Chapter XXIX: Appendix: A.--Holinshed's Dedication (1)

Holinshed himself does not come on the scene in the work that goes by his name until in the second volume, devoted to the History of Scotland, which he dedicates to Dudley, whose star was about to set. The third volume was much the larger of the three, being the History of England, which is inscribed to Burghley in this fashion:--

TO THE
Right Honorable and his singular good Lord,
Sir William Cecill, Baron of Burghleygh, Knight of
_the most noble order of the Garter, Lord high Treasu-_
rer of England, Maister of the Courts of Wards and
_Liueries, and one of the Queenes Maiesties_
priuee Councell.

Considering with my selfe, right Honorable and my singular good Lord, how redie (no doubt) manie will be to accuse me of vaine presumption, for enterprising to deale in this so weightie a worke, and far aboue my reach to accomplish: I haue thought good to aduertise your Honour, by what occasion I was first induced to vndertake the same, although the cause that moued me thereto hath (in part) yer this beene signified vnto your good Lordship.

Whereas therefore, that worthie Citizen _Reginald Wolfe_, late Printer to the Queenes Maiestie, a man well knowne and beholden to your Honour, meant in his life time to publish an vniuersall Cosmographie of the whole world, and therwith also certaine particular histories of euery knowne nation, amongst other whom he purposed to vse for performance of his intent in that behalfe, he procured me to take in hand the collection of those histories; and hauing proceeded so far in the same, as little wanted to the accomplishment of that long promised worke, it pleased God to call him to his mercie, after fiue and twentie yeares trauell spent therein; so that by his vntimelie deceasse, no hope remained to see that performed, which we had so long trauelled about. Neuerthelesse, those whom he put in trust to dispose his things after his departure hence, wishing to the benefit of others, that some fruit might follow of that whereabout he had imployed so long time, willed me to continue mine endeuour for their furtherance in the same. Which, although I was redie to doo, so far as mine abilitie would reach, and the rather to answere that trust which the deceassed reposed in me, to see it brought to some perfection; yet when the volume grew so great, as they that were to defraie the charges for the impression, were not willing to go through with the whole, they resolued first to publish the histories of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with their descriptions; which descriptions, bicause they were not in such readinesse as those of forren countries, they were inforced to vse the helpe of other better able to doo it than my selfe.

Moreouer, the Charts wherein _Maister Wolfe_ spent a great part of his time were not found so complet as we wished: and againe, vnderstanding of the great charges and notable enterprise of that worthie Gentleman maister _Thomas Sackford_, in procuring the Charts of the seuerall prouinces of this realme to be set foorth, we are in hope that in time he will delineate this whole land so perfectlie, as shall be comparable or beyond anie delineation heretofore made of anie other region; and therefore leaue that to his well deserued praise. If any well willer will imitate him in so praiseworthie a work for the two other regions, we will be glad to further his endeauour with all the helpes we may.

The histories I haue gathered according to my skill, and conferred the greatest part with _Maister Wolfe_ in his life time, to his liking, who procured me so manie helpes to the furtherance thereof, that I was loth to omit anie thing that might increase the readers knowledge, which causeth the book to grow so great. But receiuing them by parts, and at seuerall times (as I might get them) it may be, that hauing had more regard to the matter than the apt penning, I haue not so orderlie disposed them, as otherwise I ought; choosing rather to want order, than to defraud the reader of that which for his further understanding might seeme to satisfie expectation.

I therefore most humbly beseech your Honour to accept these Chronicles of England vnder your protection, and according to your wisedome and accustomed benignitie to beare with my faults; the rather, bicause you were euer so especiall good Lord to _Maister Wolfe_, to whom I was singularlie beholden; and in whose name I

humblie present this rude worke vnto you, beseeching
God that as he hath made you an instrument
to aduance his truth, so it may please him
to increase his good gifts in you,
to his glorie, the furtherance of the
Queenes Maiesties seruice,
and the comfort of all her
faithful and louing
subiects.
Your Honours most humble to be commanded,
RAPHAEL HOLINSHED.

B.--AN ELIZABETHAN SURVEY OF ENGLAND.

Harrison closes Chapter 16 of his first book (which is the last of several chapters describing all the English rivers) with a most interesting complaint of a literary theft of which he was the victim. From his words it is evident that a complete and minute survey of England may still be possibly hidden away in some heap of manuscripts, and which was the work of Thomas Seckford, who died three or four months after the _Holinshed_ of 1587 was issued, and who was evidently intimate with the group engaged on the great folio. Seckford was a Londoner by residence and occupation, but a Suffolk man by birth, and founder of the present Seckford Hospital at Woodbridge, to which place he was taken for burial. He was a barrister of Grey's Inn, master of requests, surveyor of the court of wards, and steward of the Marshalsea. He weathered the storm under Catholic and Protestant sway, and was a most industrious scholar, although any of his published works are very rare. He apparently had more taste for helping others to literary fame than for appearing himself in Athene's arena. Harrison's interesting reference to Seckford (to whom Harrison dedicated the Description of Scotland as well) is as follows:--

"Thus haue I finished the description of such riuers and streames as
fall into the Ocean, according to my purpose, although not in so
precise an order and manner of handling as I might, if information
promised had been accordinglie performed; or others would, if they
had taken the like in hand. But this will I saie of that which is
here done, that from the Solueie by west, which parteth England &
Scotland on that side, to the Twede which separateth the said
kingdoms on the east, if you go backeward, contrarie to the course of
my description, you shall find it so exact, as beside a verie few
by-riuers, you shall not need to vse any further aduise for the
finding and falles of the aforesaid streames. _For such hath beene my
help of maister Sackfords cardes, and conference with other men about
these_, that I dare pronounce them to be perfect and exact.
Furthermore, this I have also to remember, that in the courses of our
streames, I regard not so much to name the verie towne or church, as
the limits of the paroch. And therefore if I saie it goeth by such a
towne, I thinke my dutie discharged, if I hit vpon anie part or
parcell of the paroch. This also hath not a little troubled me, I
meane the euill writing of the names of manie townes and villages; of
which I have noted some one man, in the description of a riuer, to
write one towne two or three manner of waies, whereby I was inforced
to choose one (at adventure most commonlie) that seemed the likeliest
to be sound in mine opinion and iudgement.

