects — more particularly as to the setting — is an imitation of, the great pastoral epic of the latter. It is a living pano- rama of rural scenery, not peopled, like Spenser's, with fairies, knights, and fair dames, but with Devon rustics and their love-making and folk-lore, as thus indicated by him :
" My Muse for lofty pitches shall not rome, But homely pipen of her native home.''
The narrative is however poor and uninteresting, as also are his characters ; but these and other features are forgotten, writes Mr. A. H. Bullen, " when he sings of the trim hedge- rows and garden walks of his native Devon." He receives the highest praise from Leigh Hunt for his pastoral writinga
A shorter pastoral of his, published in 1614, under the title of Tlie ShepJierd*s Pipe, is celebrated for containing in the fourth eclogue, the beautiful monody on the death of Master Thomas Manwood, affirmed by Hazlitt to be one of "the most remarkable specimens of elegiac verse in the
DR. BBUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRB8& 63
language." {Works, i xxv.) He also wrote The Inner Temple Maeqti^e, performed Jan. 13, 1614, according to the title, although no other record of its representation has been preserved. It was first printed in 1772. Although these three were his principal works, he is, at the present date, better known by some of his numerous minor pieces. Who has not heard of
'*Lidford lawe. How in the Morne they hang and drawe, And sitt in indgment after"?
It must have been very popular during his lifetime, as his contemporary Tho. Westcote, mentions it as " commonly song by many a fidler."^^*
Another, equally well known, is the epitaph — one of the most beautiful in the English language — on the Countess of Pembroke —
" Vnderneath this sable Herse Lyes the subiect of all verse : Sydneyes sister, Pembroke's Mother : Death, ere thou hast slaine another, Faire, and Leam'd, and good as she tTyme slialt throw a dart at thee."
It is praise enough to know that it was long attributed to Ben Jonson."* Browne was not only the friend and associate of his literary contemporaries, but he influenced even greater writers than himself. Milton was well ac- quainted with his writings, and must have entertained a high opinion of him, as modern writers affirm that some portions of L Allegro are imitated from the Pastorals; and Lyddas, Comus, and Paradise Regained contain passages suggested by Browne's writings.^^ Keats and Mrs. Browning were also influenced by him. The latter, in her Visions of Poets, exclaims—
" Drayton and Browne, with smiles they drew From outward Nature, to renew From their ovm inwaid nature true."
When it is remembered that he wrote very little after the year 1616, that is to say, after he was 26 years of age, his success so early in life is very remarkable.^^® Ben Jonson wrote some commendatory lines to the second book of Browne's Britannias Pastorals, containing the following, which may fitly close our notice of this Devonshire poet.
"I wou'd More of our Writers would, like thee, not swell With the how much they set forth, but th* how locll." ^^^
64 DR. BRUSHFIELD'S PRE8IDKNTIAL ADDRESS.
The last of our county poets of this period is Robert Herrick (1591-1674), born in London. We cannot rightly understand the remarkable antitheses in the character of his poetical writings, unless we take into consideration the varied circumstances of his early life. Bom in 1591, he obtained the degree of b.a. at Cambridge in 1617, and in 1629 became Vicar of Dean Prior, in this county. There is a gap in the story of his life of these twelve years, partly told or indicated by his poetry. Ejected from his living by the Puritans in 1647 he went to London, and in the year following published his collected poems. He was restored to his living in 1662, and died in 1674. His poems — a few of which had been published previously — were issued in two divisions, the Jlesperides, secular, and the Noble Numbers, religious. The Registers of the Stationers' Company prove that he had taken steps to procure their publication before he left Devonshire, as they record that on April 29, 1640, was licensed for printing "The severall Poems written by Master Robert Herrick." (Ed. Arber iv. 483.) Although he lived for a quarter of a century after their publication, we have no account of any subsequent poetry of his. Of the two divisions named, his fame as a poet rests mainly on the ffesperides, written in a natural, flowing manner, and presenting a marked contrast to the more laboured compositions in the Noble Numbers. It consists of 1131 short poetical pieces, varying in length, miscellaneous in character, and without any attempt at arrangement In the introductory " Argument of his Book " is a brief list of the contents.
'* I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and bowers, Of April, May, of Jnne and July flowers, I sing of May -poles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes, ^'" Of bndegrooms, brides, and of their bridal cakes," kc
If he had restricted his lines to these subjects, and had not gone beyond what he terms " cleanly-wantonness," it had been better for his future fame. Unfortunately, they are intermingled with epigrams and other pieces as coarse as anything attributed to Sedley or Eochester, and although he could write such lines as these —
** For those my unbaptised rhymes, Writ in my wild unhallowed times ; . . . Forgive nie* God, and blot each line Out of my book that is not Thine,"
he apparently made no attempt to omit his "unbaptised rhymes " from the printed collection. As it is, his principal
DR. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 65
work may be likened to the gardens of the Hesperides, JQ containing some of the most beautiful flowers, inter- mingled with and marred by the most dank and noisome weeds.
Before he became a resident of Devon he was the friend and associate of Ben Jonson at —
" Those lyrick feasts Made at the Sun, The Dog, the Triple Tunne,""»
and we may fairly assign to this period — between 1617 and 1629 — his Bacchanalian and coarser poems, when his practical motto was to enjoy life while he could, as expressed by him in the poem ** On himselfe " —
" This day He drown all sorrow ; Who knowes to live to-morrow."
His "Best to be merry," " Fill me a mighty bowl," "Welcome to sack," belong to these years. "Farewell to sack" was probably written immediately before leaving London for Devonshire. The time he spent at Dean Prior is generally ' thought to have been irksome to him, on account of his expressed discontent "in this dull Devon-shire," as well as in pieces like his " Banishment into the loathed West," "Come leave this loathed Country-life"; but this dislike of the country must not be accepted too literally. Probably, occasional disagreements with his parishioners (indicated by some of his epigrams upon them), as well as other causes of discontent, may have led him to vent his feelings in poetry ; and when on the eve of leaving he penned his farewell to Dean Bourn, and alludes to his parishioners as " A people currish, churlish as the seas," it was probably a kind of antithesis to the anticipated pleasures on his return to London, as shown in " His retume to London," anticipations that were not realised. But this antagonism was intermittent only, as shown by the lines " His Content in the Country," and " The Country Life," the latter commencing —
'* Sweet country life, to such unknown Whose lives are others', not their own ! '**••
It is however when we examine his true poetry — his songs -^that this becomes more manifest. Unless Herrick had enjoyed the country and country life, and had an intense love of flowers, revelling in their beauty and fragrance, he Gonld not have written the songs he did. No one has more exquisitely or lovingly described, in a few lines, the peew^i^x
.66 DR. brushfijsld's pbksidentiaJi address.
charm of the rural poetry of " Bare old Herrick, the Cavalier Vicar," than Mortimer Collins :
"None ever touched with as fine a finger The delicate lyre of English rhvme, He loved amid fresh flowers to linger, And he made their fragrance last through time."
