Chapter I: A. lived most at Broad-chalke in com. Wilts; sometimes at Easton (3)

Many yeares since Mr. Abraham Hill, Regiae Societatis Socius, citizen, told me that Sir Henry Billingsley was of the Goldsmiths' Company, and that his picture was in Goldsmiths' Hall, which I went lately to see. No picture of him, and besides the clarke of the Company told me that he is sure _he_ was never of that Company. But Mr. Hill tells me since that in Stowe's Survey you may see of what Company all the Lord Mayers were, which see[390] and tell me.

[391]Sir H. Billingsley--Mr. Leeke, mathematician, saith that he was of the company of goldsmiths, quaere. Quaere the clarke of the company: vide register booke. Vide Heralds' Office (Salop, and neer Bristowe). Vide Fuller's Worthyes where he mentions the Lord Mayers.

[392]_Ex registro_ <of St. Catherine Coleman>:--Sir Henry Billingsley, knight, buried in the vault under his pewe in the church of St. Catherine Coleman, London, December the 18th, 1606. I find by the register that he had two more wives besides Elizabeth mentioned in the inscription; his second was the lady Trapps; third,....

Memorandum his house (which is a very faire one), which is neer the church, is still remayning untoucht by the fire. In the parlour windowe are scutchions of his family, which gett. There now lives Mr. Lucy[393], a great merchant.

He was sheriff of the citie of London anno Domini <1584>, reginae Elizabethae 26; he was Lord Mayor of the city of London anno Domini <1596>, reginae Elizabethae 38--Sir Thomas Skinner served one part and Sir Henry Billingsley the other:--Baker's Chronicle, reigne queen Elizabeth.

[394]Out of the visitation in the great booke[395] of Wilts, Dorset, and Somerset:--

Sir Henry Billingsley, _maried_ ...
Lord Mayer |
|
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| | |
1. Sir Henry Billingsley, 2. William Billingsley, _m._ ... 3. Thomas[396]
of Sysam in |
Glocestershire, |
filius et haeres. +--------------+--------------+
| |
1. Henry Billingsley, _m._ ... 2. Thomas
of Graye's Inne |
|
+-------+-------+
| |
1. Blanch 2. Elizabeth

[397]Sir Henry Billingsley<'s life is> already donne[398]. Friar Whitehead[AR], of Austin Friars (now Wadham College), did instruct him. He kept him at his house and there I thinke he dyed.

_Notes._

[AQ] Aubrey gives in colour this very elaborate coat:--'quarterly in the 1 and 4, gules, a fleur-de-lys or, a canton of the second; in the 2, ..., on a cross between four lions rampant 5 mullets ...; in the 3, per saltire or and azure two birds (? martlets); _impaling_, quarterly, in the 1 and 4, azure 2 lions passant in pale or; in the 2, or, a fess sable, 2 mullets in chief gules; in the 3, barry of six argent and gules a bend sable and a canton gules.'

[AR] See Clark's Wood's _City of Oxford_, ii. 454, 471. It is suggested that Billingsley in his Euclid published Whitehead's papers as his own.

=Martin Billingsley.=

[399]Mr. Martin Billingsley (captain <Edward> Shirburne knew him) was a writing master in London. He printed an excellent copie-booke (quaere if he descended from this[400]): vide his scutcheon[401] above his picture before his booke.

[402]Martin Billingsley, who made the copie booke, 1623, port.[403] ut in margine, '..., a cross between 4 lions rampant ..., 5 mullets ... on the cross.'

=Richard Billingsley.=

[404]Richard Billingsley[405] scripsit:--

'An Idea of Arithmetick, at first designed for the use of the free-schoole at Thurlow in Suffolk, by R. B. schoolmaster there': stitch't 8vo, 3 sheetes, London, 'printed by J. Flesher, and are to be sold by W. Morden booke-seller in Cambridge, 1655.'

=Thomas Billingsley= (obiit 167..).

[406]Sir Thomas Billingsley was the best horseman in England, and out of England no man exceeded him.

He taught this[407] earle <of Dorset> and his 30 gentlemen to ride the great horse. He taught this[408] Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine and his brothers.

He ended his dayes at the countesse of Thanet's (daughter and co-heire of Richard, earl of Dorset) ... 167-; dyed praying on his knees.

=John Birkenhead= (1615-1679).

[409]Sir John Birkenhead, knight, was borne at Nantwych[410] in Cheshire. His father was a sadler there, and he had a brother a sadler, a trooper in Sir Thomas Ashton's regiment, who was quartered at my father's, who told me so.

He went to Oxford university at ... old, and was first a servitor of Oriall colledge: vide _Antiq. Oxon._[411] Mr. Gwin[412], minister of Wilton, was his contemporary there, who told me he wrote an excellent hand, and, in 163[7 or 8] when William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, was last there, he had occasion to have some things well transcribed, and this Birkenhead was recommended to him, who performed[413] his businesse so well, that the archbishop recommended him to All Soules' college to be a fellow, and he was accordingly elected[414]. He was scholar enough, and a poet.

After Edgehill fight, when King Charles I first had his court at Oxford, he was pitched upon as one fitt to write the Newes, which Oxford Newes was called _Mercurius Aulicus_, which he writt wittily enough, till the surrender of the towne (which was June 24, 1646). He left a collection of all his _Mercurius Aulicus's_ and all his other pamphletts, which his executors (Sir Richard Mason and Sir Muddiford Bramston) were ordered by the king to give to the Archbishop of Canterbury's library.

After the surrender of Oxford, he was putt out of his fellowship by the Visitors, and was faine to shift for himselfe as well as he could. Most part of his time he spent at London, where he mett with severall persons of quality that loved his company, and made much of him.

He went over into France, where he stayed some time, I thinke not long. He received grace there from the dutches of Newcastle, I remember he tolde me.

He gott many a fourty shillings (I beleeve) by pamphletts, such as that of 'Col. Pride,' and 'The Last Will and Testament of Philip earle of Pembroke,' &c.

At the restauration of his majestie he was made Master of the Facultees, and afterwards one of the Masters of Requests. He was exceedingly confident[415], witty, not very gratefull to his benefactors, would lye damnably. He was of midling stature, great goggli eies, not of a sweet aspect.