"Finallie, whereas I minded to set downe an especiall chapter of
ports and creeks, lieng on ech coast of the English part of this Ile,
and had provided the same in such wise as I iudged most convenient,
it came to passe, that _the greater part of my labour was taken from
me by stealth_, and therefore as discouraged to meddle with that
argument, I would have giuen ouer to set downe anie thing thereof at
all, and so much the rather, for that I see it may prooue a spurre
vnto further mischeefe, as things come to passe in these daies.
Neverthelesse because a title thereof is passed in the beginning of
the booke, I will deliuer that parcell thereof which remaineth,
leauing the supplie of the rest either to my selfe hereafter (if I
may come by it), or to some other that can better performe the same.

"Againe, vnderstanding of the great charges & notable enterprise of
that worthie gentleman _maister Thomas Sackford, in procuring the
Charts of the seuerall prouinces of this realme to be set foorth, we
are in hope that in time he will delineate this whole land so
perfectlie_," etc.

C.--SOMEBODY'S QUARREL WITH HARRISON.

The last section refers to Harrison's loss by somebody's pilfering. Now comes another of the tribulations he had to endure. Somebody is in a huff about something, and refused the aid promised to describe all the towns in England. It must have been no ordinary topographer, and may possibly be young Camden, whose name seems never to be mentioned by Harrison, although in 1587 at least his initial labours must have been well known to every scholar in London, especially a man like Harrison who knew all that was going to happen in the world of letters as well as all that the public knew. His complaint is as follows, beginning the 11th chapter of Book I., the first of our series just referred to, the Thames having as natural the place of honour:--

"Having (as you [Lord Cobham] haue seene) attempted to set downe a
full discourse of all the Ilands, that are situat upon the coast of
Britaine, and finding the successe not correspondent to mine intent,
it has caused me some what to restreine my purpose in this
description also of our riuers. For whereas I intended at the first
to haue written at large, of the number situation names quantities
townes villages castles mounteines fresh waters plashes or lakes,
salt waters, and other commodities of the aforesaid Iles, _mine
expectation of information from all parts of England was so deceiued
in the end, that I was faine at last onelie to leane to that which I
knew my selfe either by reading, or such other helpe as I had
alreadie purchased and gotten of the same_. And even so it happeneth
in this my tractation of waters, of whose heads, courses, length,
bredth, depth of chanell (for burden) ebs, flowings, and falles, I
had thought to haue made a perfect description under the report also
of an imagined course taken by them all. _But now for want of
instruction, which hath beene largelie promised, & slacklie
perfourmed, and other sudden and iniurious deniall of helpe
voluntarilie offered, without occasion giuen on my part_, I must
needs content my selfe with such observations as I haue either
obteined by mine owne experience, or gathered from time to time out
of other mens writings: whereby the full discourse of the whole is
vtterlie cut off, and in steed of the same, a mangled rehearsall of
the residue set downe and left in memorie."

D.--HARRISON'S CHRONOLOGY.

Dr. Furnivall has told in a note to his "Forewords" that the manuscript of Harrison's still unpublished "Chronology" was unearthed in the library of Derry diocese. How it came there is very evident. Harrison's only son and heir, Edmund Harrison, was the first prebendary of the diocese, who is described in the Visitation as "a man very well qualified both for life and learning." From the manuscript Dr. Furnivall extracted various entries relating to Harrison's own time, which are of most picturesque quality if of rather meagre quantity. Those of especial bearing on the reign of Elizabeth, though beginning just before her advent, are as follows:--

_Dearth and Sickness in England._

1556. Derth in England, wherein wheat is worthe liij sh: iiij d the quarter; malt, beanes, Rie, at 40 sh:; & peasen at 46 shillinges; but after harvest, wheate was sold for 5 shillinges the quarter, malt at a noble, Rie at 3 sh: 4 d. in London; & therefore the price was not so highe in the country....

Soche was the plenty of Saffron in this yere, that the murmuring Crokers envieng the store, said in blasphemous maner, in & aboute Waldon in Essex, that "God did now shite saffron"; but as some of them died afterward, starke beggars, so in 20 yeres after, there was so little of this Commodity, that it was almost lost & perished in England....

A generall sickenesse in England, where-of the third parte of the people of the land did tast; & many clergymen had their desire, who, suspecting an alteration in relligion to insue after the death of Quene Mary, & fearing to be called to accompt for their bloodshed made, & practize of the losse of Calais, craved of God in their daiely praiers, that they might die before her; & so they did; the Lord hearing their praiers, & intending therby to geue his churche a breathing time....

_Harrison on Religious Hatred._

1560. The French Protestantes are exiled out of Frankeford, Aprillis 23, onely for that, in doctrine, they did not agree with Luther, the Augustane confession, pacification at Wittenberg, & reconciliation made at Frankeford: a slender cause, God wote! If it be well examined, you shall find it a thing onely diuised, thereby to put their brethren to incumbrauns. But when I consider what hatred the Lutheranes do here vnto the Calvinistes, & the Precisians to the Protestantes, I can liken the same to nothing better then that mallice which reigneth betwene the papistes & the gospellers....

_The Spire of St. Paul's struck by Lightning._

1560. The Rooffe, with the Spire & steple of Paules church in London, is consumed to ashes, Junij 4, by lightning. Certes the toppe of this Spire, where the wethercocke stode, was 520 foote from the ground, of which the spire was the one halfe. the bredth of the church also, saith Stow, is 130 foote, & the length 2690, or 836 yardes, 2 foote, at this present. Also an erthquake is felt in the kingdome.... (_Stowe_, p. 1095.--F.)