His position as a poet has been thus well defined by Swin- burne:— "He is and will probably be always the first in rank and station of English song- writers " ; and again, he is '' the greatest song-writer — as surely as Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist — ever bom of English race." Who does not love to dwell on such exquisite lines as these ?
" Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-fl ving : And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying."
The Hesperides contains many such, eg,, "Cherry ripe," " Goe, happy rose," " Ye have been fresh and green." The work is full of gems : here is one, an epitaph on a child :
'* Here a pretty baby lies Sung asleep with lullabies, Pray be silent, and not stir Th' easy earth that covers her."
Village custoiiis', fairy folk - lore, seasonable festivities, domestic matters, all find a place in his work. Some historical events are also recorded — in a few instances they relate to years between 1640 and 1647.
The Noble Numbers contains less favourable specimens of his genius. " His Letanie/' and the piece commencing *' Lord, Thou hast given me a cell/ • are among the best. It is much smaller than the Hesperides^ and has 271 separate poems.^^
The accession of Elisabeth was soon attended with the commencement of our modem Drama, customarily dated from January 18, 1562, when in her presence was performed, at the Inner Temple, the tragedy of Gorboduc}^ Men's minds were a-hungered to replace the miracle plays and moralities of the previous reigns. The recognition of this new form of dramatic representation by the Queen, speedily led to other plays by a new race of writers, the dramatists, the predecessors of Shakespeare, University wits who led wild Bohemian lives ; and from the pens of Marlowe, Peele, Greene, Lyly, and others, drama followed drama in rapid succession. One of these founders of the Elizabethan drama
- DR. bbushfield's prbsidektial address. 67
was a Devonian— George Peelb (1553?-1599), stated by Wood (L 688) to be a Devonshire man.^^ He wrote many plays, masqueS) and poetical works, and a volume of Merry Conceited Jests (posthumous) is also attributed to him, but on slender grounds. A favQurable specimen of his work as a poet, is A Farewell to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Brake, when starting on their expedition to Portugal in 1589. He was the author of several masques between 1585 and 1591, three of which have come down to us, and the title of a fourth is recorded in the Eegisters of the Stationers Ck)mpany.^^* It is, however, as a playwright that he is best known to fame. Six of his plays have been preserved, with the title of a seventh. A version of the Taming of a Shrew has also been attributed to him, as well as to R Greene and to Shakespeare.^^
His first dramatic work, and, in the opinion of his most recent editor, his best, was The Arraignment of Paris, published in 1584, written in a very easy style and with much luxuriant fancy, terminating with some fulsome adulation of the Queen. His first historical play of EdvHird /., printed in 1593, was probably due to the success of Marlowe's Edioard II,, and is termed by Hallam (ii. 175) ''a gross tissue of absurdity with some facility of language, but nothing truly good.'' It outrages the memory of Queen Eleanor, by her committal of a murder and subsequent denial of it, upon which she sinks into the earth at Charing Cross and rises again at Queenhithe ; incidents shown in the play.^*® Another historical tragedy that appeared in the following year, and adhered more closely to recorded facts, was The Battdl of Alcazar, fought in 1578 in Barbary, between the King of Portugal and the King of Morocco : of additional interest to Devonians for being the death scene of that free-lance Captain Tho. Stukeley.^^^ Collier regards it as the oldest of his plays, and written soon after Marlowe's Tamburlaine, which it strove to imitate in its high-flown and bombastic language.^^ In 1595 appeared The Old Wives Tale, termed " a pleasant conceited Comedie," and one of his most attractive pieces. '' A sort of child's story, told with a poet's plajrfulness." (Morley.) It is not divided into acts and scenes. Some have thought that Milton took the idea of his Comus from it, owing to the similarity of the leading incident — ^two brothers in quest of a sister, confined by an enchanter — but probably each borrowed it from an earlier source.
The last of his dramas, TJie Love of Xing David and Fair Bethsabe, With the Tragedie of Absalon, was p\x\A\a\v^ m
68 Da brushfield's presidential address.
1599, the year of the poet's death. It does not deviate from the Scriptural history. Its great merit is its harmonious versification. It " vies in tenderness and poetic beauty with any of the plays " of Marlowe. It is probably the last play that was founded on Scripture.^^
While the Elizabethan dramatists drew many of their plots from Italian novelists, especially from T?ie Palace of Fleasure, (trans.) by W. Painter (1567-1575), Peele proved to be an exception. He must however have been well acquainted with the works of Ariosto, and other Italian authors, as he quotes from Orlando Furioso in his Ed/ward Z, and in The Old Wiues Tale ; and the only speech made by Helen, in Tke Arraignment of Paris, is in Italian. His writings do not possess the coarseness or terrific descriptions of some of his contemporaries, notably of Marlowe. While in genius he was below the latter, he was above Greene and the rest of his dramatic brethren, Shakespeare excepted^ In forming an estimate of his powers, we must remember that he preceded Shakespeare by some years, and died at the early age of 41. Knowing this, we can better appreciate Collier's summary of his literary character, that ** he had an elegance of fancy, a gracefulness of expression, and a melody of versification, which in the early part of his career was scarcely approached." {Hist, Eng, Dram, Poetry, iiL 191.)
A play entitled Dick of Devonshire, and generally attributed to T. Hey wood (-1650), long existed in MS., and was printed for the first time in A. H. Bullen's Collection of Old English Plays (1883), ii. 1-99.^^0 j^ relates to the adventures of " Dicke Pike the Devonshire Soldier," and is simply a dramatised version of a work by Richard or " Manly " Peeke (/. 1625), of Tavistock, published in 1626, with the title " Three to One, Being an English- Spanish Combat, Performed by a Westeme Gentleman, of Tauystoke in Devon shire, with an English Quarter- Staffe against Three Spanish Rapiers and Poniards at Sherries in Spaine, The Jifteene day of NouenJber^ 1625 written in homely language, proceeding from fingers fitter for the pike than tike pen,^^^
The list of dramatists of this period contains the names of two Devonshire divines, who subsequently became Doctors of Divinity. The first, William Strode, d.u., (1600-1645) (already noticed among the poets), on the occa- sion of the Court retiring to Oxford, owing to an outbreak of Plague in London in 1636, delivered, as the Public Orator of the University, "a most eloquent oration" before the King, Charles I., who, in the hall of Christ Church on the
DR. BRUSUFI£LD*S PRESID£NTIAL ADDRESS. 69
evening of the same day (Aug. 25) saw the performance of a comedy, written by Strode, called Passions calmed : or The Settling of the Floating Island, and directed against the Puritan body. It was not printed until 1655, '* when any- thing written against the Puritans would find a ready sale amongst Royalists." ^^^
The second, Jasper Mayne, d.d. (1604-1672), a native of Hatherleigh, although the author of some translations, poetry and sermons, is best known as the writer of two plays.^^ The first. The City Match, a comedy, was acted before the King and Queen at Whitehall, in 1639, and printed in the same year. Pepys saw it acted in 1668, and called it "a silly play." One of its scenes is as coarse as anything pro- duced during the Restoration. His second. The Amorous Warre, a Tragi-comedy, although not published till 1648, was probably written before he became Vicar of Cassington, in 1642. Halliwell records the plot to be " inartificially constructed, and at the same time grossly improbable." (Diet, of Old Plays, 16.)