He was chosen a burghes of Parliament at Wilton in Wiltshire, anno Domini 166<1>, i.e. of the King's long parliament. Anno 167<9> upon the choosing of _this_ Parliament[416], he went downe to be elected, and at Salisbury heard[417] how he was scorned and mocked at Wilton (whither he was goeing) and called _Pensioner_, etc.--

[Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem
Imposuit; leges fixit pretio atque refixit.

VIRG. _Aeneid_, lib. vi. 621.

--This was Curio: vide Servium de hoc]--he went not to the borough where he intended to stand; but returned to London, and tooke it so to heart that he insensibly decayed and pined away; and so, December ...[XXI.], 1679, dyed at his lodgeings in Whitehall, and was buried Saturday, December 6, in St. Martyn's churchyard[XXII.] in-the-Fields, neer the church, according to his will and testament. His executors intend to sett up an inscription for him against the church wall.

[XXI.] quaere Anthony Wood to whom I writt the day of his death, which as I remember was the same day that Mr. Hobbes died.

[XXII.] His reason[418] was because he sayd they removed the bodies out of the church.

He had the art of locall memory; and his topiques were the chambers, &c., in All Soules colledge (about 100), so that for 100 errands, &c., he would easily remember.

[419]He was created Dr. of LL.; had been with the king[420]. His library was sold to Sir Robert Atkins for 200 _li._ His MSS. (chiefly copies of records) for 900 _li._

=Henry Birkhead= (1617-1696).

[421]My old acquaintance, Dr. Henry Birkhed, formerly fellow of your college[422] (but first was commoner of Trinity College Oxon) was an universally <belove>d man.

He had his schoole education under Mr. Farnary[423] and <was his> beloved disciple.

He died at the Bird-cage (at his sister's, Mris Knight, the famous singer) in St. James's parke, <on> Michaelmas-eve 1696, aged about 80.

He was borne in London <at the> Paul-head tavern (which his father kept) in Paule's chaine <in> St. Paul's church-yard anno 1617, baptized the 25 of September. John Gadbury haz his nativity from him.

I will aske his sister (Mris Knight) for a very ingeniose diatribe that he wrote on Martialis epigram. lib. <xi. 94. 8>,

jura, verpe, per Anchialum,

which he haz cleared beyond his master Farnaby, Scaliger, or any other. 'Scaliger,' he sayd, 'speakes the truth, but not the whole truth.' 'Tis pity it should be lost, and I would reposit it in the Museum.

I gave my Holyoke's dictionary to the Museum. Pray looke on the blank leaves at the end of it, and you will find a thundering copie of verses that he gave me, in the praise of this king[424] of France. Now he is dead, it may be look't-upon.

=Richard Blackbourne= (1652-17..?).

[425]Richard Blackburne, Londinensis, was of Trinity College, Cambridge, M.A. Tooke his M.D. degree at Leyden about 5 or 6 yeares since. He practises but little; studies much. A generall scholar, prodigious memorie, sound judgment; but 30 yeares old now.

=John Blagrave= (1550-1611).

In MS. Aubr. 8 (Aubrey's _Lives of English Mathematicians_),
fol. 76, 'Mr. John Blagrave of Reding' is noted as a life to be
written, and the coat is given in trick 'or, on a bend sable, 3
greaves argent.' In the Index (fol. 8) at the beginning of the
same volume he is noted:--

'John Blagrave of Reding, vide his will, quaere Mr. Morden.'

=Robert Blake= (1599-1657).

[426]... Blake, admirall, was borne at ... in com. Somerset; was[427] of Albon-hall, in Oxford. He was there a young man of strong body, and good parts. He was an early riser and studyed well, but also tooke his robust pleasures of fishing, fowling, &c. He would steale swannes--from H. Norborne, B.D., his contemporary there[428].

He served in the House of Commons for....[429] Anno Domini <1649> he was made admirall. He did the greatest actions at sea that ever were done, viz.,....

... Blake obiit anno Domini <1657> and was buried in King Henry 7th's chapell; but upon the returne of the king, his body was taken up again and removed by Mr. Wells' occasion, and where it is now, I know not. Quaere Mr. Wells of Bridgewater.

Vide Diurnalls, and Rushworth's History; vide Anthony Wood's _Hist. <et Antiq. Oxon.>_.

=Sir Henry Blount= (1602-1682).

[430]Sir Henry Blount, Tittinghanger, natus Dec. 15, 1602, 9ʰ P.M.

[431]Sir Henry Blount obiit 9th Oct. last[432] in the morning.

[433]Sir Henry Blount[AS], knight:--he was borne (I presume) at Tittinghanger in the countie of Hertford. It was heretofore the summer seate of the Lord Abbot of St. Alban's.

He was of Trinity College in Oxford[434], where was a great acquaintance[435] between him and Mr. Francis Potter. He stayed there about <four> yeares. From thence he went to Grayes Inne, where he stayd ... and then sold his chamber there to Mr. Thomas Bonham[AT] (the poet) and travelled--voyage into the Levant. May 7, 1634, he embarqued at Venice for Constantinople: vide his _Voyage into the Levant_, printed London 16--, in 4to. He returned....

He was pretty wild when young, especially addicted to common wenches. He was a 2d brother.

He was a gentleman pensioner to King Charles I, on whom he wayted (as it was his turne) to Yorke (when the King deserted the Parliament); was with him at Edge-hill fight; came with him to Oxford; and so returned to London; walkt[436] into Westminster hall with his sword by his side; the Parliamentarians all stared upon him as a _Cavaleer_, knowing that he had been with the King: was called before the House of Commons, where he remonstrated to them he did but his duty, and so they acquitted him.

In these dayes he dined most commonly at the Heycock's[437] ordinary, neer the Pallzgrave-head taverne, in the Strand, which was much frequented by Parliament-men and gallants. One time colonel Betridge being there (one[438] of the handsomest men about the towne) and bragged much how the woemen loved him; Sir H. Blount did lay a wager of ... with him that let them two goe together to a bordello; he only (without money) with his handsome person, and Sir Henry with a XX_s._ piece on his bald crowne, that the wenches should choose Sir Henry before Betridge; and Sir H. won the wager. E<dmund> W<yld>, esq., was one of the witnesses.

Memorandum:--there was about 164.. a pamphlet (writt by Henry Nevill, esq., ἀνονυμῶς) called _The Parliament of Ladies_, 3 or 4 sheets in 4to, wherin Sir Henry Blount was first to be called to the barre for spreading abroad that abominable and dangerous doctrine that it was far cheaper and safer to lye with common wenches[439] then with ladies of quality[440].