_Queen Elizabeth at Oxford. "Falamon and Arcite."_

1565. The Queene of England beginneth hir progresse, & vpon the 31 of August cometh to Oxford, where she visiteth eche college after other, & making an oration vnto them in Latine, as she had done in Cambridge two yeres passed, to the gret comfort of all soche as are, or had bene, studentes there. During her being there also the Academicall exercises were holden as in their vsuall termes. Diuerse Commedies & plaies also were set forthe by the studentes of Christes Church, where her Majestie lodged; but of all the rest, onely that of "Arcite & Palemon"[239] had a tragicall successe; for, by the falle, of a walle & wooden gallery that leadeth from the staiers vnfinished to the hall, diuers persons were sore hurt, & 3 men killed out right, which came to behold the pastimes. [This paragraph takes up seven lines, and 1-1/4 inch of the height, of Harrison's MS.; so close is the writing.--F.]....

_Evils of Plays and Theatres._[240]

1572. Plaies are banished for a time out of London, lest the resort vnto them should ingender a plague, or rather disperse it, being alredy begonne. Would to god these comon plaies were exiled for altogether, as semenaries of impiety, & their theaters pulled downe, as no better then houses of baudrie. It is an euident token of a wicked time when plaiers wexe so riche that they can build[241] suche houses / As moche I wish also to our comon beare baitinges vsed on the sabaothe daies.[243]

_Tobacco._

1573. In these daies, the taking-in of the smoke of the Indian herbe called "Tabaco," by an instrument formed like a litle ladell, wherby it passeth from the mouth into the hed & stomach, is gretlie taken-vp & vsed in England, against Rewmes & some other diseases ingendred in the longes & inward partes, & not without effect / This herbe as yet is not so common, but that for want thereof diuers do practize for the like purposes with the Nicetian, otherwise called in latine, "Hyosciamus Luteus," or the yellow henbane, albeit, not without gret error; for, althoughe that herbe be a souerene healer of old vlcers & sores reputed incurable outwardly, yet is not the smoke or vapour thereof so profitable to be receaued inwardly. The herbe [Tobacco] is comonly of the height of a man,[244] garnished with great leaues like the paciens,[245] bering seede, colloured, & of quantity like vnto, or rather lesse then, the fine margeronie; the herbe it self yerely coming vp also of the shaking of the seede; the collour of the floure is carnation, resembling that of the lemmon in forme: the roote yellow, with many fillettes, & therto very small in comparison, if you respect the substauns of the herbe.[246]

_A monstrous fish._

1573. A monstrous fish is taken in Thenet vpon the xj{th} of July, of 66 foote in length; one of whose eies was a full cart lode, & the diameter or thickenesse thereof, full two yardes, or 6 of our english feete....

_London Bridge Tower._

1576. The towre on the drawe bridge vpon london bridge is taken downe in Aprill, being in great decaie; & sone after made a pleasaunt & beautiful dwelling house / & whereas the heddes of soche as were executed for treason were wont to be placed vpon this towre, they were now remoued, & fixed ouer the gate which leadeth from Southwarke into the citie by that bridge....

_A great Snowstorm._

1578. A Cold winter, & ere long there falleth a great snow in England, whose driftes, in many places, by reason of a Northest winde, were so depe that the mere report of them maie seme incredible. It beganne in the 4 of feb: & held on vntil the 8 of the same moneth; during which time some men & women, beside cattell, were lost, & not heard of till the snow was melted & gone, notwithstanding that some shepe & catle lived vnder it, & fedd in the places where they laie, vpon soche grasse as they cold come by. Vpon the xj{th} also of that moneth, the Thames did rise so highe, after the dissolution of this snow, that westminster hall was drowned, & moche fishe left there in the pallace yard when the water returned to her Channell, for who so list, to gather vp....

_Plagues of Locusts or Grasshoppers, and Mice._

1583. Great harme done in England in diuerse shires, by locustes, or "grashoppers" as we call them, which deuoured the grasse, & consumed the pastures & medowes in very pitifull maner: soche great nombers of crowes also do come into those partes to fede vpon those creatures, that they tread downe & trample the rest, I meane, whatsoeuer the locust had left vntouched. Not long before, if not about this time, also some places of the hundredes in Essex were no lesse annoyed with mise, as report then went, which did gret hurt to corne & the fruites of the erth, till an infinite nomber of Owles were assembled into those partes, which consumed them all to nothing. Certes the report is true; but I am not sure whether it was in this, or the yere before or after this, for I did not enter the note when it was first sent vnto me, the lettre being cast aside, & not hard of after the receipt.

_Stafford's Conspiracy._[247]

1586. Another Conspiracy is detected vpon Newyeres daie, wherein the death of our Queene is ones againe intended, by Stafford & other, at the receipt of her Newyeres giftes; but, as God hath taken vpon him the defence of his owne cause, so hath he, in extraordinary maner, from time to time preserued her Majestie, his servant, from the treason & traiterous practizes of her aduersaries, & wonderfully bewraied their diuises./

_A Star in the Moon. A wet Summer in Autumn._

1587. A Sterre is sene in the bodie of the mone vpon the _____ of Marche, whereat many men merueiled, & not without cause, for it stode directly betwene the pointes of her hornes, the mone being chaunged, not passing 5 or 6 daies before; & in the later end of the Crabbe after this, also there insued a very moyst & wet somer, wherby moche haie was lost, & harvest in the begining grew to be very troublesome. There followed also a like Autumn; by meanes wherof, shepe & moche other cattell died in abundant maner in most places of our Iland,[248] wherby the residew grew to be very dere ... ("a reasonable good haruest for corne."--_Stowe_, 1243.--F.)

The first skonses are made in England vpon the borders of the Thames, & in other places of the land, to kepe the Spanish powre from entrauns, whose chief purpose is, as most affirme, to invade Kent with one part of their navie, & to come by the River of Thames to sacke London with the other./....

