The Discovery of Witchcraft (1584)

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4Je, Z5 LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

PRINCETON,

N. J.

Purchased by the Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund.

Division

Section

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#

/

THE

DISCOVERIE OF WITCHCRAFT

v^

THE DISCOVERIE

WITCHGRAFT REGINALD SCOT,

Esquire

BEING A REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED IN 1584

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, GLOSSARY, AND INTRODUCTION BY

BRINSLEY NICHOLSON,

M.D.

DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL

r

LONDON ELLIOT STOCK,

62

PATERNOSTER ROW, 1886

E.C.

This ediiuni of Scoi's DiscovERlE avis/s/s of 2jo copies only.

— E.

S.

DR. NICHOLSON'S SUBSCRIBERS.

The Royal Library, Windsor Castle. W. Aldis Wright, LL.D., Cambridge. Fabyan Amery, J.

Esq., Ashburton.

E. Bailey, Esq., Stratford, Manchester.

W. W. Baynes, Esq., London. Ernest Blacker, Esq., Midsomer

Norton.

D, Brodie, Esq., Canterbury. A. H. BULLEN, Esq.,

West Hampstead.

Miss BURSILL, London. J.

Patterson Cassells, M.D., Glasgow.

Prof.

Sir

Chrystal, Edinburgh.

Andrew Clark,

Bart.,

M.D., LL.D.,

etc.,

London.

The Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, London. C. W. Shirley Deakin, Esq., Allahabad. K. Deighton, Esq., Agra. Edw. Denham, Esq., New Bedford, U.S.A. The Right Hon. the Earl of Derby, Knowsley

Hall.

The Duke of Devonshire, Devonshire House. R. Dill, M.D,, Brighton. Dr.

J.

Matthews Duncan,

A.M., F.R.S.,

etc.,

Mrs. D. P. Evans, Clifton, Bristol. P. F. Prof.

Sparke Evans, Esq., Clifton, John Ferguson, Glasgow.

Alex. Forsyth, M.D., Greenwich.

Bristol.

London.

Francis

F.

Fox,

J. P.,

Chipping Sodbury,

Bristol.

Fraser, M.D., Edinburgh.

Prof. T. R.

H. H. FURNESS, Esq., Philadelphia, U.S.A.

James Gairdner, Prof.

W.

T.

Esq., London.

Gairdner, M.D., LL.D., Glasgow,

Edm. Goldsmid, F.S.A. The Rev. C. O.

A. B.

(Scot.),

Edinburgh.

Grosart, D.D., LL.D., Blackburn.

Halliwell-Phillipps, Esq.,

F.R.S., etc., Brighton.

Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., London. The Rev. W. A. HARRISON, South Lambeth. W. A. Hammond, Esq., New York. M. Ingleby, Esq., LL.D., Essex.

C. Sir

Wm. Jenner,

Bart.,

M.D., F.R.S.,

W. Oscar Jennings, M.D.,

etc.,

London.

Paris.

Day. a. King, M.B., London. F. de

M. Leathes,

Esq.,

London,

Library, British Museum. Exeter College, Oxford,

Harvard Royal

Coll.,

Cambridge, U.S.A.

Institution,

London.

Leeds.

McGill University, Montreal. National, of Ireland.

Society of Antiquaries, Scotland. St.

Andrew's University, Aberdeen,

Free, Sydney.

Louis Leisler, Esq., Frankfort-on-the-Main.

The Marquis of Lothian, Newbattle Abbey.

Dove MacColman, M.D., Argyleshire. Prof Douglas Maclagan, M.D., Edinburgh. J.

D.

Marwick,

Esq., LL.D., Glasgow.

Prof David Masson, Edinburgh.

John Morison, Esq., Glasgow. Prof H. MORLEY, LL.D., London.

Sir JAS.

Paget,

Bart., F.R.S.,

Cornelius Payne,

Esq.,

LL.D.,

etc.,

Kemp Town,

London.

