THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
M E M O I R S
O F T H E
LIFE and WRITINGS
OF THE LATE
Rev. THOMAS BAKER, B. D.
of st. John's college in Cambridge,
FROM THE PAPERS OF
Dr. Z A C H A R Y GREY,
WITH A
CATALOGUE of his MS. COLLECTIONS.
B Y ROBERT MASTERS, B.D. and F.A.S.
CAMBRIDGE,
Printed by J. Archdeacon Printer to the UNIVERSITY;
Sold by J. & J. Merrill, and J. Deighton, Cambridge*
B. White, London ; J. & J. Fletcher, Oxford ;
and M. Booth, Norwich.
MDCCLXXXIV.
T O T H E
HONOURABLE and RIGHT REVEREND
J A, M E S
LORD BISHOP of ELY,
NOT SQ MUCH DISTINGUISHED
BY THE
HONOURS CONFERRED UPON HIMSELF AND HIS ILLUSTRIOUS FAMILY,
AS BY HIS
SINGULAR ATTACHMENT TO THE
BUSINESS OF HIS DIOCESE,
AND UNUSUAL RESIDENCE THEREIN;
WHICH, WITH HIS
AFFABLE AND CONDESCENDING BEHAVIOUR TO ALL,
HAVE JUSTLY ENDEARED HIM
TO THE PUBLICK,
TO HIS CLERGY,
AND IN PARTICULAR To HIM,
WHO WITH ALL HUMILITY BEGS LEAVE
TO INSCRIBE THE FOLLOWING MEMOIRS,
AND TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIMSELF
HIS LORDSHIP'S
MOST OBEDIENT AND OBLIGED SERVANT,
ROBERT MASTERS,
G974 J v-
PREFACE.
THE Collector of the following Papers Dr. Za- chary Greya, (well known to the learned World by his numerous Writings) and who was intimately ac- quainted with the Subject of them, was apt to wonder that none of his Friends of St. John's College, who had both Leifure and Abilities, (when probably upon a timely Application to his Executor, many proper Ma- terials for that Purpofe might have been obtained) fhould never have attempted the Life and Character of that worthy Man ; who lived much beloved, and died as much lamented, by all who had the Pleafure of his Ac- quaintance.
An Attempt that he owned required a much better Pen than he was Mailer of, but as it had hitherto been neglected by others, he would endeavour to fupply by faithfulnels in the Narration, what might in other re- ipects be found defective-, avoiding at the fame time every Degree of Adulation and Flattery.
And for this Purpofe he fpared no Pains in collecting Materials, applying to all fuch as he thought able to turnifh him with any. With this View he employed Friends to fpeak to Dr. Bedford of Durham, who was
fo
a He died at Ampthill, on 25 Nov. 1766, in the 79th Year of his Age, and was buried at his Parifh of Houghton Conqueft.
a 3
[ vi j
fo obliging as to give him all the AfMance he was able-, as appears from a Letter of 27th July, 1755, (which will hereafter be quoted more at large, as giving a par- ticular Account of his Death.) His Advice here however, in Relation to the Doctor's Undertaking, is to the fol- lowing Purport. t; I fhould apprehend (but I offer it with fubiT.ifiion) that as Mr. Baker was never in any publick Station of Life, it would 'be difficult to get Materials fufficient to furnifh out a Volume. Frequent Inftances of his great Skill and critical Knowledge, in all Parts of Literature, made a very large Part ; and thefe now I doubt may be very much difperfed. However, I think, there might be pickt up, fome Things in this Manner. His Cultom was in every Book he had read, to make Obfefvations, {cz down an Account of the Au- thor, &c. Now a great number of his Books are in our College Library. Thofe which Mr. Burton had, were fold here : I myfelf have his Copy of the Llereditary Right, which he has greatly enriched. Now would it be impofilble think you, to pick fome very material Things from all thefe, that might be publifhed under this Title, or any other you like better ? viz. Remarks and Obfervations on different Authors, and on various Points of Learning, by the late Rev. Mr. Baker, toge- ther with fome Account of his Life, &c. as Dr. Grey was likewife of Opinion that if a Collection of this Kind, was judiciouily extracted, it would be of great Uie to the Publick, and as a Specimen, has favoured us with one out of the Books in hrs own Cuitody, of much Ids Importance, however, than thofe upon the Books given to the Univerfity Library. And in farther Purluit of this Defign, he applied loon after to that learned Anti- quary, and very worthy Member of the honourable Houle of Commons, James Weft, Eiq. who favoured him with the following Anlv.er.
Rev.
[ vii ]
Rev. Sir,
On my return to Town, I was favoured with your Letter, and lhall be glad to be of any Service to you in any learned Work you are engaged in.
The Life of my very worthy Friend Mr. Baker, who was fo perfectly friendly and communicative, that it may afford Matter to interweave in it, the Literary Hi- itory of our Country, during that Period. His con- ftant Correfpondence with ABp. Wake, the Bifhops Gibibn, Kennet, Burnet, Mr. Hearne and others, are full of learned Notices. The Collections left to Lord Oxford, now the Property of the Britifh Mufeum, will be very neceflary to be perufed, but at prefent they are removing; under Seals from Ld. Oxford's late Houie in Dover Street, to Montague Houfe, and are to re- main in that Condition, till the Houfe is repaired, and Keepers of the Books and Curiofities appointed.
I mall be glad to be the firft, to acquaint you when they will be opened, and then I take it for granted you will have right to confult them.
I am, Rev. Sir, Lincoln's inn Fields, Your moft obedient humble Servant,
May ,7i 1755. j Weft<
In a Letter from Dr. Willis, (dated from Whaddon Hall, May 19, 1759,) who had been applied to on the fame Subject, he informs him that he had " indeed a great many of Mr. Baker's Letters, but that they were interfperfed and bound up for the molt Part in a great many Collections. "And as he generally omitted the Dates, they laid in no order, fo that he could not turn to them in any Method ; as they are, however, if you will pleafe to come and perufe them here, I will
gladly fend my Chariot for you, &c.*' As he died
however, foon after, thefe with the reft of his MSS. were I imagine lent to the Univerfity of Oxford, to which he bequeathed them.
a 4 He
[ viii ]
He acknowledges his Obligations likewife to Dr. Phillip Williams, for fome Copies of Mr. Baker's Let- ters from the Originals in the Hands of Mr. Burton, his Nephew. To the Rev. Wm. Cole, then Rector of Blechley, in Buckinghamfhire, for fome Tranfcripts from the Works of Mr. Thomas Hearne and others, in Acknowledgement of Mr. Baker's Affiftance. And to the Editor for fome original Letters to Dr. Watfon, Bifhop of St. David's. And laftly, to the Rev. Mr. Skinner, lately Fellow of St. John's College, and Pub- lick Orator, for other original Letters of Mr. Baker, to the late honeft and induftrious Hiftorian, Mr. John Strype.
The Materials thus collected, blended with others in Relation to many other eminent Nonjurors, were oblig- ingly put into the Hands of the Editor, by Dr. Grey's Widow, fome Years fince, with Power to difpofe of them as he thought proper •, indeed they would earlier have been reduced into fome form, and communicated to the Publick, had not an Obftacle to his firft Defign, which it is not now perhaps neceffary to relate, occafion- ed this Delay. Such as they are however (with the Ad- ditions he has fince been able to make) the bed perhaps that can now be procured, of a Perfon, who led fo re- tired a Life; they are fubmitted to the Reader, whole Benevolence is intreated to make Allowance for involun- tary Errors (and he may be afiured there are no others) as well as to point out any iuch in a friendly Manner, for their future Correction.
The Reader may perhaps be at a lofs to account for the Particulars given of Mr. Baker, by Mr. Nichols, in his Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer, corresponding fo exactly with the following in Phrale, Order, See. as far as they extend ; lie mult then be apprized, that fome Time fince, foon after they were reduced into the p re- lent Order, the Editor put them into the Hands of Ri- chard Gouszh, Efq. to confuk with him in a friendly
Way
f ix ]
Way about the Mode of Publication, who retaining them for fome Time, made iuch Extracts from them as he thought proper ; this he acknowledged in a Letter upon their Return, and from thefe, both taken and communicated without leave, it is fcarce to be doubted, the Article Baker, in the new Edition of the Biographia Britannica, was chiefly compiled, as well as that in the Anecdotes of Bowyer.
Mr. Nichols might indeed as he afierts, buy Papers of Dr. Grey's of a Bookfeller at Northampton, and perhaps
fome original Letters concerning Mr. B- • but nothing
reduced into any kind of Form, and that too in the very identical Phrafe, as both the foul and fair Copy are ftill in Hand, and vary in many refpects from that he printed. But to fet this Matter in a ftill clearer Light, Mr. N ■ himfelf in a late Conference, candidly ac- knowledged he had many Particulars in this and other Articles, from Mr. Gough, fo that he alone feems to be accountable, for the breach of Confidence repofed in him by Mr. M
Mr. M however, fince the Publication of Mr.
G s 2d Edition of his Britifh Topography (fluffed
with a vaft Farrago of Things, many of them not only trifling, of little Importance, and bearing no Relation to the Subject, but what is worfe, of a very fcurrilous and offenfive Nature) cannot help being furprized at the Treatment he has met with from one, who in that Work, has fo feverely cenfured others for purloining, viz. Bp. Moore, Sir Tho. Bodley, Mr. Umfreville, Drs. Rawlinfon, Willis, &c, which Reflections, if founded upon Facts, as that on Sir Tho. Bodley, feems far from bcingb, are at lead very uncharitable, if not malevolent, and luch as it could aniwer no good Purpofc to record, of
fuch
b See Sir Hen. Saville's Letter at length, with a Confutation of
(his Scandal, in Gent. Mag. 1772, p. 371, yet Mr. G has nor-
withltanding, fuffered it to be continued in the new Edition.