_The Spanish Armada. Leicester's Death._

1588. The Spanish navie so long loked for, doth now at last show it self ouer against our coastes, vpon our 20 of July, where it is foughten withall vpon the morow, onely with 50 saile of our English shipps vnder the conduct of the lord Admirall[249] & Sir Fraunces Drake; afterward by our whole navie of 150 saile, for the space of 2 daies together: in thend whereof, they are put to flight before Calice, & driven to returne home about by Scotland, with great losse, so that, of 160 saile & more, which came out of Spaine, scasely 40 returned againe in safety vnto that king; God himself so fighting for vs, that we lost not 80 men, neither was there so moche as one vessell of oures sonke by the enemy, or taken, in all these skirmishes. In their returne also, & beside those 15 vesselles which they lost in our seas, 17 other of them did either perish vpon the coast of Ireland, or, coming thether for succour, were seized vpon also vnto her Majesties vse. The lieftenaunt of this great navie was the duke Medina of Cydonia, & with him were 210 noble men, among which, beside the kinges bastard sonne, were 2 marquesses, one prince, one duke, 4 erles, & 3 Lordes, which came to seeke aduentures, & winne honor vpon England, as they said; howbeit, as God would, they neuer touched the land, nor came nere vnto our shore by diuers miles. The duke of Parma should haue assisted them at this present with 80 or 100 saile prouided out of the Low Countries; but being kept in by wether, & a portion of our navie, & his mariners also forsaking him, he was inforced to staie & kepe vpon the land, where he abode in safety, & out of the roring gunshot / (Stowe's _Annals_, 1605, pp. 1243-1258.--F.)

Robert, Erle of Leicester, dieth, who in his time became the man of grettest powre (being but a subiect) which in this land, or that euer had bene exalted vnder any prince sithens the times of Peers Gavestone & Robert Veer,[250] some time duke of Ireland. Nothing almost was done, wherein he had not, either a stroke or a commoditie; which, together with his scraping from the churche & comons, spoile of her maiesties thresure, & sodeine death of his first wife &c. procured him soche inward envie & hatred, that all men, so farre as they durst, reioysed no lesse outwardlie at his death, then for the victorie obteined of late against the Spanish nauie /.... (Stowe's _Annals_, 1605, p. 1259.--F.)

A generall thankesgeuing thorow out England in euery church, for the victory of the Allmightie geuen by thenglish ouer the Spanish navie; in which, the Queene her selfe, & her nobility, came to S{t} Paules churche in London, November the 19, where, after she had hard the divine service, & in her owne person geuen solemne thankes to God, in the hering of soche as were present, she hard the sermon at the Crosse preached by the bishop of Sarum, & then dined with the bishop of London in his pallace thereunto annexed. The kinges of Scotland, Denmarke, Sueden, Navarra, with the churches of Geneva & diuers other cities of Germany, had done the like also, a litle while before, in their churches, as we are credibly informed. The Spanierdes also, indeuoring to hide their reprochefull voiage from the eies of their comon people, do triumphe for their victory obteined ouer the Englishe nation, & send to the pope for a seconde million of gold, which he bound himself to geue them at their landing in England, they having alredy receaved the first at their departure from the Groyne in Maie past; but his intelligencers informed him, so that he kept his crownes at home/... (_Stowe_, p. 1260.--F.)

_The Mad Parliament._

1588. A parliament is holden in London, which some doe call "the greene meting," other, "the madde parliament," because it consisted, for the most part, of yong burgesses, picked out of purpose to serue some secrete turne against the state present of the clergy; of whome no tale was there left vntold, that might deface their condicion. In this assembly, billes were put vp, as it is said, which required that the ministery of England should be subiect to service in the warres, & called to appeare at musters, sizes, &c. as laie subiectes of the land; that they should prouide furniture of armour & munition, according to the seuerall valuation of their livinges; that eche of them should haue but one living, & be resident vpon the same; & that all impropriations in spirituall mens handes onely, should be restored to the churche, with other like diuises; but in thend, none of them all went forward; & right good cause; for hereby most churches should quickely haue bene without their pastor, the Collegiate & cathedrall houses (the chief marke whereat they shot) rellinquished, & some of the spiritualty more charged then vj of the greattest of the nobility in the land, whose livinges are not valued in soche strict maner as those are of the clergy, who also in this parliament are charged with a doble subsidie to be paid in 6 yeres. (Stowe's _Annals_, 1605, p. 1261.--F.)

_The Parliament of Feb. 1592-3._

[_Last entry, in a very tottery hand, 2 months before Harrison's death or burial on 24 April 1593, six days after he'd ended his 59th year._--F.]

1592. A Parliament beginneth at London, feb. 19 [1592-3], being mondaie / many men looke for many thinges at the handes of the congregates, chiefly the precisiens for the ouerthrow of bishops & all ecclesiasticall regiment, and erection of soche discipline as thei themselues haue prescribed / the Clergy also feared some stoppage of former lawes provided for the wel [?] paiment of their tithes / but all men expect a generall graunt of money, the cheef end, in our time, of the aforesaid Assemblies; which being obserued, the rest will sone haue an ende / In the very begining of this parliament, there were more then 100 of the lower house, returned for outlawes, I meane, so well of knightes as of burgesses, & more are daiely loked for to be found in like estate / but is it not, thinke you, a likely matter, that soche men can be authors of good lawes, who, for their own partes, will obey no law at all? How gret frendes the precisians in ther practizes are to these men, the possession of their desire wold esily declare, if thei might ones obteine it. [_a later entry: the Parliament broke up on April 10, 1593,_[251] _a fortnight before Harrison's death_.--F.] neuerthelesse, in the vpshot of that meting, it was found, that notwithstanding the money graunted--which was well nigh yelded vnto, in respect of our generall necessitie--there were so many good profitable lawes ordeined in this parliament as in any other that haue passed in former times, the mallicious dealinges also of the precisians, papistes, & comeling [?] provokers[252] was not a litle restreigned in the same, to the gret benefite of the country.

["The rest is silence."]