Brighton.

Miss E. Phipson, London.

The Earl of Powis, Berkeley Square. The Right Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, Dalmeney Castle. Jos.

Carne

Ross, M.D., Penzance.

The Rev. E. E. Baylee Salisbury, B.D., Horncastle. Alex. Stewart, M.D., Pendleton, Manchester.

W. G. Stone, Esq., Walditch, Bridport. Lawson Tait, F.R.C.S., Birmingham. Samuel Timmins, Esq., F.S.A., Arley, Coventry. D.

Hack Tuke,

M.D., LL.D., London.

White, Esq., Torquay. Walter G. Whittingham, Esq., London. W. Wilson, Esq., Berwick-on-Tweed. A. J. Young, Esq., Edinburgh. G. H.

DEDICATION.

(To

tf)p

iHnnor?

OF H.R.H.

PRINCE LEOPOLD, DUKE OF ALBAN\', UNTIMELY TAKEN FROM

THIS

US,

WORK OF AN ELIZABETHAN ENGLISHMAN, AND OF A KINDRED

SPIRIT,

WHOSE HONESTY, INTELLIGENCE, AND COMPASSION FOUGHT AGAINST THE CRUEL SUPERSTITION

AND IGNORANCE OF

HIS AGE,

IS,

BY ROYAL PERMISSION

AND WITH REGRETFUL ESTEEM,

DEDICATED BY

THE EDITOR.

PREFACE. '"T^HIS reprint black

in

also for

is

not a facsimile of the edition of 1584, for that was

letter,

modern

and

readers,

its

page smaller and of quarto

and

for use, the / of the original

where necessary, the j of the second edition altered according to

modern usage,

while the short s replaces theyl

that

is,

;

the u and v have been

generally interchanged

Such modernisations render

readable by the historical and philosophical student, by the science,

may

and by the psychological physician,

instruct himself

and

it

;

more

man

of

willing to learn all that

Neither would this reprint

benefit others.

had appeared to my and fellow-student, W. T. Gairdner, M.D., LL.D., Professor

have been undertaken, unless the work friend

of Medicine in the University of Glagow,

and

Being

size.

has become,

others,

itself

— and led by him — to myself

worthy on the above-mentioned grounds, of being repro-

duced, and as being both in matter and style a valuable English classic.

While, however,

not a facsimile, yet, excepting such variations

it is

as are above noticed,

and allowing

which no copy can expect

to

be

for the

free,

experts in these matters well know, this

Every proof has been

correct reprint.

few and

trifling errors

from

not even a photographic one, as will,

thrice,

I

believe,

be found a

and sometimes

oftener,

read over with the original by myself, and these efforts have been

supplemented by the

well

Even errata,

word-errors of

the

for

original,

and care of where

not

in

its

its

printers. list

of

have been retained, though the true or conjectural readings

have been given the

intelligence

the

Notings

at

necessity's

in

the margin, or in

the end.

it

two or three instances in

sake alterations have been

and the original given retained,

Except also

in the

in

two instances, where introduced within

[ ]s,

margin, the old punctuation has been

being, as a rule, very good, while any slight slips are

Preface.

2>iji

and do not

readily observed,

ences as are due to the black

For such other

affect the sense. letter,

and

for others like these,

I

differ-

would

refer the print-studying reader to the Introduction.

In the biographical portion of this Introduction, besides a supposi-

my

tion or two of

me

own, which from his writings seem to

highly

probable, there have been given notices of his pedigree, age, and

marriages, matters hitherto

would

my

once record

at

unknown

or misstated,

This gentleman having taken an interest tions,

and being a perfect stranger

to

that

been also

I

in investigating these ques-

I

was engaged with

this

I

to

to

A

him.

copy of Scot's Will has

time published, and some Notes and a Glossary

for the first

Were

added. I

which

and has since most obligingly answered the various questions

have had occasion to put

I

for

Oliver, Esq.

me, wrote and offered the results

of his inquiries so soon as he had learnt that reprint,

and

Edmund Ward

indebtedness to

have imitated the learned editors of former days,

should have added, not some, but exhaustive notes on every point,

known and unknown source

gathered from every

text,

I

am

my

;

is useful,

my

true,

and good.