[ x ]
fnch refpedtable Perfons. Whilft however he has been thus ievere upon thefe, and many others of unblemifhed Characters, he has forgot to pais any Cenfure upon his learned Friend (although intimately known to him) who carried off the Royal Finger, and has been filent in re- fpect to many of his greater! Heroes, well known to have been guilty of the like Practices ; but fuch is the Power of Prejudice and PafTion in warping Mens Judgments.
Before I quit this Head of Purloining, it will be likewife proper to take Notice of the Perfon hinted at in the Biographia Britiannica, as having another Life of Mr. Baker c; now this was the late Mr. Cole of Mil- ton, who in Imitation of his Friend G h, having
had the Perufal of Dr. Grey's Collection, on this Sub- ject, tranfcribed great Part of them into his MSS. where they will be found with many of Browne Willis (after they were bequeathed to the Univerfity of Oxford) and of feveral others, obtained in the fame clandeftine Way, if according to his whimfical Will, they fhculd ever be laid before the Publick. But this, if we may judge from his Notes upon Publications, prelented to him by his beft Friends, they are utterly unfit for, fince Cha- racters formed from fuch itrong Paffions and Prejudices, as he was perpetually actuated by, can never be drawn with any Degree of exactnefs. And the Misfortune is, that thefe, with all the little Tales of Scandal, of the Univerfity, Town and County, for half a Century pad, are lb blended with his other Collections (however valu- able in themfelves,) they can fcarce be feparated : fo that probably from this Circumftance alone, the Labours of his whole Life, will be fuffered to fink into Oblivion, and nothing left to fupport his Memory, but that foolilh Monument of his Vanity, ordered by Will to
be
c This I am told was to have been piinted at Strawberry Hill, had not fome difference arofe concerning the Character of Bp. Bur- Let, and was afterwards defigned for Mr. Nichols's Prefs.
[ xi ]
be erected over his Remains. And the Attempt to keep thefe Characters from the Publick, till the Subjects of them fhall be no mored, feems to be peculiarly cruel and ungenerous, fince it is precluding them from vindi- cating themfelves from fuch injurious Afperfions, as their Friends perhaps (however willing) may at that diftance of Time, be incapable of removing. The above Cenfure, may perhaps be thought fomewhat fe- vere, but the Editor, well acquainted with the fickle- nefs of his Difpofition, for more than forty Years paft, avers it to be well grounded, and thinks it incumbent upon him thus to publifh it to the World, to prevent any Mifchiefs that may arife hereafter from his unwar- rantable Prejudices.
Perhaps his Zeal for the Memory of Mr. Baker, might tempt him to make thefe Depredations upon Dr. Grey, but he has (hewn a much more reputable and laudable Attention to it, by the following Claufe in his Will6.
" I give, as a Mark of my Veneration to fo amiable a Character, ten Pounds to buy a black Marble Slab, to cover the Grave of the late Mr. Tho. Baker, B.D. in Sr. John's College Ante-chapel, clofe to the Mo- nument of Mr. Hugh Afhton, where I faw him in- terred, if the Society will allow of it; and his Arms [Argent on a Saltire engrailed, five Efcallops Argent, on a chief Sable a Lion paffant Argent] engraved ac at the Top, and the Inlcription to be compofed by the worthy Mailer, or any other he fhall appoint, and no Mention made of me in it.
By this the Neglect hinted at in p. 93, is properly provided for, and there is no doubt l-'uch a Stone, with a proper Inlcription, will loon be laid over his Remains.
In Addition to p. 119. — One Thing more particu- larly
* For the Space of twenty Years. c Dat. 12 Dec. 1782.
[ xii ]
larly was defired, that nothing might be printed, that might give Offence to the Church or Religion, for in- deed they are wrote with too much Freedom. One Particular concerning Bp. Gardiner, I defired might be iupprefTed, as rather too ludicrous for Hiftory, and too plainly pointing out the Perfon who fent it, which yet itands as I fent it.
Mr. Baker had made great Additions to Mr. Willis's Hiftory of Abbiesf, which at his Death he bequeathed to him in the following Words. " Thefe two Volumes of Abbeys I leave to my learned Friend Browne Willis, Efq."
Tho. Baker."
A ftrong Inftance of Mr. B — 's unbiafled Integrity, is to be met with in the following Anfwer to his great Friend Mr. Williams, Rector of Doddington in the Ifle of Ely, who had applied to him for one of the Ex- hibitions mentioned in p. 102, for his Son.
Worthy Sir,
I can allure you I am not alone in the Difpofal of thefe Exhibitions, nor is it any Qualifi- cation by the Settlement, to be the Son of a Clergy- man. In the Difpofal of them, 1 have commonly had regard to thofe that want them mod, and I thank God, that is not your Son's Cafe. But I will do him that Right to fay, he wants no other Qualifications5.
1 am forry to hear, your Lady is indifpofed, to whom I wifh as much Health, as her Vertues deferve, &c.
Yours, Camb. Jun. 6th. Tho. Baker.
The
r The Editor has the id Vol, ar.d fhould be "lad to know where the ill is to be met with.
s Dr. Williams mentioned in p. 113.
[ xiii ]
The following MS. Copies of Verfes, probably wrote by Mr, B— were taken from his own Book, of the Fu- neral Sermon of Lady Margaret, noted with his own Hand in various Places, and now in the PofTefiion of Dr. Beadon, the prefent worthy Mafter of Jefus College, who has been fo obliging as to favour me with the Pe- rufal of it.
To my FOUNDER upon his PICTURE*1,
Accept this OfPring, from the unenvy'd Store, Of him that wants the Pow'r, but withes more. Had I improv'd the Hours that thou doft give, Vain were faint Colours, thou in Verfe fhould'ft live. Had thy large Bounty been deferv'dly mine, Thy Name fhould flourifh bright in ev'ry Line. Oh! how thy Seed lies wafte in barren Soil, That wants true Vigor, tho' it wants notOyle. Ah! how unequal are my belt Returns, And yet my Heart with zeal and flaming burns.
For if my Heart is known, a gratefull Minde I bear, with ftrong Defires and unconfin'd. To the I dare appeal, if thou doft know, Or now concern thyfelf with Things below. Oft had I lent my fervent Vows to Heav'n, Were this the Time, or ought were now forgiv'n. Oft had I pray'd for the, as thou defires, Could I believe the hurt by purging Fires. Thy pad Defires they were, nor are they fo, 'Twas thy miftaken wifh, whilft here below. Thy Joys compleated, ulelefs Pray'rs may ceafe, And end in Praife to him that gives the Peace.
And yet thy Bounty may I either fing, Or may the Fountain ftop, whence it fhould fpring.
upon
h Mr. B— had a good Pidture of Dr. Hugh Afheton, his Foun- der, which is probably now in the College.
[ xiv ] upon the BISHOP of ROCHESTER'S
PICTURE, WHEN SENT TO THE COLLEGE
byLd. WEYMOUTH.
Welcome from Exile, happy Soule, to me, And to thefe Walls, that owe their Rife to the. Too long thou'rt baniflit hence, with Shame difgrac't, Thy Arms thrown down, thy Monument defac't. Thy Bounties great like the, involv'd in Night, Till Tome bold Hand fhall bravely give them Light. Too long opprefT't by Force and Power unjuft, Thy Blood a Sacrifice to ferve a Luft. In vain proud Herod bids thee be forgot, Thy Name fhall brightly mine, vvhilft his mail rot.
UPON TWO DESERVING MASTERS,
Drs. SHORTON1 and METCALFE
And may thofe Worthies that did fhare his Fate, Partake his Honors long, as they are late. Hard was his Fate, unequal was his Lot, That built our Walls, and finifht was forgot. But mo.re unequal his, and lefs deferv'd, That banifht was the Wails that he preferv'd. That free from Guilt did fhare his Patron's Crimes, And neither were their own, but were the Times.
O Father! O our Glory ! Ah our Shame ! That giv'fl us Plenty, whilft we wound thy Name, And pay our Thanks in undeferved blame.
O may due Monuments be rais'd to the, Juft to thy worth, not fuch as come from me. May thy lucceeding Sons bear gratefull Senfe, And expiate tor thofe, that drove the hence. Ne'er may the Curie of that ungratefull Race, Fall on thofe guiltlefs Heads, that hold their Place.
The
> The firft Mailer and Euilder of the College. k The third Mailer, deprived in 1537. e
[ w ]
The following Letter from Lady Margaret, from an Original in her own Hand, printed in L. Howard's Collection of Letters in 1753, Vol. I. p. 155, is a pro- per Supplement to thole of her Son Hen. VII, at the end of Bp. Fiiher's Sermon.
My dereft and only defy red Joy yn thys World,
With my mode herty Blefiyngs, and humble Commendations. — y pray oure Lord to reward and thancke your Grace, for thatt yt pleafed your Hyghnes foo kyndly and lovyngly to be content to wryte your Letters of Thancks to the Frenfhe Kyng, for my great mater, that foo longe hath been yn Suete, as Martyr Welby hath (hewed meyour bounteousGoodnefs is plefed1. I wifli my der Hert, and my Fortune be to recover yt, y truit ye mail well perfeyve y mail delle towards you as a kynd lovvng Modyr-, and if y fhuld nevyr have yt, yet your kynd delyng ys to me a thoufand tymes more than all that Good y can recover, and all the Frenfhe Kyng's mygt be mine wyth all. My der Hert, and yt may plefe your Hyghnes to lycenfe Martyr Whytftcngs for thys time to prefent your rionorabyll Lettyrs, and begyn the Procefs of my Caufe; for that he lb well knoweth the Mater, and alio brought me the Wrytyngs from the feyd Frenfhe Kyng, with hys odyr Lettyrs to hys Parlyement at Paryfe •, yt (hold be grctlye to my helpe, as y thynke, but all wyll y remyte to your pleiyr •, and yf y be too bold in this, or eny my Deiires, y humbly beieche your Grace of pardon, and that your Highnes take no difplefyr.