☞ His estate left him by his father was 500 _li._ per annum, which he sold to ... (quaere) for an annuitie of 1000 _li._ per annum in anno Domini 16..; and since his elder brother dyed.

Anno Domini 165<1/2> he was made one of the comittee for regulating the lawes. He was severe against tythes, and for the abolishing them, and that every minister should have 100 _li._ per annum and no more.

Since he was ... year old he dranke nothing but water or coffee. 1647 or therabout, he maryed to Mris [Hester[d]] Wase, [daughter of Christopher Wase[441]], who dyed 1679; by whom he haz two sonnes, ingeniose young gentlemen. Charles Blount (his second son) hath writt _Anima Mundi_, 8vo, 167<9> (burnt by order of the bishop of London) and of _Sacrifices_, 8vo.

I remember twenty yeares since he inveighed much against sending youths to the universities--quaere if his sons there--because they learnt there to be debaucht; and that the learning that they learned there[442] they were to unlearne againe, as a man that is buttond or laced too hard, must unbutton before he can be at his ease. Drunkennesse he much exclaimed against, but he allowed wenching. When coffee first came-in he was a great upholder of it, and hath ever since been a constant frequenter of coffee houses, especially Mr. ... Farre at the Rainbowe by Inner Temple Gate, and lately John's coffee house in Fuller's rents.

☞ The first coffee house in London[XXIII.] was in St. Michael's Alley in Cornehill, opposite to the Church; which was sett up by one ... Bowman (coachman to Mr. Hodges, a Turkey merchant, who putt him upon it) in or about the yeare 1652. 'Twas about 4 yeares before any other was sett up, and that was by Mr. Far. Jonathan Paynter, opposite to St. Michael's Church, was the first apprentice to the trade, viz. to Bowman. Memorandum:--the Bagneo, in Newgate Street, was built and first opened in Decemb. 1679: built by ... (Turkish merchants).

[XXIII.] And the next was Mr. Farr's a barber, which was set up in anno....

He is a gentleman of a very clear judgement, great experience, much contemplation, not of very much reading, of great foresight into government. His conversation is admirable. When he was young, he was a great collector of bookes, as his sonne is now.

He was heretofore a great _shammer_, i.e. one that tells falsities not to doe any body any injury, but to impose on their understanding:--e.g. at Mr. Farre's; that at an inne (nameing the signe) in St. Alban's, the inkeeper had made a hogs-trough of a free-stone coffin; but the pigges, after that, grew leane, dancing and skipping, and would run up on the topps of the houses like goates. Two young gentlemen that heard Sir H. tell this _sham_ so gravely, rode the next day to St. Alban's to enquire: comeing there, nobody had heard of any such thing, 'twas altogether false. The next night as soon as the<y> allighted, they came to the Rainbowe and found Sir H., looked louringly on him, and told him they wonderd he was not ashamed to tell such storys as, &c., 'Why, gentlemen,' (sayd Sir H.) 'have you been there to make enquiry?' 'Yea,' sayd they. 'Why truly, gentlemen,' sayd Sir H. 'I heard you tell strange things that I knew to be false. I would not have gonne over the threshold of the dore to have found you in a lye:' at which all the company laught at the two young gentlemen.

He was wont to say that he did not care to have his servants goe to church, for there servants infected one another to goe to the alehouse and learne debauchery; but he did bid them goe to see the executions at Tyburne, which worke more upon them then all the oratory in the sermons.

His motto over his printed picture is that which I have many yeares ago heard him speake of, viz.:--_Loquendum est cum vulgo, sentiendum cum sapientibus_.

He is now (1680) neer or altogether 80 yeares, his intellectualls good still, and body pretty strong.

This last weeke[443] of Sept. 1682, he was taken very ill at London, and his feet swelled; and removed to Tittinghanger.

_Notes._

[AS] Aubrey gives in colours the coats:--'or, 2 bars nebulé sable [Blount]'; and 'or, 2 bars nebulé sable [Blount]; impaling, barry of six or and gules [Wase].' Also the references (a) 'vide Anthony Wood's _<Hist. et> Antiq. Oxon._'; (b) 'vide Heralds' Office.' Aubrey, in MS. Wood F. 39, writing on April 7, 1673, says of Blount, 'His father was Sir Thomas Pope Blount, and his grandmother (as I remember I have heard Dr. Hannibal Potter say) was our founder's daughter.'

[AT] Aubrey, in MS. Wood F. 39, fol. 199, speaks of him as 'Tom Bonham, of Essex, that haz made many a good song and epitaph--

When the shrill scirocco blowes.'

=Edmund Bonner= (1495-1569).

[444]Mr. Steevens[445], ... whom I mett lately accidentally, informed me thus:--that bishop Bonner was of Broadgates hall; that he came thither a poor boy, and was at first a skullion boy in the kitchin, afterwards became a servitor, and so by his industry raysed to what he was.

When he came to his greatnes, in acknowledgement from whence he had his rise, he gave[446] to the kitchin there a great brasse-pott, called Bonner's pott, which was taken away in the parliament time. He has shewed the pott to me, I remember. It was the biggest, perhaps, in Oxford: quaere the old cooke how much it contayned.

=John Booker= (1601/2-1667).

[447]John Booker, astrologer, natus Manchester, March 23, 1601, 20ʰ 10´ P.M.

=James Bovey= (1622-16..).

[448]James Bovey[AU] borne at London May 7th, 1622, 6 a clock in the morning[449].

James Bovey, esq., was the youngest son of Andrew Bovey, merchant, cash-keeper to Sir Peter Vanore, in London.

He was borne in the middle of Mincing Lane, in the parish of Saint Dunstan's in the East, London, anno 1622, May 7th, at six a clock in the morning. Went to schoole at Mercers Chapell, under Mr. Augur. At 9 sent into the Lowe Countreys; then returned, and perfected himselfe in the Latin and Greeke. <At> 14, travelled into France and Italie, Switzerland, Germany, and the Lowe Countreys. Returned into England at 19; then lived with one Hoste, a banquier, 8 yeares, was his cashier 8 or 9 yeares. Then traded for himselfe (27) till he was 31; then maried the only daughter of William de Vischer, a merchant; lived 18 yeares with her, then continued single. Left off trade at 32, and retired to a countrey life, by reason of his indisposition, the ayre of the citie not agreing with him. Then in these retirements he wrote _Active[450] Philosophy_, (a thing not donne before) wherin are enumerated all the Arts and Tricks practised in Negotiation, and how they were to be ballanced by counter-prudentiall rules.