The last of the Devon dramatists to notice is John Ford^^ 1586-;/Z.1639), born at Ilsington, of whose personal history or date of death nothing is known. He was a voluminous writer, commencing with a long and tedious elegy on the Earl of Devonshire, entitled Fames Memoriall, published in his 21st year, and introducing an early love sorrow of his own. In addition to some minor poetical pieces, he wrote two prose works, Honor Triumphant (1606), containing some poetry, and a moral treatise termed A Line of Life (1620), neither of which need special comment^^ He was a powerful dramatic writer, his fame resting mainly on seven plays which have descended to us. Four of his MSS. were burnt by Mr. Warburton's cook; and in co-operation with Dekker, and others, he was also part author of five. Probably he wrote several more.^^* According to his own statement, *' the first '' piece of his that ever courted reader, was The Lover's Melancholy (1628), but this must refer to publication, as All III Beginning, &c., was acted in 1613. Some of its descriptions are drawn from other writers. From Burton's well-known work, the account of the nature of melancholy, and an interlude, termed "The Masque of Melancholy," are derived. The story of the contention between a musician and a nightingale (act i. sc. i.), in which the latter was " ordain'd to be Music's first martyr," is foimded on a passage in the Prolusioyies of F. Strado, an Italian Jesuit (1572-1649), and in the opinion of Lamb is
70 DR. brushfield's prksidentiaIi address.
"almost as fine as anything in Beaumont and Fletcher."^' In his three tragedies, 'T is Pity, &c., The Broken Heart, and Louie's Sacrifice, we recognize the Italian influence in their plots. Although the first named is said to display ''the subtlest qualities of his genius/' the nature of the plot renders it impossible to be presented to a modem audience. Of the second, Lamb remarks, '^ I do not know where to find in any play a catastrophe so grand, so solemn, and so sur- prising as in this."^'® And of both, N. Drake declares, "Scarcely Shakespeare himself has exceeded him in the excitement of pathetic emotion . . . they are noble specimens of dramatic genius." {Shakespeare and his Times, ii. (563-4.) He wrote one historical play, The Chronicle ffistorie of Ferkin Warbeck (1634), commended for being well planned and equably written." ^^^
The least satisfactory of his works are his two comedies. The Fancies Chast and Noble (1638), and The Ladies Trial (1639), probably his last productions. They show that Ford was destitute of humour, and had no sense .of the vis comica}^^ Massinger was "second only to Shakespeare," declares Hedlam : Ford's place, although doubted by some, was in tragedy certainly next to Massinger. Had there been no Shakespeare, Ford would have been much more highly esteemed. He has less coarseness than many of his contem- poraries. He took great pains in the elaboration of his scenes and characters, nevertheless his work, except in Ferkin Warbeck, is very unequal. Dyce remarks of one of his plays (applicable to nearly all), it " has no medium ; all that is not excellent, is intolerably bad." Occasionally he is very bombastic, of which a remarkable example occurs in the opening scene of The Lover*s Melancholy —
"To bestride The frothy forms of Neptune's surging waves, When blusteriuff Boreas tosseth up the deep And thumps a thunder-bounce." ^*^
The sudden rise and rapid progress of the Elizabethan drama, soon met with serious opposition from the divines of the Genevan School. The causes of this are pointed out in a forcible manner by J. E. Green (ii. 467-8) : —
"The features of our drama that startled the moral temper of the time and won the deadly hatred of the Puritans, its grossness and profanity, its tendency to scenes of horror and crime, its profuse employment of cruelty and lust as grounds of dramatic actioD, its daring use of the horrible and the unnatural whenever they
DR. BRUSHFIELD's PRESIDENTlAli ADDRESS. 71
enable it to display the moie terrible and revolting sides of human passion^ were derived from the Italian stage.''
The earliest known printed attack upon plays and players is that of John Northbrook, a minister, in 1577 or 1578, followed by J. Gosson's School of Abuse (1579), Stubbes' Anatomie of Abtises (1583), and others to the close of Elizabeth's reign,^^ one of the important contributors being the celebrated Devonian, Dr. J. Rainolds (1549-1607.) In 1581, a Latin play named Mdeager, written by Dr. W. Gager, was acted in the hall of Christ Church, Oxford, and was subsequently repeated. On being printed in 1592, a copy was sent to Dr. Rainolds ; this was followed by an interchange of letters, culminating in the publication by the latter of the well-known and, considering its subject, the temperately written work, Hcoverthraw of Stage Playes}^^ Although finished in 1593, it was not published until 1599, *' probably on account of the new interest attracted to the subject by the project of building the Fortune Theatre." (Collier, Op. cit. ii. 218.) In his Address to the Reader, the Printer affirms, " I have been informed . . . that Maister Gager himself vpon the last rejoinder of Maister Rainoldes hath let goe his hold, and in a Christian modestie and humilitie yeelded to the truth, and quite altered his iudge- raent." This work remained unanswered until 1612, when T. Heywood issued his Apology for Actors, to which J. Gi*een replied in 1615, and in 1633 appeared Frynne's celebrated Histriomastix. The crowning act of the Puritans was the Ordinance, issued in 1647, for *' The utter suppression and abolishing of all Stage Playes.'* This can scarcely be r^arded with surprise, considering the progressive decadence of the stage in the time of Charles I., when the unbridled coarseness of a play like The City Match could be sanctioned by those in authority, and acted before Royalty.^^*
Another antagonist of Dr. Gager was William Heale (1581 ?-1627), a native of South Hele, who published in 1609, An Apologie for Women; or, an opposition to Mr, Dr. G[ager] his assertion . . . who held in the act at Oxforde 1608, Thai it wees lawfull for husbands to heate their wives. Gager's assertion is attributed to his disappoint- ment at not receiving a fortune from his uncle, due *' to the action of his uncle's wife." Wood remarks of Heale, " he was always esteemed an ingenious man, but weak, as being too much devoted to the female sex" (ii. 89), from which it may be inferred that Wood sided with Gager.