My good Kynge, y have now fent a Servant of myn ynto Kendall, to reffeyve fyche Anueietys as be yet hangynge opon the Accounte of Sir Wyllam Wall, my Lord's Chapcleyn, whom y have clerly dyfcharged ;
and
1 Concerning the Payment of a certain Sum of Money fhe lent to the Duke of Orleans, when Prifoner in England. See Att. Reg. V. HI, p. 129.
[ xvi ]
and if yt will plefe your Majefty's onne Herte, at your leyfer to fende me a Lettyr, and command me, that y fuffyr none of my Tenants be retayned with no man, but that they be kepte for my Lord of Yorke, your faire fwete Son, for whom they be mod mete; it fhall be a a good excufe for me to my Lord and Hofbond •, and then y may well and wythoute dyfplefyr caufe them all to be fworne, the wyche (hall not aftyr be long un- don. And wher your Grace fliewed your pleiyr form — the Baftard of Kyng Edward, Syr, there is neither that, or any other thyng I may do to your Command- ment, but y fhall be glad to fullfill my lyttyll pow- er, with God's Grace. And my fwete Kyng, Feldyng this berer hath prayed me to befeche you to be his good Lord yn a matter he feweth for to the Bifhop of Ely, now as we here electe", for a lyttyll OfFiyfe nyghe to Lond. Verily my Kynge, he ys a geud and wyfe well rewled Gentylman, and full truely hathe ferved you well accompanyed, as well at your fyrft, as all odyr occafions •, and that cawfeth us to be more bold and gladder alfo to fpeke for hyme-, how be yt my Lord Marquis hath ben very low to hym yn Tymes paft, by caufe he wuld not be reteyned with him •, and trewly my good Kynge, he heipythe me ryght well yn feche Mat- ters as y have befynes wythyn thys partyes. And my der hert, y now befeche you pardon of my long& tedy- ous Wryting, and pray almighty God gyve you as long, good and profperous Lyfe as ever had Prynce, and as herty BlefTyngs as y can axe of God.
At Calais Town, thys day of Saint Anne, that y did bryng yn to thys World my good and gracyous Prynce, Kynge and only beloved Son. By
Your humble Servant, Bede- woman & Modyer, To the Kyngs Grace. Margaret R
" Arthur, by Lady Elizabeth Lucy.
" Probably Richard Redman, Bp. in 1501, which points out the Date of the Letter.
MEMOIRS
*ww»x> waatm 11 n i.t.. .
MEMOIRS
OF THE
LIFE and WRITINGS
O F T H E
Rev. THOMAS BAKER, B. D.
1
HOMAS BAKER, the Subjeft of thefe Memoirs, was defcended of a good Family, well efteemed and diftinguifhed for its Affeclion and Loyalty to the Crown. His Grandfather Sir George Baker, Knt. greatly injured his Family, by borrowing large Sums of Money upon his own Credit, in the Time of the Rebellion, which he either lent to the King, or laid out for his Service. Being Recorder of Newcaftle, he with great Bra- very defended that Place againft the Scots in the Year 1639; a full Account of which is given by
A the
[ 2 ]
the Author referred to below*. And this wor- thy Gentleman was again engaged in its Defence, with Sir John Morley, the Mayor of that Corpo- ration, and Sir Nicholas Cole, Bart, at the Time it was befieged by the fame People, upon their Return into England, under the Command of General Lefly in 1643", wnen tne Marquis of Newcaftle was there in Perfon to defend it. It was then, I think, fays Mr. Baker, my Grandfa- ther was knighted by CommifTion from the King; an Honour he was bound to maintain, though almofr to the Ruin of himfelf and Family c.
His Father was George Baker, Efq; of Crook, in the Parifb of Lanchefter, (a Place remarkable for its Antiquities'1) in the Biihoprick of Dur- ham, who married Margaret a Daughter of Tho- mas FoiTter, of Edderfton in the County of Nor- thumberland0; of whom Thomas was born at Crock on 14 September, 1656.
When
1 Lloyd's Memoirs, p. 6S4.
'0 Rufliworth's Hift. Colled. Part ill. p. 646, 7. Heath's Chro- nicle, p. 68.
c Mii Colled. Vol. XXXV. p. 54. — The Gates were fhut againft
him w his way from Northumberland to St. Albans, and he uas
/-blight! to retreat, but at length a Pais was obtained for him, his
Strva-.ts. Anns and Neceifciries from General Fairfax, dated at
GyieiUry, Zj July, 164;.
- Gibfon's Camden's Brie. Vol. II. Col. 950. Philof. Tranfad. No. 266. & 354. Englifh Topog. p. 46.
•' Probably defcended from Sir John Foriler, Knt. who had con- i: '-rab e PolTeSions in that County, and was long Warden of the Middle March, where he had been very ferviceable. Mem. of Cary ]•'., of Monmouth, p. icC
[ 3 ]
When arrived at a proper Age, he was font to the Free-School at Durham, to be educated un- der the Care of Mr. Batterfby (as I have been in- formed) who was many Years Mailer of that School ; from whence, after laying a proper Foundation in Clallical Learning, he removed, with his elder Brother George, to the Univerfity of Cambridge, where they were both admitted of St. John's College, the one Penfioner, the other Fellow Commoner, at the fame Time, under the Tuition of Mr. Sanderfon f, June 13, 1674, and were matriculated 0:1 the 9th of July, in that fame Year, Thomas beimj; then nearly j S Years of Age.
Ke took his nrfr. Degree in Arts in 1677, was chofen Fellow of the liouie upon Dr. Afhton's Foundation (on winch he had been Scholar like- wilt-) in 1679, and proceeded Matter of Arts in 3 6S 1 . lie was ordained Deacon by Bp. Comp- ton of London, on 20 Dec. 1685, and Pried, by Bo. Barlow or Lincoln, very foon after at Busrden. He was appointed one of the Univerfity Preach- c:.o iii i 6 ■';;, bt-ing then B. D.
Xwt :; i mg '.I ime after this, an Offer was made him by L..\ lion as Waiiou :, a coniiderable Tu- tor
! Miiiricui?j laftitutio A. D. 1544. See MSS. Baker, Vol. IX. l\o. 1 ^.
t Sec an \cc unt c;f him in Salmon's Lives of the Fiv-Iifh Bifhops
from '..,. ilci'.'jr^u n it the JRevonsrion, p. 2^4. Hjs Brother W,J-
' A : liam,
[ 4 ]
tor in his own College, (afterwards a more con- fiderable Benefactor) and lately nominated to the Bifhoprick of St. David h, of going with him as his Chaplain, in the following moft friendly Terms ; as appears by a Letter without Date.
tc I intimated my Defire, that you'd be pleafed " to accept the Offer I made, of your being my rt Companion and Confident, rather than Chap- " lain, in my unexpected Remove. I hear there " are very good Things belonging to the Bifhop, " and the Country is very much commended. " The only Fault I find, is its Diftance from the c: North ; but you and I fhall not lofe our Incli- :* nation to our own Countries. The Notice I fC have taken of you in St. John's, hath deter- c' mined me to you in this Particular fo much, C£ that your Condefcenfion will be a particular ;c Engagement to, Sir,
" Your humble Servant,
" Thomas Watfon."
This however he was pleafed to decline, proba- bly upon a Profpecl: of being taken into the Bi- fhop
Ham, a Native of Hull, likewife was buried in the Chancel of Cherry Hinton, Cambridgefhire, which he had adorned, at the Age of 84, in 1721, having farther endowed the Hofpital founded by his Bro* ther Thomas at the Place of his Nativity.
•: lord Dover being his Patron with the King. See B. Willis** Sur-.ev of 6r. David's, p. 138.
t 5 1
iliop of Durham's Family in that Capacity, as he actually was foon after. Lord Crew, then Biiliop there ', collated him to the Rectory of Long New- ton in that County and Diocefe, in June 1687. And it was fuppofed, by many of his Lordihip's Family, he intended to have added to it the Rectory of Sedgefield, (valued at fix Hundred Pounds per Ann. at the lead) with the Prebend, called the Golden Prebend, the beft in the Church of Durham. But how this might have been, muft remain uncertain, fmce he had the Misfor- tune to incur the Bifhop's Difpleafure, which obliged him to leave the Family, and to cut off all his Profpecl of farther Advancement there. The Occalion of it is thus reprefented in his own Words'4. " When King James's Declara- " tion1 (for Liberty of Confcience) was appoint- " ed to be read, the molt condefcending Thing " the Bifhop ever did me, was his coming to my " Chamber (remote from his own) to prevail " with me to read it in his Chapel at Aukland; " which i could not do, having wrote to my " Curate not to read it at my Living of Long
" New-
1 He was the Son of John Lord Crew, Baron of Stene, born in 1633, confecrated Bifhop of Oxford in 167 1, and tranflated toDur- ham in 1674.
k Tranfcribed from the Original by Dr. Philip Williams, late Prefident of St. John's College.