_Printed by_ WALTER SCOTT, _Felling, Newcastle-on-Tyne_.

Footnotes:

[1] Condensed from the first part of the edition of 1876 for the "New Shakspere Society."--W.

[2] This does not apply to a small portion of Book I. used by Dr. F., and also somewhat in this reprint.--W.

[3] Who'll write a like one for Victorian England? (Mr. Fyffe has since done this.) Oh that we had one for Chaucer's England!--F.

[4] The Elizabethan sweep in this, as in so many other plans of the day.--F.

[5] See Holinshed's Dedication to Lord Burghley in vol. iii. of his _Chronicle_.--F. (See Appendix.--W.)

[6] William Harrison's _Chronologie_ is mentioned on the last leaf of the Preface to vol. iii. of _Holinshed_, p. 1, at foot--"For the computation of the yeares of the world, I had by Maister Wolfes aduise followed _Functius_; but after his [Wolfe's] deceasse, M. W[illiam] H[arrison] made me partaker of a Chronologie, which he had gathered and compiled with most exquisit diligence, following _Gerardus Mercator_, and other late chronologers, and his owne obseruations, according to the which I haue reformed the same."--Holinshed, in the Preface to his _Chronicles_, vol. iii. sign A 4, ed. 1587,--and in his _Description_, "I haue reserued them vnto the publication of my great _Chronologie_, if (while I liue) it happen to come abroad." It was never publisht. My search for the MS. of it results in my having just received (Aug. 28) its large folio vols. 2, 3, 4, from the Diocesan Library of Derry, in Ireland. The Rev. H. Cotton, _Thurles, Ireland_ (Dec. 21, 1850), said where it was, in I. _Notes and Queries_, iii. 105, col. 2; and after two fruitless searches it was found, and lent me by the Bishop, through his Librarian, the Rev. B. Moffett of Foyle College, Londonderry, as well as a curious and terribly corrected MS. of an English work on Weights and Measures, Hebrew, Greek, English, etc., dated 1587, which must be Harrison's too.

The 3 folio volumes of the _Chronologie_ are 8 inches deep as they lie, each being 10-3/4 inches broad, by 17-1/2 high, with 73, and sometimes more, lines to a page. An enormous amount of work is in them, and all of them are in Harrison's own hand, at different times of his life. Vol. 2, "The second part of the English Chronologye written by Wm. Harrison," runs from the Creation to Christ's birth. Vol. 3, "The third p_ar_t of the Chronology conteining a just & perfite true &c. as followeth in the next Leafe, to thend of the title, & to be brought hether," stretches from the birth of Christ to William the Norman's Conquest of England. Vol. 4, "The iij{th} and Last part of the great English Chronology writte_n_ By Wm. H.," [title in another hand?] goes from the beginning of William the Conqueror's reign, Oct. 14, 1066, to the February of 1592-3, only two months before Harrison's own death (or burial) on April 24, 1593. And each volume tells, in Chronicle fashion, what went on all over the world in each successive year, so far as Harrison knew. The contemporary part of vol. 4 is of course the most interesting: "A William Harrison wrote some Latin lines on the deaths of the Brandons, Dukes of Suffolk, printed with the collection published on that occasion, 4to, London, 1552."--F.

[7] Holinshed, iii. 1499; extract in my edition of Thynne's _Animadversions_, 1875, p. lxxxv.--F.

[8] In his account of the rivers, etc., Harrison sometimes quotes other people in the first person, "I, we," as if he had himself been to the places they describe.--F.

[9] Folio Harrison, p. 103, col. 2, ed. 1587.--F.

[10] Folio Harrison, p. 107, col. 2 (ed. 1587).--F. [See Appendix.--W.]

[11] He complains of help promist, and never given: see in the folio Harrison, p. 45, col. I (beginning of cap. II, Book I., about the Thames).--F. [See Appendix.--W.]

[12] Still you get his side-note--I suppose 'tis his--at p. 254 below, on the report of two old British books being found in a stone wall at Verolamium, "_This soundeth like a lie_." Other bits of wholesome doubt turn up elsewhere.--F.

[13] The Thames "hieth to Sudlington, otherwise called Maidenhead, and so to Windleshore (or Windsore), Eaton, and then to Chertseie.... From Chertseie it hasteth directlie vnto Stanes, and receiuing an other streame by the waie, called the Cole (wherevpon Colbrooke standeth), it goeth by Kingstone, Shene, Sion, and Brentford or Bregentford."... Bk. I. p. 46, col. 1, l. 30, vol. i., folio ed. 1587.--F.

[14] The extracts quoted by Dr. F. will be mostly found in the modernised text. Here they are printed in the old spelling, giving an idea of the original volume, saving the black letter type.--W.

[15] Still, I find it very hard that he spoke so harshly of Andrew Boorde.--F.

[16] Harrison doesn't scold the women for painting their faces and wearing false hair, in the persistent way that Shakspere does. These two bits of falseness (in town women only?) evidently made a great impression on the country-bred Shakspere's mind. Stubbes complaind bitterly of them too.

[17] "Before the earliest date of Parish Registers (1538). I have all the Marriage Licences issued by the Bishop of London, beginning as early as 1521; but they do not include that of Harrison's father."--J. L. CHESTER.

[18] As Harrison left by his will twenty shillings to the poor of St. Thomas the Apostle in London, Colonel Chester thinks he may have been born in that parish.----P.S. Aug. 31, 1876. I've just found in Harrison's MS. _Chronologie_, under 1534, "The Author of this boke is borne, vpon y{e} 18 of Aprill, hora 11 minut 4, Secunde 56, at London, in Cordwainer streete, otherwise called bowe lane in y{e} [_crosst thro'_: house next to y{e} holly lambe towards chepeside, & in y{e}] p_ar_ish of St. Thomas the Apostle."--F.