72 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
The Broadside Ballads and Chap Book Literature, so exceedingly common in the 17th century, had their origin in the preceding one, when the Itinerant Minstrel and the Running Stationer circulated in the cheapest possible form, accounts of historical and local occurrences, &c., in verse and prose. The earliest Devonshire ballads known describe a murder, that of Page of Plymouth, committed by Gea Strangwidge and two hired murderers, at the instigation of Page's wife, which caused a good deal of excitement at the time. They were tried at Barnstaple, condemned, executed, and buried in the churchyard there in March, 1591. Several ballads on the subject were printed in the same year, ahd others, as well as a prose chap-book, followed. The first, headed " The Lamentation of Master Page's wife of Plim- mouth," was written by Tho. Deloney, a celebrated ballad- writer of his day. Ben Jonson and Dekker wrote a play upon it, frequently acted, but never published.^** The tune to which the ballads were sung ("Fortune my foe"), was known as "The hanging tune;'' so-called because the broadside verses printed on the execution of a criminal were sung to it. This throws some light on the remark of Winstanley that when Kalegh was being favoured by the Queen, his enemies '' began to take his sudden favour for an allarum, and to be sensible of their own supplantation, and to project his ; which made him shortly after sing, FortwM my foe," &c. {England's Worthies (1684) 298.)»*« The following local occurrences were recorded in this manner; the murder of Sir John Fitz in 1605, the burning of Tiverton in 1612, the execution of Sir W. Ralegh in 1618.^*^ In the second book of his Britannia's Pastorals (song 1, date about 1616) our Devon poet, W. Browne, thus describes the itinerant ballad-seller of his day, chanting his wares:
'* As Ballad mongera on a Market-day Taking their stand, one (with as harsh a noyse As euer Cart-wheele made) sqaeakes the sad choice Of Tom the Miller with a golden thumbe,
« • • •
Halfe part he chants, and will not sing it oat"
The list of Devonshire authors on Legal Subjects, during this period, is a small one, but the works are important. The first to notice, John Cowell (1554r-1611), bom at Ems- borough, wrote two volumes ^** during the time he held the E^us Professorship of Civil Law at Cambridge. One, The Institutes of the Laws of England (1605) in Latin, written
DB. BRUSHFI£LD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 73
after the method of Justinian, was popular enough to run through six Latin editions, and one English, up to the year 1676. The second, published in 1607, caused some commotion in the political world, and bore the title of The Interpreter: or Booke containing the SignificcUion of Words : Wherein is setfoorih the true meaning . . . of such Words and Termes, as are mentumed in the Lawe Writers^ or Statutes, &c, A valuable glossary to old Law Books. Three years later, the attention of the House of Commons was called to some of the statements in it, especially to those under the headings of "King," "Parliament," and " Prerogative," ^^^ which were assumed to affect their privileges, of which they were very sensitive. It is believed that Coke was the occasion of this, and it is thought he was offended at Cowell, for drawing up " Seasons, &a, against the too frequent grants of prohibi- tions" (under the direction of Abp. Bancroft), under the title of Articuli Gleri.^^ That Coke disliked him is apparent from the following punning allusion by Fuller : " A grand oracle of the Common Law [Coke] was pleased in derision to call him Doctor Cow-heele ; and a Cow-heele (I assure you) well dress*d is good meat, that a Cook (when hungry) may lick his fingers after it." (i. 262.)
At a time when the King's assumption of arbitrary power
was being resented by the Commons, it is no wonder that
the latter were highly incensed against Cowell. We may
judge of this by a statement in a letter, reported in Win wood's
Mmorials, iii 125, under date March 1st, 1609-10, *" That if
the King will give them leave (as by Petition they have
desired it of him) to proceed by their authority against the
said Cowell, it is thought they will go very near to hang
Coweirs definitions, certainly agreed with the King's notions of his absolute freedom of action in the government of the kingdom. However, James had so far to succumb to the Commons, as in the eiid to issue a proclamation (on March 26th), suppressing the work. Spelman (Glossarium^ sub " Tenura "), affirms that the books were ordered to be publicly Wnt (libri ejus sunt conibusti), and other authors have accepted this statement, but there is no corroboration of this, Md it is not alluded to in the proclamation. The death of ^^ author in the following year was probably hastened by ^e worry and trouble he incurred.
The work was republished in 1637, and many editions followed, the title of some of the latter being altered to -^ Law Dictionary. Hallam declares that the objectiou^XA!^
VOL. XXV. F
74 DR. BRSUHFIELD'S presidential ADDRES&
" passages are expuDged in the later editions " (Canst. Hist i 325), a statement relied upon for correctness (vide Did. Nat. Biog, xii. 375), but such is not the fact, and a careful collation of the original edition with that of 1637, shows the latter to be an unexpurgated oue. It is simply a reprint^ and no one appears to have noticed the re-appearance of the obnoxious entries.
Sir John Doddridge or Doderidge (1555-1628), bom at Barnstaple, one of the Justices of the King's Bench, and the third great literary lawyer of Devon, wrote many legal, constitutional, and antiquarian works, none of which were published during his lifetime, so careless was he of literary fame.^^^ His principal one, published the year after his death, and called The Lavryer's Light (1629), was republished in an extended form in 1631, under the title of The English Lawyer y describing a Method for the managing of tlie Lawes of this Land, a manual for students. Many other noticeable books emanated from his pen, of which the following may be specially mentioned : A Compleat Parsan, " a description of Advowsons and Church livings "^^^ (1630, 1641); The History of the Ancient and Moderne Estate of Wales, Corn- wall, and Chester (1630) relating mainly to the Prince of Wales' revenue, what it " hath beene, what it now is, and how impaired"; The Law of Nohiliiy and Peerage (1658),^** an enlargement of The Magazine of Honor (1642), the com- position of another author (a treatise on ''The Antiquities, Titles, Degrees, and Distinctions" of the Nobility); and The Office and Duty of the Heralds in England, printed in T. Hearne's Curioiis Discourses. (1720.) He was one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries. According to Prince he revised for the press Hooker's Chorographical Description of Devon. (302, 3.)
The last legal work to mention, is a Latin treatise On the Roman Law (1653), by Sir Arthur Duck (1580-1648), a native of Heavitree, in which he was assisted by Gerard Laugbaine. It was translated into English in 1724, and, according to Hallam, is "a succinct and learned, though elementary and popular treatise." (ii. 548.)
The subject of Parliamentary Matters introduces us for the first time to the eminent Exeter antiquary, well known under his triad of names of John Hooker, Hoker, or Vowell (1526?--1601), who, by birth (being a native of the city), as well as by his literary pursuits, was so thoroughly identified with it. Although he used all three names indiscrimi-
DB. B&USHFISLD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 75
nately, it may be as well to restrict notice of him to the first. In lus edition of Holinshed's Chronicles (1586, 7), he inserted the "Order and usage of keeping the Parliaments in England/' apparently a reprint of a work issued in 1572. He also wrote "A Journal of the proceedings of the Irish Parliament," 1568 ; " A Journal of the Parliament of 1571," when he was M.P. for Exeter ; and " the order of kepinge a Parliament in theise dayes"; the two latter (in MS.) being preserved in the Municipal Archives of Exeter.^*^
WiLUAM Hakewill (1574-1655) brother of Dr. George Hakewill, an eminent legal antiquary and *'a master of precedents," wrote many works on the History and Antiquities of Parliament^ &c., all of which were published subsequently to 1640, though some were probably written prior to that year, including his Modus tenendi Farliamentum, or, The Old Manner of holding Parliaments in England^ &c, (1641), a work that may still be consulted with benefit by enquirers into parliamentary usages and precedents.