I

to close this without

after

mentioning Mr. Oliver's

acknowledging the kind assistance

well-known friend, James Gairdner, Esq., of the Public Record

Office

;

of

my

W. H, by

though

W. Aldis Wright, LL.D., and me by the Very Reverend Father

Shakespearian friends,

P. A. Daniel, Esq.

also

and

would be unseemly, especially

name, were of

obligations

reason for not entering into greater details being

no student of the pseudo-science of witchcraft, but a student

only of what It

have con-

I

knew them, and Shakespeare's and Middleton's

I

himself

that

but

giving also the author's agreement with, or obligations to Wier,

so far as to

;

myself to explanation, or to making a few remarks on the

fined

;

of that given

Eyre, lately Superior of Stonyhurst; by Mrs. Amelia Green; as Prof. all

W. W.

Skeat, and Dr.

J.

A. H. Murray, in

my

Glossary;

were, and personally are, strangers; as are Miss Kath. P.

Woolrych, Oare Vicarage, Kent, and Miss Ayscough, of Brabourne Vicarage

;

and especially that given me by

friends, the Rev.

W\

W. H.

G. Stone, Esq.

My

Harrison, of

St.

my

other Shakespearian

Anne's, South Lambeth, and

best thanks are also due to Mr.

for the use, for the printer, of a partially

J. J.

Jervis

incomplete copy of the

first

;

Preface. edition

;

to the University of

Glasgow

for the greater part of a year, of

and to

for the use for the

my Alma

i%

for the loan, for

another copy of this

same period of a copy of the

Mater of Edinburgh, endeared

remembrances, and kindnesses of Sir

to

me by

my own

use,

edition

first

third edition

the teachings,

William Hamilton, Allan

Thomson, Christison, Traill, Jamieson, that most sagacious of surgeons and teachers, Syme, and the ever-to-be-revered physician and man, W. Pulteney Alison. Br. Nicholson.

ERRATA. The pagings, as

usual.,

are those of the first edition.

P. 20, heading, ch.

P. 92,

9,

'^ ii, inqtiistor^\ read ''inquisitors". "Ulyffes" {bis\ read "Ulysses". "obsevation", read "observation".

3.

"taiav'\

5, 6,

1.

P. 169,

1.

P. 192,

1.

read

"«(TTja;/".

from end, "three," read "three ;" P. 347, 1. 6, from end, " left it", read " left in", P. 522, 1. 6, from end, ''Silyllce", read "Sibylla". P. 334,

1.

2,

hb

INTRODUCTION. EXCEPT that they add the names of some who have opposed his views, or

some such

cal notices of Scot

trifling

matters,

given of him in Wood's AtJietice Oxoti. less original

Hence

I,

all

the writers of biographi-

have drawn their information from the account Nor, indeed, until

lately,

un-

search had been made, were other sources available.

in the first place, give his

words verbatim from the edition

of 1691. " Reynolde Scot, a younger Son of Sir /ohn Scot of Scots-hall^ near to Smeeth in Kent, by his Wife, Daughter of Reynolde Pimp of Pimps-court Knight, was born in that County, and at about 17 years of age was sent to Oxon, particularly, as it seems, to Hart hall, where several of his Country-men and name studied in the latter end of K. Hen. 8. and in the Reign oi Ed. 6. &^c. Afterwards he retired to his native Country without the honour of a degree, and settled at Sineetli, where he found great incouragement in his studies from his kinsman About which time taking to him a Wife, he gave Sir Thos. Scot. himself up solely to solid reading, to the perusing of obscure authors that had by the generality of Scholars been neglected, and at times of leisure to husbandry and gardening, as it may partly appear from