Whilest he lived with Mr. Hoste, he kept the cash of the ambassadors of Spaine that were here; and of the farmers, called by them _Assentistes_, that did furnish the Spanish and Imperiall armies of the Low-Countreys and Germany; and also many other great cashes, as of Sir Theodore Mayern, etc.; his dealing being altogether in money-matters: by which meanes he became acquainted with the ministers of state both here and abroad.

When he was abroad, his chiefe employment was to observe the affaires of state and their judicatures, and to take the politique surveys in the countreys he travelled thorough, more especially in relation to trade. He speakes[451] the Low-Dutch, High-Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and Lingua Franco, and Latin, besides his owne.

When he retired from businesse he studied the Lawe-Merchant, and admitted himselfe of the Inner Temple, London, about 1660. His judgment haz been taken in most of the great causes of his time in points concerning the Lawe-Merchant. As to his person he is about 5 foot high, slender[452], strait, haire exceeding black and curling at the end, a dark hazell[453] eie, of a midling size, but the most sprightly that I have beheld. Browes and beard of the colour as his haire. A person of great temperance, and deepe thoughts, and a working head, never idle. From[454] 14 he had a candle burning by him all night, with pen, inke, and paper, to write downe thoughts as they came into his head; that so he might not loose a thought. Was ever a great lover of Naturall Philosophie. His whole life has been perplex't in lawe-suites, (which haz made him expert in humane affaires), in which he alwaies over-came. He had many lawe-suites with powerfull adversaries; one lasted 18 yeares. Red-haired men never had any kindnesse for him. He used to say:--

In rufa pelle non est animus sine felle.

In all his travells he was never robbed.

He has one son, and one daughter who resembles him.

From 14 he began to take notice of all prudentiall rules as came in his way, and wrote them downe, and so continued till this day, Sept. 28, 1680, being now in his 59th yeare.

For his health he never had it very well, but indifferently, alwaies a weake stomach, which proceeded from the agitation of the braine. His dyet was alwayes fine diet: much chicken[455].

He wrote a Table of all the Exchanges in Europe.

[456]He hath writt (which is in his custodie, and which I have seen, and many of them read) these treatises, viz.

1. The Characters, or Index Rerum <etc.[457]>

[458]A Catalogue of the treatises written of Active Philosophy by James Bovey, of the Inner Temple, esquire, 1677.

1. The Characters, or Index Rerum: in 4 tomes.
2. The Introduction to Active Philosophy.
3. The Art of Building a Man: or Education.
4. The Art of Conversation.
5. The Art of Complyance.
6. The Art of Governing the Tongue.
7. The Art of Governing the Penn.
8. The Government of Action.
9. The Government of Resolution.
10. The Government of Reputation.
11. The Government of Power: in 2 tomes.
12. The Government of Servients.
13. The Government of Subserviency.
14. The Government of Friendshipp.
15. The Government of Enmities.
16. The Government of Law-suites.
17. The Art of Gaining Wealth.
18. The Art of Buying and Selling[459].
19. The Art of Preserving Wealth.
20. The Art of Expending Wealth.
21. The Government of Secresy.
22. The Government of Amor Conjugalis: in 2 tomes.
23. Of Amor Concupiscentiae.
24. The Government of Felicity.
25. The Lives of Atticus, Sejanus, Augustus.
26. The Causes of the Diseases of the Mind.
27. The Cures of the Mind, vizᵗ. Passions, Diseases, Vices, Errours, Defects.
28. The Art of Discerning of Men.
29. The Art of Discerning a Man's selfe.
30. Religion from Reason: in 3 tomes.
31. The Life of Cum-fu-zu, soe farr wrote by J. B.
32. The Life of Mahomett, wrot by Sir Walter Raleigh's papers, with some small addition for methodizing the same.

[460]I have desired him to give these MSS. to the library of the Royal Society.

He made it his businesse[461] to advance the trade of England, and many men have printed his conceptions.

_Note._

[AU] Aubrey gives in trick the coat:--'ermine, on a bend sable cottised gules, five besants, between 2 eagles proper;' and an impression of Bovey's seal with the same coat.

=Richard Boyle=, earl of Cork (1566-1643).

[462]Earl of Corke:--vide countesse of Warwick's funerall sermon, 2 or 3 shops[463] within Paul's churchyard.

[464]Earl of Corke[AV]--Thomas, earl of Strafford made him disgorge 1500 _li._ per annum, which he restored to the church--<from> Mr. ... Anderson.

Earl of Corke bought of captaine Horsey _fourtie plough__lands_ in Ireland for fourtie pounds. (A. Ettrick assures me, 'I say againe fourtie ploughlands.')

The queen gave Lismore to Sir Walter Raleigh, and ... to Sir John Anderson, etc. to etc., eâ intentione to plant them, which they did not; and were not planted till since the last rebellion--quaere Mr. Anderson, who sayes that Ireland could not be secure till it was enough peopled with English.

My lady Petty sayes he had a wife or two before, and that he maried Mris. Fenton[AW] without her father's consent--(quaere Secretary Fenton's Christian name[AX]).

[465]... Boyle, the first earle of Corke:--the countesse of Thanet, his great-grand-daughter, daughter to this earle of Corke and Burlington, haz told me that her father has a booke in folio--thick--of her grandfather's writing, <giving> the place, day, and hour of birth, and by what steps, wayes, and degrees he came to his greatnes. Which she will doe her endeavour to gett me an extract of it, but it is in Ireland and (I thinke) must be kept there, and is an heir-loome to the family.

<_Excerpts from Anthony Walker's Sermon._>

[466]Of Richard Boyle, first earl of Corke, and his seventh daughter, Mary, countess of Warwick.

'THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN FOUND: Being a Sermon preached at Felsted, in Essex, at the Funerall of the most excellent and religious lady, the Right honourable MARY Countesse Dowager of Warwick. By Anthony Walker, D.D. rector of Fyfield, in the sayd countie. The 2d Edition corrected. Printed at London, for Nath. Ranew, at the King's Arms, in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1680.' (The Epistle dedicatory is dated May 27, 1678.)