In 1658 was published. Opinions of sundry learned Anti- quaries touching the Antiquity, Power, &c,, of the High Court of Parliament in Ungland.^^^ One of the sections is stated to have been written by Sir John Doddridge, and edited by his nephew John Doddridge (-1666 ?), son of Pentecost Dodd- ridge, a merchant, and thrice Mayor of Barnstaple ; who claims our attention also, for having established a Parochial Library in Barnstaple in 1665. He was M.P. and recorder of the borough.^^
Owing to his Speeches and Discourses in several Parlia- ments in the reign of Elizabeth, as recorded by Wood, we have here to mention Eichard Martin (1570 ?-1618), born at Otterton, M.P., and, in the last year of his life, Kecorder of London. Other Speeches (1602, 1643) are also assigned to to him. According to Lysons he was '' a great linguist and a poet>" also that "his poems are in print," citing Wood (ii. 250) as his authority, who, however, terms him '^a plausible linguist" with evident allusion to his powers as a Parliamentary speaker, and not as being well versed in several languages. Wood adds " various poems," but whether printed or not is unknown, and Dr. Bliss could learn nothing about them. He was, however, accounted one of the highest wits of his age, and associated with all the literary men of his time, including Ben Jonson, the latter having dedicated to him (" To the virtuous, and my worthy friend, Mr. Eichard Martin ") the edition of his Poetaster, published in 1616.^^ Of his literary abilities Fuller testifies, that "he \iQ^d ^u
F 2
76 DR. BRUSHFIkLD'S PRESIDEliTIAL ADDRESS.
excellent pen, and wrote very much, and the more the pittj that they are suppressed from publick use." (i. 275.)
Amongst the best of the prison works of Sir W. Rai^sGH (1552-1618), is The Prerogative of Parliaments in England, Proucd in a Dialogvv (pro. and contr.) hetweene a Cauncellour of State and a Justice of Peace (1628), " the one disswading, the other perswading the calling of Parliament." The Justice is supposed to represent Balegh himself, who endeavoured to create an amicable understanding between the King and his people, by inducing the former to place greater reliance upon the goodwill of the latter. But James I. and Kalegh never appeared to understand each other, and Sir Walter apparently overrated his powers, of being able to convince the King of the favourable character of anything written by him, especially as at that time the feelings of James had been ruffled, by the unfavorable manner in which his levy of the "Benevolence" had been regarded by the Country generally .^^® Although it bears inherent evidence of having been written not earlier than 1615, it was not printed until 1628,^^ and from the manner of its issue, its publicatdon may have been caused, partly by the proceedings taken against Sir John Eliot, between the dates of whose two imprisonments (1626 and 1629) it was published; and partly by the excitement engendered in 1628 by the celebrated Petition of Right. ^^^ It was one of the most popular of Ralegh's numerous productions.
Ralegh was the Admirable Crichton of his time, and wrote upon most of the branches of knowledge,^*^ in some of which he is the sole representative of this county, such as Politics, Philosophy, Military Matters, &c. Many of these were the fruits of his ten years' imprisonment, in which he utilised the literary stores he had gathered during his active life. Leisure with him was apparently synonymous with an alteration in the direction of his work. He could never be an idle man.^^^
Of his political works, The Prince or Maxims of State (1642), and The Cabinet Council (1658), are treatises on the principles of government, and contain many historical illustrations and wise apothegms. The following are examples of the latter: "Nothing can corrupt and alter the nature of man so much, or so soon as the immoderate desire of Honor." " Seldom or never is any people discontented with- out great cause." (CoMnet Council, 164, 5.)
The latter work is of especial interest for having been
DR. BRUSHHELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 77
published at the instigation of Milton, who wrote the Address '*to the Beader." In the last issue of the work (1697) Milton's name alone appears on the title page.^**
His ObservcUians Concerning the Causes of the Maffnificenct/, ACfOf Cities (1651), and the Seat of Government (1651), were apparently portions of longer articles, and may be passed over ; but two others require some notice. At the direct request of Prince Henry, he wrote A Discourse touching a Match propounded by the Savoyan between the Lady Elizabeth and the Prince of Piemoni, and one Touching a Marriage between Prince Henry of England and a Daughter of Savoy ^ each dated " 9 JacobL" (= 1611, 2). In March, 1611, the Savoyard ambassador had been directed to treat for both marriages, to which neither on his own nor on lus sister's account the Prince was favourable, hence his appeal to Balegh, whose opinion coincided with that of the Prince, and who in addition, advocated the advantages of a French alliance. The application was unsuccessful.^^ The tracts were printed for the first time in 1750.
In 1653 was published Observations touching the Trade and Commerce with the Hollander, of which four variants with different titles were issued — a fair evidence of its popularity. Although generally attributed to Ralegh, grave doubts have been raised as to the authorship.^^
Of military treatises, Ralegh wrote several relating to the defences of the country in the times of threatened invasion (1588 and 1596.) One of his best and most carefully written works, iaA Discourse of the Originall and Fundamental Cause of . . . Warre^ commencing " The ordinary theme and Argument of History is War."^*'^ In 1603 he presented to James I., very soon after his accession to tiie English throne, a Discourse Of a War with Spain, and on Protecting the Netherlands (of a second on the same subject, the title alone has been preserved.) As the King had determined on a reversal of Elizabeth's policy with regard to that country, Balegh's treatise must have been particularly distasteful to him. With the peculiar views held by James, such a passage as the following would cause him much annoyance : —
** He that will be silent when he might declare and publish what may prove useful to your Majesty's Govern- ment, does as much decline Your Service, as he that flies Your Kingdoms." (47.)i««
Passing by his short philosophical treaties — The Scepiick (1651) and his Treatise of the Soul, which remained in MS. until 1829 — we come to his Instructions to his Son, and to
78 DR. BRUSHnSLD'S PRI8IDENTIAL ADDRESS.
PosterUy, first printed Id 1632, reprinted again and again, and always deservedly popular. Although much of the paternal advice is highly to be commended, such as the choice of friends in the first chapter, there is a worldliness about some of the portions, that a father would aeaioely recommend to his son in the present day. Some of his phrases are very pointed, here is one : ** No man is esteemed for gay Garments, but by Fools and Women.** (chap. viL) It is nearly always accompanied with another trealise^ entitled The dutiful Advice of a loving San to his aged Father, usually assigned to Kalegh, but it is very doubtful if he wrote it It reads more like a lampoon — a satire upon the Instructions. The doubt is strengthened by the circumstance that two entries in the Stationers' Blisters record the latter, but make no allusion to the Son's advice to his Father. (Ed. Arber iv. 276-378.)
It is noteworthy that none of these works by Bal^h were printed during his lifetime : the majority of them were pub- lished during the time of the Commonwealth, and were then very popular.