these books following. "A perfect platform of a Hop-garden, and necessary instructions for the making and maintenance thereof, with notes and rules for reformation of all abuses, &c. Lond. 1576. qu. the 2. edit, as it seems. "The discovery of Witchcraft; wherein the leud dealing of Witches, and Witchmongers is notably detected, the knavery of Conjurers, With many the impiety of Inchantors, the folly of Southsayers, &c. other things are opened, which have long been hidden, howbeit very necessary to be known. Lond. 1584. qu. in 16 books. "Discourse upon Devils and Spirits. In this, and the former, both printed together, it plainly appears that the author was very well versed in many choice books, and that his search into them was so profound, that nothing slip'd his Pen that might make for his purpose. Further also in the said Discovery and Discourse., though he holds that Witches are not such that were in his time and before, commonly executed for Witches or that Witches were, or are not yet they, which were written for the instruction of all Judges and Justices of that age, (being the first of that nature that were published in the Mother tongue,) did for a time make great impressions in the Magis-

—

;

;

—

—

Inti'-oduction. tracy and Scots (the

xi

Clergy, tho afterwards condemned by James King of same who succeeded Ou. Elisabeth in the Monarchy of

England) in his Preface to Dcemonology, printed under his Name at Edinburgh in 1597. cju. and by several others since, among whom was Rich. Bernard of Batcomb, in his Epist. Ded. before his Guide to Grand Jury-men., &c. Lond. 1627. in oct. What else our author Scot hath written, I cannot yet tell, nor anything else of him, only but that he dyed in Sept. or Oct. in fifteen hundred ninety and nine, and was buried among his Ancestors in the Church at Smeeth before-mentioned. " In the time of the said Reynold Scot and before, have been conversant among the Muses in Hart hall, the Sackviles of Sussex, the Colepepers of Kent and Sussex, the Sedlies of Kent, and the Scots before mentioned, with others of inferiour note of the said Counties." Notes added in Bliss's Reprint. "

The

learned author in his Discovery is as vehement against Popery as against witchcraft, and quite indecent in his abuse of the saints of the Romish church." Cole. [His indecency being for the most part a narrative of, and obvious reflections on, their indecency. And this I say understanding the sense in which he uses the word.] " 8. See a full account of this curious book, as Mr. Oldys calls it, in his British Librarian, p. 213. All the copies of the first edit. 1584, that could be found were burnt by order of K. James I. an author on the other side of the question." Vid. Hist. Dictionary, sub voce " Scot". ["Reginaldus Scotus, Afiglus, tractatum de Incantamentis scripsit, in quo plerasque traditiones de Magia Melancholia;, & morbis " Hunc in Anglia publica variis, aut artibus histrionicis adscribit."] 7.

—

auctoritate combustum, sibi autem nunquam fuisse visum refert Thomasius de crimine magiae § 3." Vide [j. v.] Vogt., Cat. Libr. rar.,

—

6(7 [1713]" Liber in folio scriptus Anglica lingua a Reginaldo Scoto in quo plurima occurrunt contra magiaa existentiam argumenta. Est ille etiam in Belgicam linguam conversus sed plenior editio est ultima Anglica." Morhof., ii, 459. [Then a short note on the three editions.] p.

:

In 1874 there were privately ^rmitd, Afe?norials oj the Scot Family.,

by Jas. Renat

Scott, Esq.,

and from them

I

extract the following tables:

Rich. Scott=f=Mary Whetenhall.

Reginald author.

Richard ancestor oj the Scotts of Shrewsbury

and elseiuhere. .

A

Edvvard=j=May, I

\

d.

of

[2 d.]

JohnWarren.

j

quo the Scotts of Glemsford Suffolk and afterwards of Ohio and Massachusetts in America.

*

Introduction.

xii

Reg. Scott, b, 1541, =Alice Cobbe, d. of Th. Cobbe of Cobbes mar. 11 Oct. 1568, Place, Aldington, Kent. died Oct. 1599.