Pag. 44.--'She was truly excellent and great in all respects:
great in the honour of her birth, being born a lady and a
virtuosa both; seventh daughter of that eminently honourable,
Richard, the first earle of Cork; who being born a private
gentleman, and younger brother of a younger brother, to no
other heritage than is expressed in the device and motto, which
his humble gratitude inscribed on all the palaces he built,

_God's Providence, mine Inheritance_;

by that Providence, and his diligent and wise industry, raised
such an honour and estate, and left such a familie, as never
any subject of these three kingdomes did, and that with so
unspotted a reputation of integrity that the most invidious
scrutiny could find no blott, though it winnowed all the
methods of his rising most severely, which our good lady hath
often told me with great content and satisfaction.

This noble lord, by his prudent and pious consort, no lesse
an ornament and honour to their descendants than himself,
was blessed with five sonnes, (of which he lived to see four
lords and peeres of the kingdome of Ireland,[467] and a fifth,
more than these titles speak, a soveraigne and peerlesse in
a larger province,--that of universall nature, subdued and
made obsequious to his inquisitive mind), and eight daughters.
And that you may remark how all things were extraordinary in
this great personage, it will, I hope, be neither unpleasant,
nor impertinent, to add a short story I had from our lady's
own mouth:--Master Boyl, after earle of Cork (who was then a
widdower), came one morning to waite on Sir Jeofry Fenton, at
that time a great officer[XXIV.] of state in that kingdome of
Ireland, who being ingaged in business, and not knowing who it
was who desired to speake with him, a while delayed him access;
which time he spent pleasantly with his young daughter in her
nurse's arms. But when Sir Jeoffry came, and saw whom he had
made stay somewhat too long, he civilly excused it. But master
Boyl replied, he had been very well entertayned; and spent his
time much to his satisfaction, in courting his daughter, if he
might obtaine the honour to be accepted for his son-in-lawe. At
which Sir Jeoffry, smiling (to hear one who had been formerly
married, move for a wife carried in arms, and under two years
old,) asked him if he would stay for her? To which he frankly
answered him he would, and Sir Jeoffry as generously promised
him he should then have his consent. And they both kept their
words honourably. And by this virtuous lady he had thirteen
children, ten of which he lived to see honourably married, and
died a grandfather by the youngest of them.

[XXIV.] Secretary of Estate.

Nor did she derive less honour from the collateral, than the
descending line, being sister by soul and genius, as well as
bloud, to these great personages, whose illustrious, unspotted,
and resplendent honour and virtue, and whose usefull learning
and accurate pens, may attone and[468]expiate, as well as
shame, the scandalous blemishes of a debauched, and the many
impertinencies of a scribling, age:--

(1), Richard, the truly right honourable, loyal, wise, and
virtuous, earl of Burlington and Cork, whose life is his
fairest and most laudable character;

(2), the right honourable Roger earle of Orery, that great
poet, great statesman, great soldier, and great every-thing
which merits the name of great or good;

(3), Francis lord Shannon, whose _Pocket Pistol_, as he stiles
his book, may make as wide breaches in the walls of the
Capitol, as many canons;

(4), and that honourable and well known name Robert Boyl,
esquier, that profound philosopher, accomplished humanist,
and excellent divine, I had almost sayd lay-bishop, as one
hath stiled Sir Henry Savil; whose works alone may make a
librarie[XXV.].

[XXV.] Why does he not mention ... lord Killimeke[AY]; who was slain at
the great battell of Liskarrill, in Ireland?

The female branches also (if it be lawfull so to call them
whose virtues were so masculine, souls knowing no difference of
sex) by their honours and graces (by mutuall reflections) gave,
and received lustre, to, and from, her:--

the eldest of which, the lady Alice, was married to the lord
Baramore;

the second, the lady Sarah, to the lord Digby, of Ireland;

the third, the lady Laetitia, to the eldest son of the lord
Goring, who died earle of Norwich;

the fourth, the lady Joan, to the earle of Kildare, not only
primier earle of Ireland, but the _ancientest house_ in
Christendome of that degree, the present earle being the six
and twentieth, or the seaven and twentieth, of lineal descent:
and, as I have heard, it was that great antiquary King Charles
the First his observation, that the three ancientest families
of Europe for nobility, were the _Veres_ in England, earls of
Oxford, and the _Fitz-Geralds_ in Ireland, earls of Kildare,
and _Momorancy_ in France: 'tis observable[469]that the present
earle of Kildare is a mixture of blood of Fitz-Geralds and
Veres;

the fifth, the lady Katharine, who was married to the lord
viscount Ranelaugh[XXVI.], and mother to the present generous
earle of Ranelaugh, of which family I could have added an
eminent remark, I meet with in Fuller's "Worthies;" this lady's
character is so signalized by her known merit among all persons
of honour, that as I need not, so I dare not, attempt beyond
this one word--she was our lady's _Friend-Sister_;

[XXVI.] <Arthur> Jones.

the sixth, the lady Dorothy Loftus;

the seaventh, (the number of perfection) which shutt-up and
crown'd this noble train (for the eighth, the lady Margaret,
died unmaried), was our excellent lady Mary, married to
Charles, earle of Warwick; of whom, if I should use the
language of my text, I should neither despair their pardon,
nor fear the reproach of rudeness--_Many daughters_, all his
daughters, _did virtuously but thou_--PROV. xxxi. 29, 30, 31.

----But shee[XXVII.] needed neither borrowed shades, nor
reflexive lights, to set her off, being personally great in
all naturall endowments and accomplishments of soul and body,
wisdome, beautie, favour, and virtue;

[XXVII.] Mary, countess of Warwick.

great by her tongue, for never woman used one better, speaking
so gracefully, promptly, discreetly, pertinently, holily, that
I have often admired the edifying words that proceeded from her
mouth;

great by her pen, as you may (_ex pede Herculem_) discover
by that little[XXVIII.] tast of it the world hath been happy
in, the hasty fruit of one or two interrupted houres after
supper, which she professed to me, with a little regret, when
she was surprised with it's sliding into the world without her
knowledge, or allowance, and wholly beside her expectation;

[XXVIII.] Her ladyship's _Pious Meditations_.

great by being the greatest mistresse and promotress, not to
say the foundress and inventress, of a new science--the art of
obliging; in which she attain'd that sovereign perfection, that
she reigned over all their hearts with whom she did converse;

great in her nobleness of living and hospitality;

great in the unparallelld sincerity of constant, faithfull,
condescending friendship, and for that law of kindness which
dwelt in her lips and heart;

great in her dexterity of management;

great in her quick apprehension of the difficulties of her
affaires, and where the stress and pinch lay, to untie the
knot, and loose and ease them;

great in the conquest of herselfe;

great in a thousand things beside, which the world admires as
such: but she despised them all, and counted them but loss and
dung in comparison of the feare of God, and the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus.'