Of Educational Literature there is not much to report. During the time Will. Kempe (-1604 (?) held the Mastership of Plymouth Grammar School he published, in the Armada year, The Education of Children in Learning : declared hy the Dtf/nitie, Utilitie, and Method thereof &c, (1588), dedicated to William Hawkins, Sir John's elder brotiier, and Mayor of Plymouth in that year; and in 1592 The Art of AriJthr meticke in whole Numbers and Fractions (a translation from the Latin), dedicated to Sir F. Drake, with sojne verses to the latter on bringing the Leat to Plymouth.^* Nicholas Hunt (1596-1648), believed to be a native of Exeter, wrote two Arithmetical works. (1631, 1633.) William Marhh or Martyn (1562-1617), during his Eecordership of Exeter, his native city, was the author of Youth's Instruction (1612), dedicated to his son, a student at Oxford. Dr. J. Prideaux (1578-1650), b. at Stowford, while Rector of Exeter College, Oxford (1612-1614), published several educational works in Latin. A Greek Grammar and a work on Logic are said to have been completed by him within a fortnight.
Amongst the many labors of Sir Humphrey Gilbert(1539?- 1583), of Compton, it would scarcely have been surmised that he was the author of a scheme for the education of wards, whose neglect in this respect was one of the abuses
DR. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 79
of wardship. About 1572,^^^ he submitted, in MS., a scheme to the Queen, entitled " The erection of an Achademy in London for educacion of her Maiesties Wardes, and others the youth of nobility and gentlemen/' His scheme was to establish a great University to be termed " Queene Elizabeths Achademy," for which he gives practical details, so that " there shalbe heareafter, in effecte, no gentleman within this Sealme but good for some what, Wheareas now the most parte of them are good for nothinge.'' But the wardships continued, and nothing was done.^^^
As practical promoters of literature by furthering the education of the young, we must not pass, without honour- able ^nention, two great names. The firsts Nicholas Wadham (1532-1609), of Edge, near Branscombe, intended to found the College at Oxford, known by his name, but dying before he could carry out his project, his widow, Dorothy, proceeded to do so, and the building was commenced in the following year (1610)."2 The second, Peter Blundell (1520-1601) of Tiverton, founded the famous school of that place.^^*
No family name is more intimately connected with literature than that of Bodley; and our attention is first directed to John Bodley (Jl. circ. 1540), a Devonian, who was in exile in Mary's reign on account of his Protestantism. At her death he returned to England, and in 1562 received a patent for the exclusive printing of the Genevan Bible. He married a daughter of E. Hone, of Ottery St Mary, by whom he had three sons, Thomas, Lawrence, and Josias, all bom in Exeter. The eldest. Sir Thomas Bodley (1545-1613), wrote, in 1609, a short autobiography, printed in 1647. Under the title of EeliquicB Bodleianm, and edited by Tho. Heame, it was reprinted in 1703, with transcripts of 243 of his letters " concerning Books and Learning, written to Dr. Thomas James, first keeper of the Publick Library.'* ^^* Betiring from diplomatic service in 1596, he soon turned his thoughts towards the formation of the great library called after him. One had previously existed in Oxford, although little else than its memory remained after the disastrous visit of the Royal Commissioners in 1549. ^^^ Once begun, his labours were unceasing in fitting up the library and supplying it with books. He made large purchases abroad, as shown by his letters, e.g.
"Mr. Sackvil . . . hath been already at Venice, Ferrara, Padua, Verona, Brescia, Mantua, Pavia, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome, &C., and hath bought as many books as he knew I had
80 DR. brushfield's presidential address.
not, amounting to the Sum of, at the least, Four Hundred Pounds." Although his agent, John Bill, obtained some books " at Sevil . . . the People's Usage towards all of our Nation is so cruel and malicious, as he was utterly discouraged for this time." (Letters in Jteliq, Bodleiance, 89, 197.) "•
He obtained donations of money and books from literary friends throughout England, especially from those in Devon- shire. ^^^ The most important contribution from this county, was that of the Dean (Dr. M. Sutclifle) and Chapter of Exeter, who, in 1602, gave eighty-one Latin MSS. from their library to the new one at Oxford. ^^® As Sir Thomas Bodley's second brother, Lawrence, was at that time a Canon of Exeter, it was probably due to his influence that these MSS. were so transferred.
** By what right," states Mr. Macray, " they thus alienated their corporate property no one probably cared to enquire ; but, from the tokens of neglect still visible upon the books, we may conclude that only by this alienation were they in all likelihood saved from ultimate destruction : for they nearly all bear more or less sign of having been exposed to great damp, which in several instances has well-nigh destroyed the initial and final leaves." {Op. cit (1890), 28.)
Five (perhaps more) of the MSS. had been originally given by Leofric to Exeter Cathedral, the most valuable being the ^'Missale Antiquissimum," of which a translation was published in 1883, by F. E. Warren, under the title of The Leofi^ic Missal as used in the Cathedral of Exeter during the Episcopate of its first Bishop, A.D. 1050-1072, with a valuable Introduction, &c.^^® It contains miscellaneous entries of manumissions, gifts to the Cathedral of furniture, books, &c. ; and Mr. Warren notes, " the list closes with a request that worshippers in Exeter Cathedral would pray for the soul of Leofric, and the imprecation of a malediction on any persons who should be concerned in the alienation or removal of his gifts." (Intro, xxiii)^®* It is only charitable to believe that the Dean and Chapter were not aware of the conse- quences attending a violation of Leofric's request.
The library was opened with due formality in 1602, and in 1604 the King granted letters patent authorising it to be called by Bodley's name. Moreover, he visited it in 1605, and again in 1614. The first catalogue — a thick 4to of 655 pages — appeared in 1605. And so started this great con- tribution to the literary world, "the first practically public library in Europe," and since then it has ever been widening the sphere of its usefulness, a monument needing no
DR. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 81
inscription, of the good this illustrious Devonian effected in his generation.
"Si monumentam quaeris, circnmspice."
Under the heading of Biography, the list of works is very smaU. Francis Godwin, d.d., when sub-dean of Exeter (1587-1601), compiled and published A Catalogue of the Bishops of Englavd . . . with a brief History of their lives and memorable actions (1601), the first work of its kind. It is said that Queen Elizabeth was so pleased with it, that she rewarded him with the Bishopric of Llandafif. ^®^ A much enlarged edition was issued in 1615, and lists of the Bishops of Bangor and of St. Asaph, omitted from the first, were included in it. Two "Discourses" were also added, one "concerning the first conversion of this Island of Britaine vnto Christian Religion" (1-48); the other "concerning such Englishmen as have either bene, or in our histories reputed, Cardinalls of the Church of Rome " (687-698), and it is not a little remarkable that the fabulous " Pope Joane " heads the list^^ This one he translated into Latin (to please King James is reported), published in 1616. A folio edition (1743), edited by W. Richardson, Master of Emmanuel CoU^e, Cambridge, is still the standard work on the subject.