Collyar=Marie.

Tumor

Elizabeth=Sackville

of Tablehurst,

Sussex.

But as the

first

part of the ancestry given in this

book

is

not sup-

ported by anything beyond possibility and legend, so this latter portion

is

incorrect

it

however, of

Instead,

various particulars.

in

taking each inaccuracy item by item,

will

be simpler to give a

consecutive account of such facts as to his ancestry, and as to

Reginald Scott himself, as can be proved by documentary evidence or rendered probable by deductions therefrom.

John

Rouge Dragon and Somerset Herald, who died

Philipot,

in

1645, set forth the pleasant and picturesque, but slightly supported origin of the family. of EHzabeth, James,

say pleasant, because the Scotts in the times

I

and Charles, were a family of large possessions,

wealth, and influence, influence so great that

refused the request that Sir

more this,

Thomas

or from

Sir

Kent than she had. She seems

some other reason, a personal

in 1573,

also to

dislike to them, for in her

John Baker, of Sissinghurst Castle, declined

had

had already

have had from

she having passed three days at his father-in-law's.

saying she wished to proceed to her thither she

said that Elizabeth

it is

or the Earl of Leicester,

Scott should be ennobled, saying that he

influence in

Progress

made by Lord Buckhurst,

to pass Sir

own

Thomas's

to visit Scotts-hall,

house, though on her

gates.

way

In his Villare Canti-

anum, p. 313, Philipot has these words Scotts-hall, which is now and hath been for divers Descents the Inheritance of eminent Gentlemen of that Sirname, whom I dare aver upon probable Grounds *^

:

were originally called BaliolL

Alexander de le

Scot^

and

it

William

Balioll, frequently writ his is

Balioll,

Name

second brother to

William de Balioll

probable, that upon the Tragedy of JoJm, Earl of

Atho II, who was made

prisoner hy

Edward the

first,

executed, in the year 1307. (whilst he endeavoured

and barbarously more nobly than

successfully to defend the gasping Liberty of Scotland against the

Eruption of that Prince

;)

this

Family

to decline the

Fury of that

Monarch, who was a man of violent passions, altered the name of

;

Introduction.

xiii

Balioll to that of their Extraction and Country, and assumed for the future the

Name

of Scot.

originally Balioll^

Arms

ancient

John

Balioll,

being

still

That the Sirname of

this

upon these Reasons

assert.

farther

I

and dedicated

to St.

Katharine was a Katherin-Wheele,

who was Son and Heir

Secondly,

David

to the unfortunate Earl

above-

an Example of so much Terror, altered

said, astonished with

from Balioll

the

First,

of Balioll Colledge in Oxford, which was founded by

part of the paternal Coat of this Family.

de Strabogie-i

Family was

to Strabogie,

the Right of his Wife,

his

who was Daughter and Heir io John

of Badzenoth and Strabogie,

and by

name

to

him

Cof/tin,

Earl

which was a Signory which accrued

Name King Edward

this

the

second, omitting that of Balioll restored Chilham- castle to him for Life, in the fifteenth

year of his reign.

and the Barons of Burley ally

from Balioll, are known

Scot,

Thirdly, the Earls oi Buccletigh,

who

derive themselves origin-

at this instant

by no other Sirname, but

in Scotland,

and bear with some inconsiderable Difference, those very Arms

which are

at present the paternal

Coat of the Family of Scots-hall."

This tradition excluded, we find that Sir William Scot of Braberne,

now Brabourne, mention. created

Kent,

in

He was

Duke

is

knighted

first

in

1336,

family in Brabourne church.

was the same with if

whom we

when

of Cornwall, and died in 1350

being in Weever's time (1631), the

but

of

the

Sir

first

:

have

historical

the Black Prince was

a brass to his memory,

of the memorials of the Scot

According

to Philipot, this Sir

William

William Scot, then Chief Justice of England

Mr. Foss be right in stating that this latter died

1346, the

in

year of the Black Death, this view cannot be upheld.