_Notes._

[AV] Aubrey gives in trick the coat:--'per bend crenellée argent and gules [Boyle]; impaling, ..., a cross vert between 4 fleur de lys ... [Fenton],' surmounted by an earl's coronet.

A leaf containing an earlier draft of this life (as shown by the coat tricked in the inner margin) has been cut out between fol. 14 and fol. 15 of MS. Aubr. 6. The excision was made by Aubrey himself, a line being drawn by him across the excision from fol. 14ᵛ to fol. 15, to mark the transposition of a passage. The reason for the cutting out of this leaf is suggested in a letter of Aubrey to Anthony Wood (MS. Wood F. 39, fol. 360, July 14, 1681), where he says his 'Lives' contain 'severe touches on the earl of Corke, Dr. Wallis, etc.' In the margin of the excised leaf a note, given on the authority of 'Mr. A. E.' i.e. Anthony Ettrick, seems to speak of amours and bastards of the earl.

[AW] Catherine Fenton, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Secretary of State for Ireland 1581-1603.

[AX] Anthony Wood, in answer to this query, suggests:--'Jeffrey, quaere.'

[AY] Lewis Boyle, second son of Richard, first earl of Cork, created viscount Boyle of Kynalmeaky, 1627/8.

=Robert Boyle= (1626/7-1691).

[470]Mr. Robert Boyle;--vide Oliver Hill's ..., where he is accused of grosse plagiarisme. Dr. <Robert> Wood went to schoole with him at Eaton Colledge.

[471]Mr. R. Boyle, when a boy at Eaton <was> verie sickly and pale--from Dr. <Robert> Wood, who was his schoole-fellow.

[472]The honourable Robert Boyle[AZ] esq., the <fifth> son of Richard Boyle, the first earle of Corke, was borne at Lismor[XXIX.] in the county of Corke, the <25> day of <January> anno <1626/7>.

[XXIX.] It was anciently an University, and a great towne or city. It had twenty churches. 'Twas the seate of king John.--From Elizabeth, countesse of Thanet.

He was nursed by an Irish nurse, after the Irish manner, wher they putt the child into a pendulous satchell (insted of a cradle), with a slitt for the child's head to peepe out.

He learn't his Latin.... Went to the university of Leyden. Travelled France, Italy, Switzerland. I have oftentimes heard him say that after he had seen the antiquities and architecture of Rome, he esteemed none[473] any where els.

He speakes Latin very well, and very readily, as most men I have mett with. I have heard him say that when he was young, he read over Cowper's dictionary: wherin I thinke he did very well, and I beleeve he is much beholding to him for his mastership of that language.

His father in his will, when he comes to the settlement and provision for his son Robert, thus,--

_Item, to my son Robert, whom I beseech God to blesse with a particular blessing, I bequeath, &c._

Mr. R. H.[474], who has seen the rentall, sayes it was 3000 _li._ per annum: the greatst part is in Ireland. His father left him the mannor of Stalbridge in com. Dorset, where is a great freestone house; it was forfeited by the earle of Castlehaven.

He is very tall (about six foot high) and streight, very temperate, and vertuouse, and frugall: a batcheler; keepes a coach; sojournes with his sister, the lady Ranulagh. His greatest delight is chymistrey. He haz at his sister's a noble laboratory, and severall servants (prentices to him) to looke to it. He is charitable to ingeniose men that are in want, and foreigne chymists have had large proofe of his bountie, for he will not spare for cost to gett any rare secret. At his owne costs and chardges he gott translated and printed the New Testament in Arabique[BA], to send into the Mahometan countreys. He has not only a high renowne in England, but abroad; and when foreigners come to hither, 'tis one of their curiosities to make him a visit.

_Notes._

[AZ] Aubrey gives in colours the Boyle coat (_supra_, p. 119), with a mullet gules for difference. Anthony Wood adds the reference:--'see in the first sheet of the second part,' i.e. of MS. Aubr. 7, viz. the excerpts _supra_ from Anthony Walker's sermon.

[BA] The Gospels and Acts in Malay (in Arabic character), Oxford, 1677.

=William Brereton=, 3rd baron, (1631-1680).

[475]William, lord Brereton, obiit March 17, 1680[476]; buried at St. Martin's-in-the-fields: scripsit _Origines Moriens_ in Latin verse.

[477]William, lord Brereton[BB] of <Leighlin>:--this vertuous and learned lord (who was my most honoured and obligeing friend) was educated at Breda, by John Pell, D.D., then Math. Professor there of the Prince of Orange's 'ilustrious schoole.' Sir George Goring, earl of Norwich (who was my lord's grandfather), did send for him over, where the <Doctor> (then Mr. John Pell) tooke great care of him, and made him a very good Algebrist.

He hath wrote a poem called _Origines Moriens_, a MS.

Obiit March 17, 1679/80, London, and is buried at St Martin's church in the fields.

He was an excellent musitian, and also a good composer.

_Note._

[BB] Anthony Wood adds the reference 'quaere in Coll. Exon.' Wood seems to have thought that Sir William Brereton of Honford in Cheshire (an officer in the Parliamentary army, mentioned in the _Athenae_) might be found among the Exeter College matriculations and might be connected with this peer's family.

=Edward Brerewood= (1565-1613).

[478]Mr. Edward Brerewood[BC] was borne....

He was of Brasen-nose College in Oxon. My old cosen Whitney[BD], fellow there long since, told me, as I remember, that his father was a citizen of W<est> Chester; that (I have now forgot on what occasion, whether he had outrun the exhibition from his father, or what), but he was for some time in straightes in the College; that he went not out of the College gates in a good while, nor (I thinke) out of his chamber, but was in slip-shoes, and wore out his gowne and cloathes on the bord and benches of his chamber, but profited in knowledge wonderfully.

He writ his _Logica_, and ..., _de meteoris_, _de ponderibus et nummis_ (which he dedicates to his countryman, Lord Chancellor Egerton, who was no doubt his patron).

He was astronomie professor at Gresham College, London, where he died anno 1613, and was buried in Great Saint Helen's chancell: so _Hist. and Antiq. of Oxon._, lib. 2. pag. 219 b.

'Tis pity I can pick-up no more of him.