John Hooker (1526 ?-1601), the Exeter antiquary, published in 1684, A Catalog of the Bishops of Excester, vnth the Description of the Antiquitie and first Foundation of the CaihedraU Church of the same ; reprinted, with some amend- ments, in Holinshed's Chronicle (1586) ; and by Andrew Brice in 1765. The late Professor Freeman did Dr. Godwin an injustice, in making the following statement in his History of Exeter (155) :
" Hooker's MS. volume, the * Great Ledger and Black Book ' is the source from which so many have drawn — Bishop Godwin, in his Catalogue of Bishops, not the least — without a word of thanks to their guide."
Had the Professor examined Godwin's work, he would have found the account of the Bishops of Exeter preceded by this note : " This discourse following is taken (for the most part) verbatim out of Master John Hooker's Catalogue of the Bishops of Exeter." (Ed. 1601, 315.) Moreover Hooker him- self was aware of Godwin's work while in progress.^^
John Hooker was also the author of the interesting " lyfe, manners, qualities, and condicions of " a " noble and worthye Blnyghte," with this heading; "The Lyffe o£ S\t Y^\«t
82 DR. BBUSHFIELD'S presidential ADDRESa
Carewe, late of Mohonese Otrey, in the coantie of Devon, Knyghte, who dyed at Rosse, in Irelande, the 27th of November, 1675, and was buryed at the cettie of Water Forde, the 15th of December, 1575; collected by John Vowell, alias Hoker, of the cetie of Excester, Gent, partly upon the credyble reporte of others and partly much he sawe 4nd knewe hymselffe." First printed in Archceologia zxtuL 96-151, from a MS. in the Lambeth Library; and after- wards, with Introduction and Notes, by John Maclean. 1857.
Sir Faithful Fortescue (1512-ctrc. 1608) of Buckland Filleigh, "wrote the memoirs of his family, which he left behind him ; and his grandson continued them to the year 1718." It is greatly to be regretted that "no trace of these records . . . can now be found." Another of the same name {circ. 1581-1666), also of Buckland Filleigh, drew up a short memoir '*of the Right Honourable, first Lord Chichester, Lord Deputy of Ireland." ^^
The life of the founder of All Souls College, Oxford, Arch- bishop Chichele, was written by Sir Arthur Duck (1580- 1648) " in most elegant Latine," printed in 1617 and 1681, and a translation in 1699.
None of the ordinary biographies of Sir Walter Ralegh were issued from the press before 1640, but there are two works incident to bis execution and the events immediately preceding it, not to be passed over, which are alluded to here, although, strictly speaking, they are more political than biographical. They were published within a day or two of each other, by B. Norton, the King s printer, and less than a month after Ralegh's execution on October 29th, 1618.
The first is entitled The hunible petition and informcUion of Sir Lewis Siucley, Knif/ht, Vice-adviirall of Deuon, touching his oume behauiour in tJie clmrge committed vnto him, for the bringing vp of Sir Walter Ealcigh, ami the scandalous asper^ sions cast vpon him for the same (1618),^^ and is the explanation of Sir Lewis or "ludas" Stucley (1570-1620), one of the results of the great outcry raised by Ralph's execution, which was soon found to be a most unpopular act. Another result was the publication of the second work, with the following title, A Declaration of the Demeanor and Cariage of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, as loell in his Vogage^ as in, and sitJience his Returne ; and of the true motives and inducements which occasioned His Maiestie to Proceed in doing Justice vpon him, as hath bene done, (1618.)^^ A very remarkable and important State paper, being the King's justification for causing Ralegh to be executed; and for tibe
DR. brushfield's presidentul address. 83
extremely unusual proceeding of sending forth an explanation of this, there must have been very strong reasons.
The following remarkable passage occurs in the Geography delineated of the learned Nathanael Carpenter (1589- 1628 ?) :
''I have hitherto touched such eminent wits and persons, of whom for their profession sake the Church or Commonwealth have greater reason to take especiall notice. Many inferiour faculties are yet left, wherein our Devon hath displaied her abilities, as well as in the former, as in Philosophers^ Historians^ OratourSy and PoetSf the blazoning of whom to the life, especially the last, I had rather leaue to my worthy friend Mr, W, Browne; who, as he hath already honoured his countrie in his elegant and sweet Pastoralls^ so questionles will easily bee intreated a little farther to grace it, by drawing out the line of his Poeticke Auncesters, beginning in Josephiis Iscanusj and ending in himselfe." (£d. 1625, bk. 2, eh. 15, pp. 263-4.)
From this, W. C. Hazlitt infers that Browne '* at one time contemplated doing what was afterwards achieved by Fuller, and, still later, by Prince — a biographical account of the Ti^orthies of Devon ";^®'^ but the text does not bear this interpretation.
The title of N. Carpenter's work, from which the foregoing extract has been taken, runs thus : Geography delineated forth in two Bookes, containing the sphmHcall and topical parts (hereof (1625, 1635), a remarkable production considering the period of its publication, and one of the earliest scientific treatises on the subject It includes mathematical geography, navigation, influence of climate on character, &c. ; and under the following heading urges much in praise of his native county of Devon : '' Mountaine people are for the most part more stout, warlike and generous than those of plain countries : yet lesse tractable to government." (Ed. of 1635, bk. 2, p. 256.) «8
A Treatise on Optics was written by the same author, but the original MS. was lost at sea, and although Wood affirms •* yet some copies of it are saved, but imperfect " (ii. 422), nothing is known of them at the present date.
Among his multifarious works, we should hardly have expected one on an astronomical subject from John Hooker; he however published, in 1577, The Events of Comets or blazing Stars.
The only other scientific treatises to notice, those on Navigation, will be considered in the Section on Voyages, &c.
84 DR. BRUSnFI£LD*S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
Had he lived in modem times, Sir Nicholas Halss (-1636), a native of Eflford, near Plymouth, would in all probability have been a promoter of public companies, created to carry out his numerous inventions. He does not appear to have published anything, but many of his MSS., containing scientific and political projects, have been pre- served. He invented a process for "sweet-drying malt without touch of smoke."
The English Naval Literature of this period is, even more than that of the drama, the great distinguishing characteristic of the reign of Elizabeth, as, among other things, it records the initiation and progress, at first by private individuals, of the various efforts made to discover new lands, to find out new modes of approach to the New World as well as to the far-famed Cathay, to institute colonies, &c., in order to share with other European nations the trade and commerce with distant regions, and which, until the middle of the century, had been almost wholly restricted to Europe. Before entering upon its description it is necessary to make a few preliminary explanatory observations.