J This may be feen at large in Bp. Kennet's Hill, of England^ Vol. III. p. 463, &c,
A3
[ 6 ]
" Newton: he prevailed (however) with the Cu? fC rate of Aukland to read it in his own Church, <f when the Bifhop was prefent to countenance cc the Performance. When all was over, the cc Bifhop (as a Penance, I prefume) ordered me cc to go to the Deanm, (as Archdeacon) to require c< him to make a Return to Court of all fuch as li had not read it, which I did, though I was one " of the Number."
This Bifliop, who thus difgraced him for his Refufal, acred very differently in this Refpecl from the generality of his Brethren, and at the Revolution very inconfiftently with his former Behaviour n. For, after cauflng this Declaration to be' read, which eighteen of his Order, and the Chief of the Clergy refilled0, he joined in the Vote that King James had abdicated, yet after hHng excepted out of the Act of Pardon of King William and Queen .Mary, for his Conduct upon their coming to the Crown, he condefcended to take the Oaths to them, and kept his Bifhoprick
to
- Dennis Greenvill, D. D. collated to the .Archdeaconry, Sept. v 2, and inllallcd Dean, Dec. 14, 1684, but deprived of both on J, '■. 1. ; '■■jo. lie was brother to the Earl of Bath.
>a!m m'j Live; of the Bifacps, p. 396. and Willis's Survey ,th. Vol. 1. p. 251.
' ,'ot 1; ovc 200 of the whole Body of the Clergy read this Decla- rp.-i v., f'Mne of whom afterwaris recanted, and i'even of the Biihops •- t 1 1 t'eii'.i .: the K.111;; againit it, the Confequence of which
. . ■■■.•.•.•p.. tv '". iiiih of ihe Puritan:, Vol. IV. p. 5 Sg. Ea-
ch r-V tii:t. vi ; '.ig'and, Vol. 111. p. 859. Appendix to Baker's Cluvn. p. 7^4; j.
[ 7 1
to the Day of his Death, on 18 Sept. 1722, at the Age of eighty-eight.
Amongft thofe who quitted their Preferments in the Diocefe of Durham, for refufing the Oaths enjoined at the Revolution, Mr. Baker was one. To ufe his own Words, " I was," fays he, cc in the Bifhop of Durham's Family in 1688 (a very critical trying Year) and the next out of all. My Patron the Bifhop held his Ground j I, who was a Malignant in 1688, was turned out the Year following;" when he gave up his Living of Long Newton on 1 Aug. 1690, with great chear- fulnefs, as it appears from a Letter, communicated by a Friend of Mr. Baker, in the following Terms.
Sir,
I muft defire you once more to return my humble Thanks to my Lord, as for all his Fa- vours, ib particularly, that my Living has been referved to me fo long ; and that my Lord may not fuller by it, I have nothing further to defire, only this, that my Lord would now difpofe of it.
I am very fenfible of his Lordfhip's Favour, and with howmuchGoodncfsIhave been treated in this whole Affair; and therefore I do now part with it with as much Thankfulnefs as I did receive it.
I am not delirous to know my SuccefTor; who- ever my Lord thinks fit to fucceed me, fhall be acceptable to me, and I fliall not only be in Cha-
A 4 rity
[ 8 ]
rity with him, but fhall have a Friendfhip for him ; and if any thing farther be required of me, to make the Living more eafy to him, I fhall be ready to do it, upon the leaff. intimation of his Lordfhip's Pleafure.
I do not know whether I have faid enough, if I have not, I mufr. defire you to fay it for me.
I am to thank you for your Letter, and for all your Expreffions of Kindnefs and Favour, though they were unnecefTary to me: for though you faid nothing, yet I could never fo much as doubt of it, as being fo much already, Sir,
Your mofl obliged humble Servant,
Tho. Baker. Humble Duty to my Lord.
He thereupon retired back to his Fellowfhip of St. John's College, in the peaceable Enjoyment of which he was protected by fome great Perfon, as I think it evidently appears, by the following Paragraph in his Preface, to the Funeral Sermon of Margaret Counters of Richmond and Derby, £cc.D After having expatiated upon the Orthodoxy of the Members of that Houfe from theReftoration to that Time, he goes on: ' In one Word, when ' the Nation was again alarmed with the Fears of * Popery, no College expreft a greater Abhorrence
'of
p P. 57-
t 9 ]
* of that Religion, or more Readinefs to fuffer, 1 had there been Occafion. Of that Number I ' was one; and had I not been under a noble ' Patron, whole Humanity and Goodnefs were 4 equal to his Birth, I mult have been an imme-
* diate Sufferer; and this Declaration I make, ' that if it be not true, it may be contradicted ; 1 eipecially by fuch, as having then been tame 1 and filent enough, when the Danger threaten- ' ed, are fince very loud, and wonderfully brave, ' when they have nothing to fear.'
Not long after his return to College, I find by fome Letters communicated to me by a worthy Friend, that he retained a grateful Senfe of the friendly Offer made him by Bifliop Watfon in the Year 1687, and correfponded with him fome time before his Deprivation, which happened in 1699, a fewr Months after the Sentence had been confirm- ed by the Delegates, to whom he had appealed q. Many of thefe Letters relate to the Bifhop's pri- vate Affairs at Burrough Green in Cambridge- fhire, which Rectory he held in Commendam with his Bifhoprick, and fo confequently are of no concern to the Publick; but the few here infert- ed, plainly fliew his Concern for his Friend when under Tribulation, and though without date,
were
s Sec an Account of this Tranfattion in Burnet's Hift. of his own Times, Vol. II. p. 226,7. 25°> '- vv'th Wood's Athen. Ox. Vol. II. p. 1 170. Willis's Survey of it. David's, p. 138. and Godwyn de Prelul. Angl. p. 588.
[ io ]
were probably written but a fhort time before that Event.
In one of the firft he gives an Account of the Dutchefs of Somerfet's Foundation of Scholar- ships in St. John's College; and in another about the year 1698, lie concludes with wifhing li his " Lordfhip all Happinefs, and a good Deliverance tc from the Deligns of his Enemies; and hopes " the Baffling of this Plot, will make People lefs <c forward in believing all Sorts of Evidence. " I am with duty, your Lordfhip's l£ molt obliged Servant, "T. B."
In another of the 7th of April, probably in 1699, he Addrefies him after this Manner.
" My Lord,
" A Perfon who lately came from " Lambeth, and converfed pretty freely with the iC Archbifhop, told me, that the Archbifhop has fc been (low in his Proceedings again ft your Lord- 11 fhip, for which he is generally blamed, even " by his own Friends; but alledgeth in Ids Ex- " cufe, that he is refolved to leave your Lordfliip f' no Ground of Complaint, hearing all that can '£ poflibly be allcdged for you, yet the Sentence <c will at laft be heavy. lie did not fpeak this as (C the Archbifhop's Opinion, but he was very
<c pofitivc
[ It ]
" pofitive in what he faid, and pretends good " Authority for it. I think your Lordfhip can- " not fafely take Meafures from the ABp. or " Dr. Ox— r. Things are differently reported, "lam
" Your Lordfhip's moft dutiful " obliged Servant,
li T. B."
In another of Dec. 15.
" My Lord,
cc I wifli your Lordfhip many Cl Years, and many Deliverances, but rather that <c there may be no Qccafion."
Again in another of the 14 Jan.
" My Lord,
fC Dr. F is out of Town, but
tc one thing I remember he faid, that having men-
cc tioned to the D s as a thing reported,
" that they had two Bifhops now before them,
tc the
r Probably Dr. Oxendon, Mailer of Trinity Hall, and Regius ProfefTor of Law; who was, I think, at that time Dean of the Arches, and had been chofen one of their Reprefentacives in Parliament by the Univerfity of Cambridge in 1695,
s Probably Charles Duke of Somerfet, who was chofen Chancellor of the Univerfity on the Revolution in 1 638, which Office he held with great Credit for the Space of lixty Years, to the Time of his Death, Dec. 2, 1748.
[ '2 ]
" the one of whom they would gladly fave', and " could not, the other gladly deprive, and could
" not. The D replied in fome heat, it was
" very like he might be deprived. This the Dr. " told me, but did not; care it mould be repeated, <c and therefore I muft defire your Lordfhip not " to fpeak of it, and indeed it is not fit to be " fpoken of. tc I am
" Your Lordfhip's humble Servant."
In one of 6 Jan. from Cambridge, probably in
1702.
" My Lord,
" I fhall be glad to hear that <l your Lordfhip finds relief from your Petition"; cc I fee no hurt in that, it will fhew the World " that your Lordfhip did not drop the Caufe, but " defired a fair Hearing.
11 I have received the Books w, and have given
cc or
! Dr. Edward Jones, Bp. of St. Afaph, accufed likewife of Simony. In whofe Cafe, Bp. Burnet tells us, the Preemptions were very great, yet the Evidence was not fo clear as in the other. Hilt, of his own Times, Vol. II. p. 227.
u To the Houfe of Lords I prefume, before whom the Caufe at length came to a Hearing. ' A Letter to a Peer concerning the Power of Metropolitans over their Comprovincial Bilhops,' in 4to. 1701, was wrote in Favour of the Bifhop.
w ' A fummary View of the Articles exhibited againfl the late Bifhop of St. David's, and of the Proofs made thereon,' had been
pub-
t 13 ]
" or fent to Dr. C , Dr. Hill, Dr. B ,
" Mr. Roper, Billers, Browne, Th C. C. Sec.
" As many of them as I have feen, fend your 11 Lordfhip their Thanks. I doubt I fhall want tc one or two for other Friends, whom I cannot " eafily refill; if your Lordfhip could give one or " two to Mr. Bofv — in London, it would make all
" eafy; however, I will take care that Dr.C
" fhall have one.