Another Sir William, apparently a grandson of the above, acquired through his mother the manor of his first wife

family

seem

and her

to

Combe

in

Brabourne, and through

— modes of increase in which the fortunate — that of Orlestone, as well as

relations

have been

other places; and in 1420 he built Scotshall, in the

Smeeth, and was

in

the shire in parliament.

He

died

of Hall in

Scotshall, from time to

1433.

time enlarged or rebuilt, and especially so by Sir the reign of Charles

manor

1428 sheriff of the county, and in 1430 knight of

I,

became the family

Evelyn, under date August

2,

Edward

1663, records his visit to

the young knight's marriage), and

calls

Scot, in

seat for twelve generations.

it

"a

right

it

(soon after

noble seate,

Introduction.

xiv uniformely stor'd, the

built,

land

young knight, and his chaplaine."

handsome gallery. It stands in a park well and good. We were exceedingly feasted by the

with a

fat

It

was

sold, with the

family, at the close of the last century,

undulations in a

heard an excellent sermon by

in his pretty chapell

field

remaining possessions of the

and destroyed

in 1808.

Some

on the north side of the road from Ashford to

Hythe, about half a mile to the east of Smeeth church, alone mark its site.

The son

of this second Sir William,

named

Sir John,

being con-

nected with the Woodvilles, and therefore with the wife of Edward IV,

and being a staunch Yorkist, and apparently a man of intelligence, was employed in special embassies to Charles, Duke of Burgundy, especially in 1467, when he went to treat of the marriage of the king's sister with the duke. He had also various other and more substantial favours conferred upon him from time to time, from 1461 onwards, including that of Chilham Castle for life, as somewhat oddly, and I

think wrongly, noted in the extract from Philipot.

He

died in 1485,

and probably intestate, as no will is recorded. To him succeeded his son, the third Sir William in this account, and he dying in 1524, was succeeded by his son, a second Sir John. This last, by his marriage with Anne, daughter of Reginald Pympe, had three sons, and died on the 7th October 1533. The eldest, William, followed his father on the 5th June 1536, and leaving no offspring, his next brother, Sir Reginald, took his place. Of the third brother, Richard, the father of our Reginald,

Meanwhile, returning to the main dying on the

Thomas,

the "cousin" to

man

I

shall

speak presently.

would say that

Sir Reginald,

was succeeded by his son, Sir Reginald was much indebted, and

i6th October 1554,

one of the four his day, a

line, I

to

whom

whom

He

he dedicated his Witchcraft.

of note, intelligence, and action.

was, in

Finding his estate

he yet kept one hundred

and died

at his table, was most hospitable, owing nothing, though, of course, to provide for the

younger of

his very

in debt,

were by his

numerous progeny, various portions of

will sold after his death.

his county, sheriff of

Kent

in

1576,

He was

his estate

deputy-lieutenant of

knight of the shire for the

Parliaments of 13 and 28 Elizabeth, chief of the Kentish forces at

Northbourne Downs, where they were assembled

to repel

any landing

xv

Introduction. from the Armnda readiness, field,

and it may be added, as showing his promptness, and decision, that 4,000 of these were there, equipped for the ;

the day after he received his orders from the Privy Council.

He was

one of the Commissioners to report on the advisability of

improving the breed of horses after this, is said to

Commissioner

and

in this country,

have published a book on the

for draining

either before or

He was

subject.

and improving Romney Marsh, and

a

after-

wards Superintendent of the improvements of Dover harbour. Various letters to

and from him

in reference to

Dover harbour, as

well as to the

Having been Emmeline Kempe, a 30th December 1594, and

Kentish forces, are to be found in the State Calendars. the parent of seventeen children relative

his first wife,

by maternal descent, he died on the

Ashford parish offered

to

pay the expenses of

were allowed to bury him

in their church.

noted

in the following verses,

some

probabilities that they

to

by

which

I

if

only they

Most of these

facts are

his funeral

because there are

give, chiefly

were by Reginald.