Up to the time of the accession of Elizabeth in 1558,
" The true process of English policie, That wee bee masters of the narrowe see '*
— lines written in the early part of the 15th century — indicated the limits of the aspirations of the English trader, voyages beyond Europe being only occasionally made. ^®* Before the close of the century, America had been discovered by Columbus, Mexico and Peru had been captured by Cortes and Pizarro, and Vasco de Gama had discovered the road to India. Prior to these occurrences a Bull of Pope Alexander VI., under date 1493, " gaue and graunted to the Kynges of Castyle and theyr successours the Kegions and Ilandes founde in the West Ocean sea by the Nauigations of the Spanyardes." In a similar manner Adrian IV. bestowed Ireland on Henry II. in the 12th century. ^^^ The English were therefore debarred from making explorations towards, or trading with, the Western Continent, without being treated as the enemies of the Spanish and Portuguese. The cruel treatment by the latter of English seamen who fell into their hands, the religious persecutions, their cruelty to the Nether- landers, the high-handed proceedings against the English in 1585, when all in Spanish ports were arrested and their shipping confiscated, the knowledge that their religious and
DR. BRUSHFIELD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 85
other wars, including their purposed invasion of England, were supported by the wealth derived from the New World : these, with other reasons, led to an intense hatred of the Spaniards, lasting through this and the next reigns, not- withstanding all the efforts of James T. to alter its direction. Nevertheless, despite all the dangers and difficulties attending the prosecution of enterprises for the purpose of trade or of discovery ,^®^ they appear to have acted as a stimulus to a few determined individuals, and it was in a large measure owing to the efiforts of the naval worthies of Devon, that we owe the origin of our foreign commerce and of our colonies.
" Time neuer can produce men to ore-take The fames of Oreenuilf Davies^ Gilbert, Drake, Or worthy Hawkins, or of thousands more That by their powre made the Deuonian shore Mocke the proud Tagus ; for whose richest spoyle The boasting Spaniard left the Indian soyle Banckrupt of store."
( W. Browne, BrU. Pastorals, bk. ii. song 3. )
They laid the foundation of the naval supremacy of this country. In her time, Elizabeth witnessed the elevation of England, and the decay of the great naval and military power of Spain. The latter power appeared to be at its height in the year of the Great Armada (1588). Ten years later Philip II. died "hopelessly bankrupt," having in the previous year (1597) " repudiated his debts, and ruined many of the chief commercial houses in Europa (Creighton's Age of Elizabeth, 223.)
The literature of the deeds of our naval worthies is, comparatively speaking, scanty.
To the labours of Eichard Hakluyt (1552 ?-1616), and his successorSamuelPurchas (1577-1628 ?), wearemainly indebted for the preservation of a large number of the accounts of voyages and expeditions, few of them having been issued by, or at the instigation of, the voyagers as separate works (Balegh being a marked exception). Many of them were apparently taken down by Hakluyt, from verbal descriptions of those who had taken part in them, which otherwise would have been lost. In these he acknowledges the assistance he obtained from the Devonians Wm. Borough, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Walter Ealegh. His first treatise was issued in 1582, followed by another in 1589, but the one embodying the great results of his labours did not appear until 1599, and under the title of The PHncipod Nauiga- tians, Voyages^ Traffigues, and Discoveries of tht Euglish,
86 DB. BRUSHFIELD'S PBE8IDENTIAL ADDJBLSSa
Nation, termed by Froude "the Prose Epic of the modem English nation/' A portion of his Collections are included in the HaJduyt PosthumuSy the Pilgrimes of S. Purchas.^^
We commence with the Hawkins' Family " of merchants statesmen and heroes, to whom our country affords no parallel." ^®^ And first, of William Hawkyns or Hawkins (-1554?), a member of a Tavistock family, settled at Ply- mouth, who, like several of his descendants, was Mayor of that town, and represented it in Parliament. As a trader he made several voyages to Brazil and Guinea, in the reign of Henry VIII., recorded by Hakluyt in " A briefe relation of two sundry voyages made by the worshipful M. William Hawkins of Plimmouth ... in the yeere 1530 and 1532." (xiv., 250, 1),^^ the earliest by a Devonian reported in his work.
His son. Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595), born at Plymouth, was " one of the great men who broke the power of Spain, and established England's maritime supremacy." (Professor Laughton.) He was an active man in naval matters, ashore or afloat. Treasurer of the Navy, and one of the foremost captains in the attack on the Spanish Armada, for which he was knighted." ^®^ Of his many voyages, we have full accounts of four, all recorded by Hakluyt, and all to the West Indies and the opposite coast of Africa, That of the first, in 1562, is very short and without author's name, but is a memorable one for being the earliest record we possess of an Englishman's connection with the Slave trade, negroes being captured in Guinea and sold in the West Indies, (xv. 123-125.^^ Of his second voyage, made in 1564 with four ships, a long interesting description was furnished to Hakluyt by " John Sparke the younger, who went vpon the same voyage, and wrote the same." (xv. 125-170.) This Sparke was a Plymouth man, afterwards mayor.
The account of the third voyage with six ships, in 1567 and 1568, written by Hawkins himself, is chronicled by Hakluyt (xv. 170-180), and in a separate work, entitled A true declaration of the troublesome voyadge of M, J. Hawkins to the parties of Guynea and the west-Indies in the yeares of our Lord 1567 and 1568. (1569.)^®^ It was the first occasion of the Bay of Mexico being visited by English vessels. After trading in negroes, plundering Portuguese vessels, &c., he was attacked by the Spanish fleet in the harbour of San Juan de UUoa (Vera Cruz), and escaped with difficulty back to England with two of his ships, of one of which Drake was captain. Hawkins thus concludes his account :
DR. BRUSHPISLD'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 87
"If all the miseries and troublesome affaires of this sorowfuU voyage should be perfectly and throughly written, there should neede a painefull man with his pen, and as great a time as he had that wrote the lines and deathes of the Martyrs/'
ProC Arber remarks, ** The baptism of blood at San Juan de Ulloa was afterwards expiated in the plunder of many an unfortunate Spanish ship." {£ng. Garner^ v. 204.) Of his last voyage in 1595, during which he died, we defer an account until we describe Drake's achievements.
Sir John's only son, Sir Eichard Hawkins (1562?-1622), probably bom at Plymouth, made a memorable but disastrous voyage on a plundering expedition against the Spaniards. After passing through the Straits of Magellan, he ascended the coast as far as Valparaiso, taking it and some ships. Shortly after he was attacked by a superior force of Spanish vessels, and after fighting desperately for three days (similar in several respects to the incident of the Revenge in 1591), was taken prisoner, and was not released until 1602. Ee- turning to England, he wrote The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins Knight in his Voyage into the South Sea, Anno Domini, 1593, but it was not published until after his death in 1622.^*® It is imperfect in including a portion only of his travels ; it omits all mention of Peru, and of his prison lifa Of the places visited by him, many interesting par- ticulars are given.
Sir Eichard's voyage and subsequent imprisonment led to aa extraordinary poetipal composition by William Kidley (Jl, 1624), of Dartmouth, preserved in the British Museum [Sloane MS. 2024), and entitled "Kidley's Hawkins, or a poetical Belation of the Voyage of S"* Eichard Hawkins Knight vnto Mare del Zur . . . 1593 ... By William Kidley, in his Minority, an Vndergraduate in Exeter Colledge in Oxford, at vacant howers in Ann. 1624, and in the 19th