" lam your Lordfhip's
l< mod dutiful and obliged Servant."
Mr. Baker's Friendfhip however for this Gen- tleman, feems to have got the better of his Judg- ment, fince his Conduct has been very generally condemned j and what perfuades me to think not without reafon, is, that it appears highly probable from original Papers, now in the Hands of — , that long after his Deprivation, he even fold the Turns of thofe Livings he had purchafed for and given to St. John's College, " viz. Fulborn St. Vigor, va- lue
publifhed in 8vo. 1701, by Sir John Coke, LL.D. in Anfwer to which was printed in 4to. 1702, A large Review of the fame, in Defence of the Bifhop, and which is probably the Book he employed Mr. Ba- ker to diftribute amongft his Friends. It was drawn up by Mr. Fer- gufon. See Salmon as above, p. 345, but this being thought too long, was abridged by his Lordfhip's Chaplain, and printed in 1703, 4to. The Bifhop told Mr. Baker, ' The Bifhop of St. David vindi- cated, &.c.' by way of free Conference between two bold Biitons, 4to. 170c, was wrote by his Chaplain and Countryman and Tovvnf- man, Mr. Catline. See the Bifhop's Cafe a> agreed in the Houfe of Lords. Baker's MSS. Vol. XIV. p. izi.
[ H ] lue 130^. — Brinkley, value 80^. both in Cam-* bridgefhire, — and Brand's Burton, near Beverley in Yorkfhire, value 200^. per Ann." and of which he had referved„the nomination to himfelf during his Life.
Upon his return to the College, he fat down with great Application to his Studies, and what Progrefs he made in them may be learnt from that mod excellent Book, publifhed by him, {tiled, ' Reflections upon Learning, wherein is fhewn the Infufficiency thereof, in its feveral Particu- lars: in Order to evince the Ufefulnefs and Ne- cefiity of Revelation :' a Book wherein he has fhewn himfelf well acquainted with all Parts of Learning, and which has met with fo general an Approbation, that eight Imprefiions of it at the lead, have been fold off. Mr. Bofwell in his Method of Study, 1738, ranks it amongfr. the Englifh Clafiicks for the Purity of its Style x, and recommends it to the young Student's Perufal, as an incomparable Performance, and well fitted for an Introductory Treatife to the Sciences. "yA " Piece," fays he, " of fo excellent a Nature, that " will deferve a repeated Perufal, and that too " with more than ordinary Exactnefs. That <l mafterly Diction, that Purity and Simplicity of
" Ex-
* John Bofwell, A M. Vicar of Taunton, Part I. p. 246. See Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 203.
y P. 19, Introduction.
t >5 ]
Exprefllon, that runs through the whole, will furnifh out a beautiful Pattern for Style; and that Variety of Matter it contains, will afford fome ufeful Hints even to the wife and learned. 'c Thofe fine Obfervations which the Author has made on the feveral Branches of Know- ledge, that came under his Notice, will give the the Reader a general Notion of the moft valu- able Parts of Learning, and prepare him for a judicious Perufal of thofe Books that treat of them. By the help of this ufeful Treatife, he will be able to obferve the Defects of the feve- ral Sciences he intends to frudy, and mark the Faults to be avoided by Beginners. He will here fee human Learning taken down from its exalted Heights, its Difficulties pointed out, and its Vanity and Infufficiency expofed, in a beautiful Manner : and in an Age, wherein Learning- is admired almoft to the Lofs of Re- ligion; what can be a more proper Introduc- tion to the young Gentleman's Study, what a more fuitable Expedient to guard his Morals from the Infection of a degenerate World, than a Treatife of this Kind ?" I will venture to add, nothing could better have dii'covered the extenfive Knowledge of the Author, than the Variety of Subjects on which he treats ; and amongft which there are perhaps as few Miftakcs as may be; one, however, he was
very
[ i6 ]
very fenfible of many Years before his Death (which his Bookfeller neglected to correct in the fnbfequent Editions) and for which he quotes the Authority of Baldwin, the Collector of the Frag- ments of the twelve Tables of the Roman Laws, one of which permits the Body of the Debtor to be cut in Pieces, and divided amongft the Credit- ors for Want of Payment*: by which was un- doubtedly meant, no more than the Body of the Debtor's Eftate, as has been fince fully proved by a late very learned and ingenious Writer3, of the fame College.
Though Ecclefiaflical Antiquities were by no means his principal Study, yet he hath fhewn us what Proficiency he was capable of making in that Branch of Learning, by his Criticifm upon two learned, though not very accurate Cri ticks, M. Le Clerc and Father Simon j and in his Re- marks, pointed out fome of their Miftakes, as mav be leen at large in his xvith Chap, on Cri- tical Learning, wherein he has flood up in De- fence of Erafmus, the Perfon who, as Dr. Knight obferves, awakened Men's Underitandings, and brought them from the Friers1 Divinity to a relifh. of general Learning, by his uncommon Wit and extraordinary Degree of Literature b.
A late
1 Reflea. Chap. XIII. p. 178.
a Comment, ad Leg. Decern viral, de inope Debitore, &c. Joan,. Taylor, LL.D. 4to. Lond. 1742.
h Life of Erafmns, Introduct. p. 7.
t '7 J
A late ingenious Writer, however, being of a different Opinion, hath paffed the following Cen- fure upon this Work. " Baker," fays he, " in his ,c Reflections upon Learning, defended Erafmus, " and attacked Le Clerc with a Virulence which " one would not have expected from a Man, who, <c as I remember, was accounted a candid, gen- " teel and polite Perfon. But party Zeal guided " his Pen: Tantum Religio potuit. — Le Clerc <f gave him a fhort Anfwer, in the Index to the " fourth Edition of Ars Critica, under the Word " Erafmus."
A Perfon of Dr. Jortin's Candour, fhould, me- thinks, have compared Erafmus's Words with thofe of Mr. Baker, before lie parTed fo difagree- able a Cenfure upon the latter. More efpecially, as Mr. Baker was known to have been a Man cf the (tricleft Veracity, whilft that of Monf. Le Clerc has been called in Queftion, more than once, al- though he lays fo much ftrefs upon 'it, in his fhort, but fcurrilous Anfwer. And if I could be furprized at any Thing he either did or faid, it would be that in the Edition of Erafmus's Works, publiflied by him at Lyons in 1705; he has printed Erafmus's Comment on the xxvinth Chapter of the Acts of the Apoftles, verbatim, with that of Bafil in 1535, without taking the lead Notice of its being printed otherwife in the Edition he mentions, and from which he takes
B the
[ i8 ]
the Liberty of cenfuring Erafmns for his Want of Geography.
Dr. Joi tin has likewife been pleafed to obferve, that " Mr. Baker hath one Chapter upon Meta- phyfics, in which he hath made no mention of Locke. J uft as if a Man fhould wjite the Lives of the Greek and Latin Poets, and truly omit Homer and Virgil ! And further, that in Chap. xvi. he had taken Notice, there was lit- tle or nothing left for the Sagacity and Induftry of modern Critics; whereby he fhewed he was no Critic himfelf, and not at all acquainted with the true State of Claffical Books, and par- ticularly of Greek Authors." There are feve- ral other like Shafts, occafionally lanced at Mr. Baker, in his Life of Erafmus c, which is profef- fedly formed upon the Plan of Le Clerc, the Writer's Guide and Mailer. May not then his own Words be retorted upon him ? But party Zeal guided his Pen : Tantum fuadere Religio potuit.
Mr. Baker likewife republished Bp. Fifher's Funeral Sermon for Lady Margaret, Countefs of Richmond and Derby, Mother to King Henry VII. and Foundrefs of ChrifVs and St. John's Col- leges in Cambridge'*; with a Preface of his own,
wherein
c See jor:in"s Life of Eiafmus, Vol. I. p. 550, I, &c. 4to. 1 7 5 S .
<; The Countefs at her Death, had thirty Kings and Queens allied to her within the fourth Depree, either of Blood or Affinity: and
fince
t '9 ]
wherein he exprefles the higheft Regard for the Memory of that great and good Man, as being principally concerned, in promoting all her Foundations and Benefactions to both Universi- ties ; and towards the Conclufion of this Preface (wherein is given an Account of Old John's Houfe, containing fome farther Account of her Charities and Foundations, together with a Catalogue of her Profeflors both at Cambridge and Oxford, and of her Preachers there, with the Foundation of the prefent College) he fpeaks of him in the following Manner. " Having now done with the tc Foundation, it may be expected I fhould fay " fomewhat of the following Sermon, as well as " of its Author V " The Author is well known, <c and will need no Apology for his private Vir- " tues, and I can be no Advocate for his Opinions. " It is very true, he died for a miflaken Princi- " pie, which I could heartily wifh had been other- " wife, as well for his own fake, as for the fake " of the College, that fuffered with him: but if c< he could not digeft the Oath of Supremacy, or <c if he denied it, thus much may be faid in IC Abatement of his Crime, that the Thing was kC then quite new to him, till it had been better <{ looked into, and the Doctrine propofed in fuch
fince her Death, (he hath been allied in her Pofterity to thirty more, frcf. p. 7.
' P. 5?.
JB 2
t 20 ]
£c a Senfe, at lealr. in fuch Terms, as Q^Eliza- cc beth's Clergy, I am lure Mr. Calvin, could " hardly allow. And yet I cannot but hope bet- tf ter of him, than of many of the complying Po- c< pifh Clergy, who under that Reign of Perjury, cc in all Appearance, proftituted their Confciences tc to fave their Preferments : and yet fome of them " did not do that, but were fent to wander, to " feek their Bread, and were as very Mendicants <{ by Neceflity, as they could have been under a " Vow."