A

have been found among the family papers,

copy of them seems in his

That he made some of the verse translations given is

extremely probable, from the want

references to the translator's

verses

themselves render

these cases

in

name; hence a second

it

likely

that

handwriting.

in his

Witchcraft

of marginal

probability.

The

they were one of those

memorial elegies then

affixed tiri ra^oi/ by affectionate friends and and not what we now call an epitaph and the third verse clearly shows that they were written at least some little time after Sir Thomas's decease, and therefore were not improbably written to be affixed to the handsome tomb erected over his remains. Hence a third probability but beyond the accumulated force of these we cannot go. relatives,

;

;

Epitaph on Sir Thomas Scott Family", in the

World",

Scott, as

and also

given in the " Memorials of the

in Pick's " Collectio7t of Curious Pieces

vol. 3.

Here

Uh

lyes Sir

Thomas

Scott by

name

;

happie Kempe that bore him Sir Raynold, with four knights of fame, Lyv'd lyneally before him. !

His wieves were Baker, Heyman, Beere His love to them unfayned. He lyved nyne and fiftie yeare, And seventeen soules he gayned.

;

xvi

Inti^odiiction. His

wief bore them every one ; not have myst her She was a very paragon The Lady Buckherst's syster. first

The world might

!*

His widow lyves in sober sort, No matron more discreeter ; She still reteiynes a good report,

And

is

a great housekeeper.

He

(being called to special place) Did what might best behove him. The Queen of England gave him grace, The King of Heav'n did love him.

His men and tenants wail'd the daye, His Kinne and countrie+ cryed ; Both young and old in Kent may saye, Woe worth the day he dyed.

He made

his porter shut his gate

To sycophants and briebors, And ope it v/ide to great estates. And also to his neighbours. His House was rightly termed Hall Whose bred and beefe was redie ; It was a very hospitall

And

refuge for the needie.

From whence he

never stept aside. In winter nor in summer ; In Christmas time he did provide Good cheer for every comer.

When any service shold be He lyked not to lyngar

doun,

;

The

rich would ride, the poor If he held up his fingar.

wold runn,

He kept tall men, he rydd great hors. He did write most finely He used fewe words, but cold discours ;

Both wysely and dyvinely. His lyving meane,t his charges greate. His daughters well bestowed ; Although that he were left in debt. In fine he nothing owed.

* Though a paragon, she lived, he would say, a quiet, retired life, obedient and loving to her husband. + " Countrie", seems not unlikely to be used here, as in the Discoverie not unfrequently, and twice in Wood's notice just given, and, as then, for county. X "Meane", that is, moderate, midway between the very rich and the poor.

Introduction.

xvii

But dyed in rich and happie state, Beloved of man and woman (what is yeate much more than that) He was envied* of no man.

And

In justice he did much excell, In law he never wrangled He loved rellygion wondrous well, But he was not new-fangled. :

Romney Marsh and Dover saye Ask Norborne camp at leyseur If he were woont to make delaye Let

;

;

To doe

his countrie pleasure.

—

But Ashford's proffer passeth all It was both rare and gentle ; They would have pay'd his funerall T' have toomb'd him in their temple.

Before returning to Richard and Reginald,

we may conclude

this

short notice of their ancestors by mentioning the very probable cir-

cumstance that the former were, by the female

John Gower, the Sir

descendants of

line,

poet, as explained in the following table

:

John Pashell=f=Elizabeth, I

d. of Richard Wydeville, sister of Earl Rivers, aunt of Edward IV's wife.

John Pashell,— !. Ludovic (Lowys), ob. circa 1472.

of Th. Gower, ob. circa 1458.

d.

|

I

i

William, ob. fl«/^ 1485, J./.

Elizabeth, or Isabel,=|=Reg. ob. ««/