[19] Dr. Scott, the present Head-Master, tells me that the early registers are not. "My dear Sir,--I regret to say that no early records of Westminster School are known to be in existence anywhere, except the names of those admitted to the Foundation, and even these merely from an old "Buttery Book" in the earliest times, to which Noel belongs; only those who were elected to Ch. Ch. or Trinity are recorded. There is no trace of such a name as Harrison. I have done my best to hunt up old records, but with very small result.--Faithfully yours, CHAS. B. SCOTT." After Harrison's days, Dean Goodman gave the School for a time a Sanatorium at Chiswick--"_Cheswicke_, H. 14, belonging to a prebend of Paules now in the handes of Doctor _Goodman_, Deane of _Westminster_, where he hath a Faire house, whereunto (in the time of any common plague or sicknes, as also to take the aire) he withdraweth the schollers of the colledge of _Westminster_." 1596. Jn. Norden's _Description of Middlesex_, p. 17, ed. 1723.

[20] Alexander Nowell was one of the most famous divines of the Reformation. Born in Lancashire about 1507, he got a fellowship at Brasenose in 1540; in 1543 became second master of Westminster School; and in 1551 Prebendary of Westminster. He was elected M.P. for Looe in Cornwall, in the first Parliament of Queen Mary, but his election was voided because he was a Church dignitary. He then went to Strassburg; returnd on the accession of Elizabeth, and was made Dean of St. Paul's in 1560. He publisht his celebrated Larger Catechism, and an abridgment of it, both in Latin, in 1570; and is supposed to have written the greater part of the Church of England Catechism. He was elected Master of Brasenose in 1595, and died 13 February, 1601-2. (_Cooper._).--F.

[21] Cooper, in his _Athenæ Cantabrigienses_, says of Harrison--"He was a member of this university [Cambridge] in 1551, and afterwards studied at Oxford. We are unable to ascertain his house at either university." ? Merton, Oxf. see p. xvi. (There's no Merton Admission book so early as Harrison's time, the Bursar says.)

[22] He us'd his eyes too at both places, and at school; for he says of the buildings: "The common schooles of Cambridge also are farre more beautifull than those of Oxford, onelie the diuinitie schoole at Oxford excepted, which for fine and excellent workemanship, commeth next the moold of the kings chappell in Cambridge, than the which two, with the chappell that king Henrie the seauenth did build at Westminster, there are not (in mine opinion) made of lime & stone three more notable piles within the compasse of Europe."--F.

[23] Mr. Luard of Trinity, the Registrar of the University, has kindly copied the grace for me:--"1569. Grace Book [Greek: D], fol. 97 _b_: Conceditur 10 Junii magistro Willelmo Harryson ut studium 7 annorum in Theologia postquam rexerit in artibus Oxoniæ cum oppositionibus etc. perficiendis etc. sub poena x librarum ponendarum etc. sufficiat ei tam ad opponendum quam ad intrandum in sacra Theologia, præsentatus per D. Longeworth[24] et admissus 17 Junii."--F.

[24] Master of St. John's.

[25] Wood's _Ath. Ox._, ed. Bliss., i. col. 537; Cooper's _Ath. Cant._ ii. 164.

[26] The Manor and advowson of _Great Radwinter_ had been part of the property of the Cobham family since 1433, if not before. (See Wright's _Hist. of Essex_, II. 92; Morant's do., II. 535.).--F.

[27] See his defence of pluralism. [In the chapter on "The Church of England."--W.] It was vehemently condemnd by most of his contemporaries.--F.

[28] The Vicarage of _Wimbish_ not being a "competent maintenance," and the adjoining vicarage of _Thunderley_ being so small that no one would accept of it, Dr. Kemp, Bishop of London in 1425, united the two. The presentation to these incorporated vicarages was made alternate in the Rector of Wimbish (it is a sinecure rectory) and the Priory of Hatfield Regis (who had the great tithes and advowson of Thunderley). In 1547, Ed. VI. granted this Priory's advowson or right of presenting alternately to Wimbish, to Ed. Waldgrave, Esq.; and it passed on in private hands, so that from 1567 to 1599 it belonged to Francis de la Wood, who thus, it would seem, must have been the patron who presented William Harrison. See Morant's _Hist. of Essex_, pp. 560, 561. By the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ of Hen. VIII. the clear yearly value of _Wimbish Vicarage_ was £8; tithes 16s. That of _Radwinter Rectory_ £21 11s. 4d.; tithes £2 3s. 2-1/2d. Some of the parson of Radwinter's tithes were made up thus:--"to the parson of Radwynter forseid for the yerely tythes of the said maner [Bendish Hall, in the parish of Radwinter], one acre of whete in harvest p_ri_ce x s, one acre of otes p_ri_ce v s iiij d, a lambe p_ri_ce viij d, a pigg, p_ri_ce iiij d, and in money iij s iiij d."--_Valor Eccl._, Vol. I. p. 85, col. 2.--F.

[29] I assume that Harrison had once more children, whom he floggd occasionally. When speaking of mastiffs in Bk. 3, chap. 7, p. 231, col. 1, l. 60, ed. 1587, he says, "I had one my selfe once, which would not suffer anie man to bring in his weapon further than my gate, neither those that were of my house, to be touched in his presence. Or if I had beaten _anie of my children_, he would gentlie haue assaied to catch the rod in his teeth, and take it out of my hand, or else pluck downe their clothes to saue them from the stripes: which in my opinion is not vnworthie to be noted. And thus much of our mastiffes, creatures of no lesse faith and loue towards their maisters than horses." Still, girls were floggd in Elizabeth's days, no doubt (compare Lady Jane Grey's case, in Ascham), as well as a hundred years before. See how Agnes Paston beat her daughter Elizabeth in 1449, _Paston Letters_, ed. Gairdner, vol. i., Introd., p. cxvi.--F. [See Chapter XVI., "Of our English Dogs and their Qualities."--W.]