Erafmus, in a Letter to William Grocyn, fpeaks of him as one of the learnedeft Men of the Age, and gives the like Character of him to John Reuch- lin, a Man famous at that Time for Cabaliftical Learning f.
And Henry VII. in his Letter to his Mother about promoting him to a Bifhoprick, fpeaks of his lingular Virtue, his good and virtuous Con- verfation, &c. in very high Terms5.
Dr. Rawlinfon, in his Englilh Topographer h, fpeaks of this Preface in the following Terms. <c In this Piece the modeft Author has given us a " Specimen of his Skill in Antiquities; and it " were to be wifhed he would let fee the Light,
" The
f Knight's Life of Erafmus, p. 124, 5.
s See Append, to Bp. Fiflier's Sermon, p. 41. To which may be added Mr. Wharton's Character of him in his Anglia Sacra, Fart 1. p. 382.
h By an impartial Hand, p. 14. 8vo. 1720.
[ 21 ]
<f The Hiftory of St. John's College, &c. as this <f fhort Sketch makes us eager to fee more of the <c Author's Antiquities, and to read his Account cf <c thofe, who flourifhed in the Republick of Let- " ters, educated at Cambridge, in which we doubt " not, Camden's Judgment will be joined with " Wood's Induftry."
" As to the Sermon, could I fufpecl any Danger <£ from making it Publick, though it be printed " already, yet I mould not have been prevailed " with to give it a fecond Edition: but I think " there is none." For which he gives fome Rea- fons, and then concludes, <c As it is, I trufl it t{ with the Reader; if what has been faid by Way <c of Apology, do not fatisfy, towards obtaining ■" his Favour, the next Thing I am to tell him is, " that I do not value his Cenfure : I have no lit— " tie Ends or Intereft to ferve; I have no Patron " whom I either ftudy to pleafe, or am afraid to <c offend; no Preferment that I either feek, or " would accept, if offered without feeking; I fit £C very loofe to the World, and have a very few " Years to live; I have always had an Inclination <c to fpeak the Truth, and to do Right, efpecially, " where it is moft depreft and wanted; and in tc that Opinion I hope to die."
As Mr. Baker had defervedly an high Opinion of Bp. Fifher, and had fome Thoughts of writing his Life, as appears by a Letter to Mr. Heme,
b 3 dated
[ « ]
dated Sept. 1725. — " What you fay of undertake 11 ing Bp. Fifher's Life, I have often thought of, <c but to tell you the Truth, I dare not venture, " fmce Right cannot be done him, without giv- " ing great Offence, and I would either do him " Right, or nothing at all."
And as he was willing to preferve any Memo- rials of fo worthy and learned a Prelate, fo we find him very follicitous in procuring an original Picture of him, or a good Copy; which the late Lord Weymouth, as it appears from the following Letters a, was fo obliging as to favour him with.
Long Leet, July 25,1709. Dear Sir,
We are here of Opinion, that the Volume of Llollingfhed, which you mention,
con-
5 Thefe Letters were put into Dr. Grey's Hands by Mr. Baker, upon a Report having been propagated, that the Picture was not given to Mr. Baker, but to the College ; about obtaining which he feems to have been as anxious, as Sir Thomas More was for that of Erafmus, when defpairing of feeing him any more in England. See Knight's Life of Erafmus, p. 307. The above Letters were wrote by Dr. Robert Jenkin, who had been Fellow of St. John's College, of which he afterwards became Mailer, and was then Chaplain to Thomas Lord Vifcount Weymouth, (who had been very kind to Nonjurors (particularly to Bp. Ken) of which he was one, and quitted his Preferments at the Revolution on that Account, except his Fellowihip, to which he retired for the Profecution of his Studies. He, however, conformed to the Act of K. George J. when Mafler, and proceeded to eject thofe of the Fellows who refufed. Though he acted herein with Reluctance againlt his Friends, and purely in Obedience to the Injunctions of the Government, yet he was made Uneafy by the Sufferers on that Account. A long Account of him Blight be added from Nichols's Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 15, 6.
[ 23 ]
contains Things omitted in mod Copies, though perhaps not all which are found in fome, but that cannot be exactly known, till it be compared with fome other Copy, which contains the Omif- fions.
My Lord will take it very kindly, if you will be pleafed, as you propofe, to fend that Volume to Mr. Bedford, and his Lordfhip will fend Bp. Fifher's Picture to London, to have a Copy taken for you there, by a good hand.
Mr. Bouchier lately called here in his Way from Bath, and in Difcourfe told me that he had feen a Picture of Bo. Fifher in SufTex : when he came into the Library, I alked him, whether he knew that Picture, (hewing him Bp. Fifher's; he faid he did not, and afterwards told us, that in SufTex was not like it : which makes me think that was taken when he was younger, or elfe is not his.
Mr. Bouchier did not deny that this agrees with the Latin Infcription, nor has any one that has compared them.
My Lord, I doubt, has nothing in his MSS. relating to the Univerfity^ but Mr. Harbynk,
(who
k Mr. George Harbyn, of Jcfus College in Cambridge, had been Chaplain to Turner, Bp. of Ely, and fuffered with his Mailer for re- fufing the Oaths at the Revolution. He is fuppofed to have been the Author of a Book, intitled, Hereditary Right, Sec. although his Friend Hilkiah Bedford fuffered Imprifonment, and was fined iooo
B 4. Mark;
[ H ]
(who fends his Service) has clivers Papers, though none before the Reformation : which fhall be fent you from London, when we come there, or fooner if you defire it.
R. Jenkin.
Oft. 17, 1709. Dear Sir,
Bifhop Fifher's Picture is now co- pied, and fo well done, that his Lordfhip has been thinking of parting with the Original to you, but the Painter told him, the Boards upon which it was painted, if any Accident fhould happen to it in the Carriage, could not be put together again, fo as not to blemiih the Picture. The Copy cofl io£. by which you may guefs it is not ill done. And indeed, as it has hit the Likenefs, fo it is as well (if not better) rinifhed than the Original.
Mr. Harbin has put fome Papers relating to
Cambridge into my Hands, which fhall be fent to
you with the Picture, when we come to London.
I fpoke to Mr. Wanley ', who is now here, to
help
Marks for printing it.* He was thought to have been as well ac- quainted with the llillory and Antiquities of England as any Man whatsoever, bee Supplement to Swiff.
1 Humfrey Wanley, the Son of Nath. Wanley, of Trinity Coif, Oxford, who took the Degree of A.B. there in 165-J, and of A.M.
in
* Hilkiab Bedford was born July 23, 1663, and died Nov. 26, 17:4- See an Ac- count of him in Anecdote of JJov" ycr, p. 629; 39.
[ 25 ]
help you to any Thing he has met with among Mr. Harley's Papers: or any others that may be ferviceable to you. He tells me he will write to you from London, and offer you any Service which he can do you, &x.
The Miftake you mention had been very in- confiderable, if you had made it. Indeed I am afhamed of myfelf, as often as I confider, when many of my Friends are without that Title, to whom it is much more due m.
R. Jenkin.
P. S. Mr. Francis Roper of St. John's College was very defirous of a Copy of this Picture like- wife, but the Painter's flay was fo fhort, it could not be procured.
Sir,
in 1657, was of Edmund Hall and Univerfity College, and then Mr. Harley's Librarian, and afterwards to Edward E. of Oxford ; a Man of Learning, and as Mr.Hearne informs us, as well verfed in Books, as any one of the Age, he died in 1 7 26, and was buried in the Church of St. Mary le Bonne. See Preface to Annales Priorat. de Dunftable, p. 7. Mr. Gale, that celebrated Antiquary, fpeaks of him in the following Manner. — Neque filentio nobis prastcreundus eft, vir ille peritiffimus, cujus cuftodias et fidei fuam bibliothecam commifit honorandus admodum vir Edwardus Harleyus, Humfredus Wanleius: cujus opera bene de nobis merendo; et d quid cujus cura penes ipfum erat opus eflet tranfcribendo, nunquam defuit. Regift. Honor, de Richmond. Prasf. p. 35. bee Anec. of Brit. Topog. p. 332. Vol. I. 668. and Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 504. Many Letters amongft the Harleian MSS. from Mr. Bagford and Mr. Baker, were addrcfTcd to him at the Coach Office in Surrey Street, ib.
;1 He probably took the Degree of D. D. about that Time.
[ 26 ]
Nov. 17, 1709. Sir,
You will receive the original Picture of Bifliop Fiirier", which I hope will come fafe to you. The Copy is well done, and has a great Likenefs, but reprefents him at leafl ten Years younger, which I fuppofe was the Reafon that the Painter omitted the Age, which you will find to agree with the Face, and with the Infcription. I have likewife in the fame Cafe fent you fome Papers of Mr. Harbin's, who gives his Service.
Mr.Wanley came to Town with us, but I have not feen him fmce ; when I do fee him, will put him in Mind of his Promife, if he has not writ- ten to you.
Dear Sir,
Your humble Servant,
R. Jenkin.
Dec. 3, 1709. Dear Sir,
1 am glad that the Picture came fafe, and that you approve of it. His Lordfhip is very
well
n This Picture of the Founder, for fo he is filled in Mr. Baker's
Will, was bequeathed by him to the Matter Dr. Newcome or Col- lege, who told a Friend that of the two Pictures of him in the Col- lege, the bell (which is reckoned to be done by Hans Holbein, the molt celebrated Portrait Painter of thofe Times, as all who have feen. it, and know his Style and Manner judge it to be his) has A0. JEta- tis 74. upon it, which will fhew the Date (as he was born at Bever- iev in Yorkshire in 1439) to be about two Years before his Death.