_Notes._

[BC] Anthony Wood added the reference 'vide A. W.'s _<Hist. et> Antiq._'; but scored it out, finding himself anticipated in the text of the notice.

[BD] James Whitney, matric. April 19, 1611 at St. Mary Hall, but took his degrees from Brasenose (Clark's _Reg. Univ. Oxon._ II. iii. 334).

=Arthur Brett= (16..-1677).

<In MS. Aubr. 22 (Aubrey's Collection of Grammars) is a tract
of 6 pp.

'A demonstration how the Latine tonge may be learn't'; Lond.
1669; 'by Arthur Bret, M.A. of Ch. Ch. in Oxford and of
Westminster Schoole.'>

=Henry Briggs= (1556-1630/1).

[479]Henry Briggs was borne at ... (vide Anthony Wood's _Oxon. Antiquit._: quaere his nephew who is beadle to Stationers' Hall; quaere _Vaticinium Carolinum_, an English poem).

He was first of St. John's College in Cambridge. Sir Henry Savill sent for him and made him his geometrie professor. He lived at Merton College in Oxon, where he made the dialls at the buttresses of the east end of the chapell with a bullet for the axis.

He travelled into Scotland to comune with the honourable ... lord Nepier[BE] of Marcheston about making the logarithmicall tables.

☞ Looking one time on the mappe of England he observed that the[480] two rivers, the Thames and that Avon which runnes to Bathe and so to Bristowe, were not far distant, scilicet, about 3 miles--vide the mappe. He sees 'twas but about 25 miles from Oxford; getts a horse and viewes it and found it to be a levell ground and[481] easie to be digged. Then he considered the chardge of cutting between them and the convenience of making a mariage between those rivers which would be of great consequence for cheape and safe carrying of goods between London and Bristow, and though the boates[482] goe slowly and with meanders, yet considering they goe day and night they would be at their journey's end almost as soon as the waggons, which often are overthrowne and liquours spilt and other goods broken. Not long after this he dyed and the civill warres brake-out. It happened by good luck that one Mr. Matthewes of Dorset had some acquaintance with this Mr.[483] Briggs and had heard him discourse of it. He was an honest simple man, and had runne out of his estate and this project did much run in his head. He would revive it (or els it had been lost and forgott) and went into the country to make an ill survey of it (which he printed) about anno ..., but with no great encouragement of the countrey or others. Upon the restauration of King Charles II he renewed his designe and applyed himselfe to the king and counsell. His majestie espoused it more (he told me) then any one els. In short, for want of management and his non-ability, it came to nothing, and he is now dead of old age. But Sir Jonas Moore ( ☞ an expert mathematician and a practicall man), being sent to survey the mannor of Dantesey in Wilts (which was forfeited to the crowne by Sir John Danvers his foolery), went to see these streames and distances. He told me the streames were too small unlesse in winter; but if some prince or the Parliament would rayse money to cutt through the hill by Wotton-Basset which is not very high, then there would be water enough and streames big enough. He computed the chardge, which I have forgott, but I thinke it was about 200,000 _li._

Insert his letter to Dr. John Pell _de logarithmis_ written anno Dni 1628.

Mr. William Oughtred calls him the English Archimedes in....

An epitaph on H. Briggs among H. Burched's poems[BF].

[484]Mr. Briggs--vide and quaere Dr. Whitchcot, behind St. Lawrence Church; he knew him.----Respondet quod non.

[485]Mr. Norwood to the reader, before his Trigonometrie:--'of the construction and divers applications of Logarithmes Mr. Brigs hath written a booke called _Arithmetica Logarithmica_, and since again began another excellent worke of like nature entituled _Trigonometria Britannica_. I have onely seen (in the hands of a friend of his) a printed copie of so much as he had done, namely the tables: but whilest he was in hand with the rest, he departed this life. It was writ in Latin.'

_Notes._

[BE] John Napier, of Merchiston, born 1550, died 1617. His son Alexander was created baron Napier in 1627.

[BF] MS. Aubr. 6, fol. 48 is two leaves, pp. 49-52, sign. I, of a printed book, a miscellany of Greek and Latin verses. The first piece on p. 49 is six Greek lines 'Epitaphium D. Henrici Briggi ob mathesin et pietatem famigerati, denati 1631. Januar. ult.' The second piece is 32 Latin verses 'in bibliothecam Oxoniensem tertio amplificatam MDCXXXVI.'

=Thomas Brightman= (1562-1607).

<_A Letter from Edward Gibson about Thomas Brightman[BG]._>

[486]Hawnes, Dec. 21, <16>81.

Sir,

Since you have desired and have been put into an expectation of receiving some information concerning Mr. Brightman, tho I have litle or nothing to serve you and your freind with, I send this to let you know that I find nothing of his arms; that upon the stone is engraven

'Here lyeth the body of Thomas Brightman, deceased, minister of
this parish, who dyed Aug. 24, 1607.'

Over his head are these sad rimes (I hope they are Oxford, tho not much for the honour of it).--

Christ cals his churches candlestiks of old,
Altho the candlesticks but the candles hold.
The lights on them hee calleth angels pure,
Not barely candles, for those must endure.
Candles when burn't out are soon forgott,
But ministers, as angels, must not rot.
Sith God doth ministers so eternize,
Let not us mortals give them lower prize.
And specially to Brightman's recommendacion
And bee entomed a light to th' revelation
Wee must, wee ought, to make such saints last
In whom wee know the times to come and past.

I am, Sir, Yours to serve you,
Edw. Gibson.

Dr. Fuller, amongst his _Worthies_, hath something of Mr. Brightman.

[487]For Mr. John Aubrey: leave this at Mr. Hooke's lodging in Gresham College.

_Note._

[BG] In MS. Aubr. 8, fol. 3, Anthony Wood has jotted down 'quaere Mr. Aubrey of Thomas Brightman, Dr. <William> Butler, Henry Billingsley, Sir George Wharton'--Aubrey's notes, so far, about these four having been scanty.

In MS. Aubr. 8, fol. 48ᵛ, opposite Gibson's letter Wood notes an odd omission in it:--'Quaere _in what church_ Mr. Thomas Brightman was buried?'

=Alexander Brome= (1620-1666).

[488]H. Brome assured me that his brother Alexander was in his accedence at 4 yeares old and a quarter[BH].