[30] Gerard had above a thousand--

"_Gerard's Catalogue of his Garden._--A reprint of 'the first professedly complete catalogue of any one garden, either public or private, ever published' certainly deserves putting on record here. Gerard's _Herball_ is by no means a rare book; but the _Catalogus arborum fruticum ac plantarum tam indigenarum quam exoticarum in horto Johannis Gerardi civis et chirurgi Londinensis nascentium_ is exceedingly rare. This reprint, therefore, which we owe to the liberality of Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, will be extremely welcome to all interested in the early introduction of exotic plants. The reprint consists of a limited number of copies for private circulation only. Without being an absolute fac-simile it is almost an exact reproduction of the original, the first edition of which was published in 1596. A second edition appeared in 1599, which Mr. Jackson also reprints, together with some of his own remarks and notes on the _Herball_, and a Life of Gerard. But what will be found especially useful is the list of modern names affixed to the old ones. Gerard's _physic_ garden was in Holborn, and included upwards of a thousand different kinds of plants.... There are several other lists of this kind we should be glad to see reprinted--Tradescant's, among others, as the younger Tradescant made a voyage to Virginia and introduced many American trees."--(_Academy_, July 1876.)--F.

[31] (Note by the late Dr. Goodall): Erat quidem Gulielmus Harrison Socius Etonensis Mar. 3, 1592, Vice præpositus Collegii et Rector de Everdon in Comitatu Northampt. Ut ille mortuus est Etonæ, et ibidem Sepultus Dec. 27, 1611.--F.

[32] Mr. J. Higgs, of Sheet Street, Windsor, has kindly searcht the Parish Register of Burials, which dates from 1564, but he finds no entry of Canon Harrison's burial.--F. [At Radwinter. See Appendix.--W.]

[33] See his defence of priests leaving "their substances to their wives and children," in his _Description_.--F. [In "Church" chapter.--W.]

[34] Compare the smart red dress with blue hood and long blue liripipe from it, of the Nun's Priest, in the colourd illumination of the Ellesmere MS. given in my Six-Text _Canterbury Tales_.--F.

[35]

Proude preestes coome with hym, Mo than a thousand,
In paltokes and _pyked shoes_, And pisseris long knyves.

_Vision of Piers Plowman_, Pass. xx. l. 14,360, ii. 438, ed. Wright.--F.

[36] William Rede or Reade, made Bp. of Chichester 1369, died 1385, "is said to have been a native of Devonshire, and to have received his early education in Exeter Coll., Oxford, from whence he removed to Merton, having been elected a fellow. He soon discovered a singular genius for the sciences, as they were then known and practised, and excelled in geography, astronomy, and architecture. About the year 1349, he gave a design for a library at Merton College, and superintended the building, which is very spacious, if considered as a repository of MSS. only.... He contributed greatly to furnishing the library with valuable MSS., adding his own, which consisted of several scientific treatises, astronomical tables, and maps. He was a great encourager of learning, particularly by procuring many rare MSS. from the continent, which were transcribed at his expense." He built Amberley Castle, an episcopal residence for Chichester.--Dallaway's _History of the Western Division of the County of Sussex_, 1832, vol. i. pp. 54, 55.--F.

[37] Cambridge studies. 1516, Aug. 31. Er. Ep. II. 10. Erasmus to Bovill. Thirty years ago, nothing was taught at Cambridge except Alexander's _parva Logicalia_, some scraps from Aristotle, and the _Quæstiones_ of Duns Scotus. In process of time improved studies were added; mathematics, a new Aristotle, a knowledge of Greek letters. What has been the consequence? The University can now hold its head with the highest, and has excellent theologians. Of course they must now study the New Testament with greater attention, and not waste their time, as heretofore, in frivolous quibbles.--Brewer's _Calendar of Henry VIII.'s Time_, vol. ii., pt. i., p. 716.--F.

[38] As a usually accurate friend of mine always calls this name "Asham," I note that it's often spelt "Askham" in old writers.--F.

[39] Harrison repeats his warning in stronger terms. [See Chapter I.--W.] "This neuerthelesse is generallie to be reprehended in all estates of gentilitie, and which in short time will turne to the great ruine of our countrie, and that is the vsuall sending of noblemens & meane gentlemens sonnes into Italie, from whence they bring home nothing but meere atheisme, infidelitie, vicious conuersation, & ambitious and proud behauiour, wherby it commeth to passe that they returne far worsse men than they went out." See the sequel.--F.

[40] See Sir T. More's _Utopia_, "a huge number of idle fellows, who never learned any art by which they may gain their living," etc.--F.

[41] On the finest kind of bread, _manchet_, note that Queen Elizabeth's was made from Heston wheat, Middlesex:--"_Heston_, H. 10, a most fertyle place of wheate, yet not so much to be commended for the quantitie, as for the qualitie, for the wheat is most pure, accompted the purest in manie shires. And therefore Queene Elizabeth hath the most part of her provision from that place for _manchet_ for her Highnes own diet, as is reported." 1596. Jn. Norden, _Description of Middlesex_, p. 25, ed. 1723.--F.

[42] But he speaks, at p. 69, "of the common sort, whose mouthes are alwaies wide open vnto reprehension, and eies readie to espie anie thing that they may reprooue and carpe at." Still, Harrison took more kindly to the common sort than Shakspere did in his plays.--F.

[43] Now Chapter VIII.--W.

[44] _De Republica Anglorum._ The maner of Gouernement or policie of the Realme of England, compiled by the Honorable Sir Thomas Smyth, Knight, Doctor of both the lawes, and one of the principal Secretaries vnto the two most worthy Princes, King Edward the sixt, and Queen Elizabeth ... London ... 1584 (some copies 1583). A posthumous publication.--_Hazlitt._--F.

[45] Did Shakspere ever turn out and chevy a Stratford thief, I wonder? He must have been able to hit and hold hard.--F.

[46] Made of tree or wood.--F.

[47] See an instance in Burleigh House.

[48] Of hostlers, Harman says, "not one amongst twenty of them but haue well left their honesty, as I here a great sorte saye."--Harman's _Caueat_, p. 62, ed. Viles and Furnivall.--F.