The
[ 27 ]
well difpofed, and I am fare would be very will- ing to gratify you in any Thing elfe, if his Li- brary could afford any Materials for the great Work which you have in Hand0.
I fpoke to Mr. Wanley, who is not unmindful of his Promife, but fays he will not trouble you with a Letter, till he has fomething better to pre- fent you, which he doubts not he fhall have this Winter among Mr. Harley's MSS.
Mr. Wanley has the greateft Collection of Englifh Bibles, Pfalters, &c. that ever any one Man had. They coft him above 50^. and he has been above twenty Years in collecting them. He would part with them, I believe, but 1 know not at what Price. I wi(h that fome of the Be- nefactors to St. John's Library would purchafe them, for they are a very great and valuable Ra- rity; as the chief kind of Things there wanted.
I was pleafed to fee an Edition of the New Teftament by Taverner, A. D. 1540, to have fo much in it verbatim of our prefent Tranflation, and better fpelt than I ever obferved Englilli at that Time p.
There
The other reprefents him as much thinner in the Face, and feems to have been taken juft before his Execution (on the zzd of June, 1535} a Skeleton and Crucifix being before him.
0 Athenre Cantabrigienfes.
p This Tranflation of the Bible (in MDXXXIX) is a great Ra- rity, for which the Tranflator is faid to have been fent to the Tower, but for what Realbn cannot eafily be found, only he was then or
foon
[ 28 ]
There is another Rarity then- to be fold; which is proffered to my Lord, a Collection of Pam- phlets, in Number 30000, bound in 2000 Vo- lumes. The Collection was begun by King Charles the Firft in 1640, and continued to 1660. In a printed Paper, where I faw this Account, it is faid the Collectors refufed 4000^. for themq.
R. Jenkin.
He mentions likewife Scot's MS. Hiftory of the Univerfity of Cambridge amongft a Collection of Books then felling by Auction, which it might be agreeable to him either to purchafe or copy, and which (hews how diligent he was by himfelf or Friends in inquiring after every Thing upon that Subject, which he had fo much at Heart, and which his indefatigable Labours and Abilities en- abled him to have carried into Execution, had he
met
foon after looked upon as heretically inclined, and the King's fa- mous Bible being printed the fame Year, from which this varies con- fiderably ; offence might be juftly taken, and yet it is printed by Licence, and dedicated to the King.
This Tranflation feems to be for the mod Part according to that of Tyndall, which was one Thing that might poffibly give Offence, he being burnt for an Heretick. Baker's Notes.
See one of them, in the Library of the Univerfity of Cambridge, A. 4. 25. and another in that of St. John's Coll. T. 6. 14.
For an Account of Rich. Taverner, fee Mafters's Hill, of C. C. C. C p. 389.
1 This Colleftion (as I have been informed) was made by an An- ceftorof Henry Siflbn, Druggift on Ludgate Hill or Street; in whofe Poifeffion they were about thirty five Years fince. They were pur- chafed by the prefent King, and prefented to the Britilh Mufenm. Brit. Topogr. Vol. I. p. 609.
[ *9 ]
met with fultable Encouragement, with the greateft Credit to himfelf and Honour to the Univerfity ; but fuch were the unhappy Divifions of thofe Times, that although the greater Part of his Life was fpent in making Collections for fuch an Hiftory r, yet he never met with a proper Pa- tronage for fuch a Work, and fo never digefted any of them, but thofe of his own College, the Hiftory of which, down to the Reftoration is well drawn up, and now compleat in the Britifh. Mufeum, and highly deferving of Publication5.
Ilearne
r Enquiry being made concerning this Undertaking, it was an-
fwered in the following Manner. Per Epiftolam quaeflta e — —
Bentheimo.
Qu. Quinam viri in Collegiis Acad. Cantab, a tempore Funuatio- nis ufque ad hanc .ctatem maxime floruerint ?
Refp. Johan. Bakeras * Coll. Div. Johan. non ita pridem Socius, jam vero Commenfalis, Acad. Cantab. Hifloriam conicribendam fuf- cepit. Quae, ut caetera omnia ad Acad, illam fpe&antia, ita virorum qui in fingulis ejufdem Collegiis maxime floruerint, Opera Vitafque exhibebit.
Quod autem ad illam Acad. Cant. Hifloriam, quam fi quis alius Operi tanto par Rev. Joh. Bakerus con [briber, dam fufcepit, quan- quatn hominem ipfum a biennio non viderim, neque ab alio aliquo intellexerim quos in eo Opere progreflus fecerit, non dubito tamen, quin quanta poteft in eo diligentia utetur. Sin vero de hac ex al- tera ilia Oxon. Acad. Hiftoria ab Ant. a Wood confcripta conjectu- ram facere liceat, hsec non nifi pofl aliquot annos expeclanda erit f.
3 'Tis true Mr. M had a Converfation with Dr. P on this
Subject, but not to fuch a Purport, as it is without his leave report- ed to be in Topogr. Brit. N. c. p. 219. and in Anec. of Bowyer, p.
6 1 6. Since Mr. M never did or ever meant to afTert it vvas wrote
* under the Influence of Prejudice,' as there mifreprefented. Some- thing of that Kind might be hinted by Dr. P — but Mr. M — ap- prehends * Errat. pro Tho. B .
t VideBakeri MS5- Vol. XL. ad finem.
[ 30 ]
Hearne fays, Optandum eft ut fua quoque Col- lectanea de Antiquitatibus Cantabrigienfibus juris faciat publici CI. Bakerus, quippe qui Eruditio- ne fumma Judicioque acri et fuba&o polleat. — Had his Defign ever been completed, it would far have exceeded Wood's Performance for Ox- ford, notwithstanding the Reflection, as unjuft as fevere, with which the Writer of Wood's Article in the Biographia Britan. infults us. For to the Application and Induftry of the latter, Mr. Baker united a penetrating Judgment and great Cor- reclnefs of Style j and thefe Improvements of the Mind were crowned with thofe amiable Qualities of the Heart, Candour and Integrity'. Mr. Ba- ker, however, in his Modeft Way, feems to dis- claim any fuch Superiority, in a Letter to Mr. Rawlins of Pophill, now amongft Ballard's Col- lections in the Bodleian Library, and communi- cated by an ingenious Friend late of Oxford, to the following Purport. " To your Inquiry con- £C cerning Athens Cantabrigienfes, I can give you " no fure Account, only it is certain Mr. Rich- cc ardfonu is making Collections towards fuch a
" Work,
prehends without much Reafon, as he does not fee any Grounds for fuch Prejudices, in Timer fo diftant from his own. But indeed Mr. G — is fo unfortunate as not only to have mifreprefented Mr. M — here, but in every other Part of his very inaccurate Work, wherevr his Name is mentioned. Pref. p. 23,4.
1 See Anecdotes of Brit. Topography, p. .103.
u Afterwards D.T). and Mafter of Eman. Coll,
[ 31 ]
<c Work, and I have furniflied him with fome- cc what towards this College. It is a Work I was " inclined to myfelf, but our Regifters are fo im- tc perfect, that as far as I underftand fuch Things, " it is hardly poffible to give a perfect Account of <c any Thing, near to what Mr. Wood has done tc at Oxford. If Mr. Richardfon finds it other- *c wife, I fhall be glad of his SuccefsV
He was known to be fo well veiled in the Hif- tory and Antiquities of this Kingdom, that fcarce any Thing of that Sort was published without fome Application to him, who was always found very ready to give any Affiftance, and very com- municative of his Knowledge, as the fever al Par- ties who applied to him, make honourable Men- tion of.
Dr. Walker, in the Year 1714, acknowledges his Affiftance in his Account of the Numbers and Sufferings of the Clergy of the Church of Eng- land, faying the greateft Hopes he had conceived of this Kind, were upon the Informations of fuch learned Perfons, as had more than a common Re- putation for Antiquities ; in which Number he ranks Mr. Baker, for his friendly Affiftance in the? Univerfity of Cambridge.
A fhort Time before his Ejectment from his Fellowfhip, Bp. Burnet wrote him the following Letter, exprefling his great Concern for the
Churches'
y Dated 23 Aug. 1735.
[ 32 ] Churches' Lofs, by the Deprivation of fo many worthy Men, who quitted their Preferments on Account of their Confciences.
London, Jan. 29, 1714.V Rev. Sir,
According to your Direction, I fent a Book to Mr. Wyat, where your Order will find it ; and when you have found the Leifure to go through it, I am in hope that your Zeal for Truth, and Goodnefs for myfelf, will prevail over that modeft Averfion that you exprefs, to the cenfuring of what you may find amifs in it.
I do not deny that I thought a late Volume y was written by one in St. John's College : fince fome there, as they had much Leifure, fo were very capable of compofing that Work, that was written with a great deal of Gravity and De- cency.
I never think the worfe of Men, for their dif- ferent Sentiments in fuch Matters : I am fure I am bound to think much the better of them 5 for adhering firmly to the Dictates of their Confci- ence, when it is fo much to their Lofs, and when fo facred a Thing as an Oath is in the Cafe. But I have fo great a Regard both to yourfelf and your Friends, that as I am extremely forry that the Church hath fo long loft the Service of fo
worthy
y The Hereditary Right of the Crown aflerted.
t 33 ] worthy Men, fo am very glad to have it in my Power, from what you write to me, to vindicate both you and them in that Particular: for I am with a true and high efteem, Rev. Sir,
Your mod affectionate
and mod humble Servant
Gi. Sarum.