_Note._

[BH] This is a marginal note opposite the life of Katherine Philips, and is intended to be a parallel instance of precocious reading, the boy being taken, first, through the Psalter, and then through the Bible, before beginning his 'accidence' (i.e. Latin Grammar): cp. the course of Anthony Wood's education, Clark's Wood's _Life and Times_, i. 46, 47, 48. Henry Brome was a London bookseller.

=Christopher Brookes= (16..-1665).

[489]Christopher Brookes, of Oxford, a mathematical instrument maker. He was sometime manciple of Wadham College: his widowe lived over against the Theatre.

This C. B. printed[490] 1649 an 8vo of about 2 sheetes, scil. 'A new quadrant of more natural easie and manifold performance than any other heretofore extant': but it was his father-in-lawe's[491] invention. I had it from his widow about 1665.

=Elizabeth Broughton.=

[492]In the Heralds' Office--Heref<ordshire>--

Edward Broughton, _m._ Isabell, daughter of
of Kington, eldest | Rafe Beeston, of
son, 1634 | Warwickshire.
|
Elizabeth.

<Arms[493]:--> 'argent, 2 bars gules, on a canton of the second a cross of the field, a martlet or for difference.'

Mris. Elizabeth Broughton was daughter of ... Broughton of ... in Herefordshire, an ancient family. Her father lived at the mannour-house at Canon-Peon. Whether she was borne there or no, I know not: but there she lost her mayden-head to a poor young fellow, then I beleeve handsome, but, in 1660, a pittifull poor old weaver, clarke of the parish. He had fine curled haire, but gray. Her father at length discoverd her inclinations and locked her up in the turret of the house, but she (like a ...) getts downe by a rope; and away she gott to London, and did sett-up for her selfe.

She was a most exquisite beautie, as finely shaped as nature could frame; and had a delicate witt. She was soon taken notice of at London, and her price was very deare--a second Thais. Richard, earle of Dorset, kept her (whether before or after Venetia[494], I know not, but I guesse before). At last she grew common and infamous and gott[495] the pox, of which she died.

I remember thus much of an old song of those dayes, which I have seen in a collection--'twas by way of litanie--viz.:--

From the watch at twelve a clock,
And from Bess Broughton's buttond[496] smock,
_Libera nos, Domine_.

In Ben Johnson's execrations against Vulcan, he concludes thus:--

Pox take thee, Vulcan! May Pandora's pox
And all the ills that flew out of her box
Light on thee. And if those plagues will not doe
Thy wive's pox take thee, and _Bess Broughton's_ too.

--In the first edition in 8vo her name is thus at length.

I see that there have been famous woemen before our times.

Vixêre fortes ante Agamemnona
Multi, etc.

HORACE, lib. 4, ode 9.

I doe remember her father (1646), neer 80, the handsomest shaped man that ever my eies beheld, a very wise man and of an admirable elocution. He was a committee-man in Herefordshire and Glocestershire. He was commissary to colonel Massey. He was of the Puritan party heretofore; had a great guift in praying, etc. His wife (I have heard my grandmother say, who was her neighbor) had as great parts as he. He was the first that used the improvement of land by soape-ashes when he lived at Bristowe, where they then threw it away.

=William Brouncker=, 2nd viscount (1620-1684).

[497]William, lord viscount Brouncker of Lions in Ireland: he lived in Oxford when 'twas a garrison for the King: but he was of no university, he told me. He addicted himselfe only to the study of the mathematicks, and was a very great artist in that learning.

His mother was an extraordinary great gamester, and playd all, gold play; she kept the box herselfe. Mr. ... Arundall (brother of the lord Wardour) made a song in characters of the nobility. Among others, I remember this,

Here's a health to my lady Brouncker and the best card in her hand,
And a health to my lord her husband, with ne're a foot of land.

He was president of the Royall Society about 15 yeares[BI].

He was ... of the Navy office[BJ].

He dyed April the 5th, 1684; buried the 14th following in the vault which he caused to be made (8 foot long, 4 foot broad, and about 4 foot high) in the middle of the quire of Saint Katharine's, neer the Tower, of which convent he was governour. He gave a fine organ to this church a little before his death; and whereas it was a noble and large choire, he divided <it> in the middle with a good skreen (at his owne chardge), which haz spoiled <it>.

<_A note written by him[BK]._>

[498]Sir,

These are to give notice that on Friday next the thirtieth day of this instant November, 1677, being St. Andrew's day, the council and officers of the Royal Society are to be elected for the year ensuing. At which election your presence is expected in Gresham Colledge at nine of the clock in the forenoon precisely.

(For John Aubrey, esq.)

Brouncker, P. R. S.

_Notes._

[BI] He was President, 1663, from the incorporation of the Royal Society, to 1677.

[BJ] He was a Lord of the Admiralty in 1680, and again in 1682.

[BK] The signature is in long sloping letters, like the children's puzzles of thirty years' back, which could be read only when the paper was held edgeways. It has beaten Anthony Wood, who notes at the side:--'What this name is I know not.'

=William Browne= (1591-1645).

[499]The earle of Carnarvon does not remember Mr. Brown[BL], and I ask't his lordship lately again if any of his servants doe: he assures me _no_.

_Note._

[BL] The inquiry was made of Charles Dormer, second earl of Carnarvon. William Browne, author of _Britannia's Pastorals_, had been tutor in 1624 to Robert Dormer (created earl of Carnarvon in 1628) in Exeter College.

=Robert Burton= (1576/7-1639/40).

[500]Memorandum. Mr. Robert Hooke of Gresham College told me that he lay in the chamber in Christ Church that was Mr. Burton's, of whom 'tis whispered that, _non obstante_ all his astrologie and his booke of Melancholie, he ended his dayes in that chamber by hanging him selfe.

=Thomas Bushell= (1594-1674).

[501]Mr. Thomas Bushell was an ... shire man, borne ...: quaere Thomas Mariet, esq. [He[502] was borne at Marston in ... shire, neer him.]

He was one of the gentlemen that wayted on the Lord Chancellour Bacon. 'Twas the fashion in those dayes for gentlemen to have their suites of clothes garnished with buttons. My Lord Bacon was then in disgrace, and his man Bushell having more buttons then usuall on his cloake, etc., they sayd that his lord's breech made buttons and Bushell wore them--from whence he was called _buttond Bushell_.

He was only an English scholar, but had a good witt and a working and contemplative head. His lord much loved him.

His genius lay most towards naturall philosophy, and particularly towards the discovery, drayning, and improvement of the silver mines in Cardiganshire[503], etc.