[49] Harrison wasn't the only man who felt thus. See Arthur Standish's two tracts: "The Commons Complaint. Wherein is contained two speciall Grievances: The first, the generall destruction and waste of Woods in this Kingdome.... The Second Grievance is, The extreame dearth of Victvals. Fovre Remedies for the same, etc. London Printed by William Stansby, 1611." 4{o}. F 2 in fours. "New Directions of Experience to the Commons Complaint by the incouragement of the Kings most excellent Maiesty, as may appeare, for the planting of Timber and Fire-wood. With a neere Estimation what Millions of Acres the Kingdome doth containe, what Acres is waste ground, whereon little profit for this purpose will arise.... Inuentid by Arthur Standish. Anno Domini. MDCXIII. 4{o}. A--D in fours; E, 4 leaves, and a leaf of F."--_Hazlitt's Collections and Notes_, p. 401-2. Also Massinger's _Guardian_, II. iv--F.

[50] "If woods go so fast ... I have knowne a well burnished gentleman that hath borne threescore at once [weren't they trees?] in one paire of galigascons, to shew his strength and brauerie." Brick-burning also consumd much wood: compare Harrison, bk. 3, chap. 9, p. 234, col. 2, l. 46, ed. 1587:--"such is the curiositie of our countrimen, that notwithstanding almightie God hath so blessed our realme in most plentifull maner, with such and so manie quarries apt and meet for piles of longest continuance, yet we, as lothsome of this abundance, or not liking of the plentie, doo commonlie leaue these naturall gifts to mould and cinder in the ground, and take vp an artificiall bricke, _in burning whereof a great part of the wood of this land dailie consumed and spent_, to the no small decaie of that commoditie, and hinderance of the poore that perish off for cold." See, too, chap. 10, p. 236, col. 2, l. 44, "Of colemines we have such plentie in the north and westerne parts of our Iland, as may suffice for all the realme of England: and so must they doo hereafter in deed, if wood be not better cherrished than it is at this present."

[51] Of the 1876 reprint.--W.

[52] See Dr. Furnivall's "Forewords."--W.

[53] This apology for "faults escaped herein" was of course omitted in 1587.--W.

[54] See "The English Courtier" ... and "The Court and Country." Both reprinted in Mr. W. C. Hazlitt's "Roxburghe Library."--F.

[55] Here follow etymologies of the terms "Duke," "Marquess," and "Baron."--W.

[56] 1 Sam. ii. 15; 1 Kings i. 7.--H.

[57] Here follows a long paragraph on the character of the clergy which is more appropriate to the chapter on "The Church."--W.

[58] Every peer ceases to be a legislator the moment the Crown considers the advice and aid of such peer unnecessary. The historic meeting between Elizabeth Woodville and Edward Plantagenet (which incidentally has made the lady ancestress to nearly every royal house in Europe), when she declared herself

"too mean to be your queen,
And yet too good to be your concubine,"

was occasioned by the mean estate left by her late husband, Sir John Grey, to his orphan children. Sir John was by right Lord Grey of Groby, but never sat at Westminster as such, being killed at Saint Albans. His children would have had small chance of writs of summons had not their beautiful mother ensnared the monarch who (much to his crook-backed brother's disgust, at least in the play) would "use women honourably." The heir of the Birminghams was not only evicted from the House of Peers, but from Dudley Castle, because he was poor. The heir of the Staffords had the old barony taken from him by Charles I. (simply because he, Roger Stafford, was poor), and saw it given to a court favourite, one of the honour-hooking Howards.--W.

[59] Here follows a learned disquisition upon "Valvasors."--W.

[60] Here follows a discourse upon _Equites Aurati_.--W.

[61] Here is a description of dubbing a knight.--W.

[62] Long details are given of Garter history, very inaccurate, both here and in the last omitted passage.--W.

[63] Derivations of "Esquire" and "Gentleman" are given.--W.

[64] The proper spelling of what is now called _kersey_. It is really "causeway cloth," and causeway is still pronounced (as it should be) _karsey_ by the homely people who are not tied to the tail of the dogmatic dictionary man, whose unnecessary ingenuity (in place of a small knowledge of "country matters") has in this case set up a phantom phalanx of busy looms in the harmless little village of Kersey in Suffolk. The Scotch have the full phrase still. The French _causie_ is nearer to carsie than to book-made _causeway_.--W.

[65] This etymology of a much-disputed word is doubtless accurate. Thus Piers Plowman's

"Thoruh ziftes haven _zemen_ to rennen and to ride."

The peculiar "z" stood the Saxon "ge." In fact Geo, old Mother Earth, stares us in the face. A yeoman is an "earth-man." We may literally say our modern English sabremen of the shires, at a periodical muster on caracoling steeds, are "racy of the soil."--W.

[66] Harrison was quick to catch a true idea of the authors he delights in, and his weakness for displaying his fund of classical lore is therefore generally a pleasure instead of a bore. The phrase from the distinguished Roman youth, Aulus Persius Flaccus, occurs in the Prologue to his poems:

"Heliconidas pallidamque Pirenen
Illis remitto quorum imagines lambunt
Hederæ sequaces: ipse _semipaganus_
Ad sacra vatum carmen adfero nostrum;"

which may be thus Englished:

"Those Helicon-births and pallor-breeding Pirenes
Must remit I to them o'er whose countenance traileth
The ivy up-clinging: myself, _half-breed of the soil_,
To the shrine of our prophets my song I deliver."

Almost every annotator of Persius has handled this passage as though the poet simply prosaically alluded to his being half of _rustic_ birth. As a fact, he was of the bluest blood of the Augustine age. Harrison makes a happy hit in understanding the passage as alluding to a semi-connection with the territory of the Muses, as I have treated it.--W.

[67] Capite censi, or Proletarii.--H.

[68] The Ceylonese. The Greek name for the island of Ceylon was Taprobane, which Harrison used merely as a classical scholar.--W.