This learned Prelate, although he was not at Liberty to mention Mr. Baker's Name, yet ac- knowledges his Afliitance in correcting fome Mistakes in the two firft Volumes of his Hiftory of the Reformation. " A Gentleman," fays he in his Preface2 to the third Volume, " in one of the Univerfities, has fent me a copious Collec- tion of Remarks, on both my former Volumes, but on Condition not to name him ; which I will obferve religioufly, fince I promifed it, though it be not eafy to myfelf. Since I may not own to whom I owe fo great an Obligation, I fupprefs none of them, but give them entirely as he offered them to me." And they are accordingly printed there.
In a Letter from the learned Dr. William Wot- ton to Dr. Waller of St. John's College, dated I Dec. 171 5, he expreiTes himfelf concerning thefe worthy Men in the following Manner.
C "I
* P. ?-
t 34 ]
u lam heartily forry for my old Friends in the College j and would give a great deal, had I great deal to give, that a Way could be found to get them overlooked. The unhappy Commotions of reftiefs Men, have done thefe honeft and worthy Men a Mifchief."
But notwithstanding thefe good Willies of their Friends, he with feveral other learned, peaceable and inoffenfive Men, were difpofTefTed of their Fellowships on 20 Jan. 1716 a. This of all Mr. Baker's Sufferings feems to have affected him the mod, and to have given him the greatefl Uneafi- nefs, not fo much on Account of the Profits arif- ing from his Fellowfhip, as that fome, whom he took to be his fincerefl Friends, came fo readily in- to it, particularly Dr.Jenkyns their Mafter. From this Time he fliled himfelf in all his Books, Tho. Baker, Coll. Jo. Socius ejectus, and on a Letter from Dr. Jenkyns, directed to Mr. Baker, Fellow of St. John's College, he made the following Re- mark, c I was fo then, and little thought it would be bv him I fhould be no Fellow.' This Dr. Ro- bert Jenkyns had been himfelf a Nonjuror, and very intimate with Mr. Baker, and even wrote a Defence of the Profeffion of Lake, Bp. of Chichef- ter, concerning Paffive Obedience and the new- Oaths, after having given up the Precentorfhip of
Chi-
a To the Number of Twenty-two in that College only, whofe Names are mentioned in App. to the Lite of Kettlewell, p. 33.
[ 35 ]
Chichefter, and Vicarage of Waterbeach, on that Account. He complied, however, about the Time of his being prefered to the Mafterfhip of his Col- lege (on Apr. 1 6, 1711) and fo became the In- ftrument of ejecting his old Friends and AfTociates. In this Step, though he is faid to have acled with Reluctance againft his Friends, and merely in Obedience to the indifpenfable Injunctions of the Government b, yet he was made uneafy by the Sufferers on that Account ; which occafioned him to decline, and in fome Years to lofe both his Memory and Underftandi ng.
Sir Paul Whichcote c, a worthy Baronet of Quoy in Cambridgeshire, wrote to Mr. Baker upon this Occafion, in the following friendly and obliging Manner.
Sir,
I received your extreme kind Letter fome Days ago, in which there were fo many obliging Exprefiions, which are much more the Effecl: of your Goodnefs, than due fo any Merit of mine.
I fliould have been glad to have done Mr. Bil- lers d and yourfelf Service upon any Acco>\nt, and
would
0 Mr. B. is faid to be quire wrong in imagining he could do more for him than he did, fince he was icreened, till Notice came from Above that this would no: be overlooked any longer. T. F.
c See an Account of this Family in Whifton's Memoirs, p. 369.
d John Billers, B. D. Fellow of St. John's College, was chofen Publick Orator of the Univerfity in 168 f , but deprived for refufing
C z the
[ 36 ]
would have omitted no Care or Pains to have ef- fected it, but have this Difconfolation, to confider that I have only laid an unprofitable Obligation upon you, fince you are pleafed to own it as fuch.
I fliould have been forward to have made Ac- knowledgments before, for all thofe obliging Ex- preffions in your Letter in refpedl: to my Uncle \ as well as myfelf, but I had a mind firft to ac- quaint Lord Orfordf, with the grateful Senfe you have of his Readinefs and Willingnefs to ferve you in that Affair, which is now done. And I am going, upon the finifhing of this Letter, to wait upon my Lord of Ely8, on the fame Account.
Sir, I fhall be very forry, if what has happened, fhall put you upon removing to fome Place, per- haps not fo agreeable to yourfelf, and deprive your Friends of the Benefit of your Converfation.
I could never have any Sufpicion, that fo good a Perfon as you are, could be capable of doing any Injury to the Government; and therefore am
fo
the new Oaths at the Revolution. A truly learned and good Man, as Mr.W (tiles him.
e Sir Jeremy Whichcote, a noted Royaliit. See Eachard's Hire., of England, Vol. III. p. 807.
* Edward Earl of Orford, Son of Edward Rnffel, Efq; See Peer- age of England, 1709, p. 293. and Campbell's Lives of Admirals, Vol. III. 67.
R Dr. William Fleetwood, a celebrated Preacher, translated from St. Afaph to Ely in 1714.
[ 37 ]
fo far from fuppofing, that I can fuffer on any fuch Account, that I rather efteem it as an Ho- nour, to have attempted to ferve youh, and fhall always remain, Sir,
Your moft faithful
and moft humble Servant
Pa. Whichcote.
And this Application of his Friends in his Be- half, mult have arofe entirely from the Senfe they had of the agreeablenefs of that Situation to him, and not from the Revenue arifing from it; for fo little follicitous was he about temporal Affairs, that afterwards, when in the Year 1723, the Re- gistering Act parTed, his Nephew Burton wrote to defire he would regifter his Annuity of 40^. per Ann. (which the Act required before it was amended and explained). Though this Annuity was now his whole Subfiftence, yet he could not prevail with him to fecure himfelf againft the Act, but he wrote to him thus in Anfwer.
" I thank you for your kind Concern for me, and yet I was very well apprized of the late Act ; but don't think it worth the while at this Age,
and
h A Remark of Dr. Williams in the Margin, " What this Service was I do not know, by the Date of the Letter I imagine there had been fome Defign of getting him and Mr. Billers reftored to their Fellowships, or a Penfion, or fomething in lieu of them." The Let- ter is indorfed in Mr. B — 's own Hand, " Sir P. W.'s Letter, who kindly offered himfelf without being applied to,''
C 7
[ 38 ]
and under fuch Infirmities, to give myfelf or my Friends to much trouble about it. I don't think that any Man living, befides myfelf, knows cer- tainly that it is charged upon any Part of Coufin Baker's Eftate ; or if they do, I can hardly be- lieve, that any one for fo poor and fo uncertain a Reward, will turn Informer; or if any one can be found fo poorly mean and bafe, I am fo much acquainted with the Hardfhips of the World, that I can bear it. I doubt not but I fhall live, under the fevereft Treatment of my Enemies : or if I cannot live, I fhall furelydie, and that is comfort enough to me.
If a Conveyance will fecure us againfl the Act, I am willing to make fuch a Conveyance of the Annuity to you, not fraudulently and in trufr, but in as full and abfolute a Manner as Words can make it : and if that fhall be thought good Security, I defire you will have fuch a Convey- ance drawn and lent to me by the Port, and I will fign it, and leave it with any Friend you fhall appoint, till it can be fent to you.
This Annuity of forty Pounds a Year was left by his Father's Will for his Fortune '; befides
which
1 There is an ill-natured Remark upon this Annuity being held with his Fellowship, in the Anecdotes of Bowyer, p.614. asifincon- filtent with it, whereas the great decreafe in the Value of Money fince the Foundation cf the College, may eafily reconcile it to the Statute.
[ 39 J
which, his elder Brother by Will left him twenty, Pounds a Year out of his Collieries from the Day of his Death (which happened in Auguft 1699) for the remaining Part of a Leafe, which deter- mined at Whitfontide 1723, the very Year that this Regiftering Act took place. Yet after the the lofs of his Fellowship, and the Determination of this Leafe, he lived comfortably and much to his own Satisfaction upon his Annuity. And though he had many kind Offers, as I have been credibly informed, particularly from Dr. Kennet, Bp. of Peterborough, who not long after his Pro- motion to that See, referved fome of his beft Pre- ferments for Mr. Baker, and would not give them even to his own Son, till the other had modeftly declined them; intimating that the Pittance that was left him, would with good Oeconomy, carry him comfortably through the World k: being well apprized that the Seat of Contentment is in the Mind, and if that was not eafy in itfelf, no outward Circumftances could make it fo; and that every Trifle would make it otherwife; and that even Profperity itfelf cannot be born, with- out a good Degree of Patience.
Nay, in all Viciffitudes it is plain that he could fuit his Mind to his Circumftances, and taking
upon
'"■ In which Selfdenial, he much refembled Mr. John Hale, Fellow of Eton College, of whom an Account may be feeii in the Life of Lord Clarendon, p. ;}, ,.
[ 4° ] upon him the whole Armour of God, was able to withftand the evil Day, and to remain ftedfaft and immoveable, both in doing and fuffering his Will, as may be feen in a Soliloquy of his in the Appendix.
His Acquaintance with Dr. Grey, feems to have commenced at leaft as early as the Year 1 7 1 8, when we meet with a Letter to him, dated 5 March, from Cambridge, and which continued till the Time of his Death without the leaft In- terruption.
Worthy Sir,
This Dav, and this verv Mo- ment, I received your Books, printed and MS. and though I have had but little Time to perufe them, yet I can eafily guefs I am much in your Debt, and wifh I knew how to be out of it.
When I return you the MSS. which I doubt not are very valuable, I muft think of fome fmall Token of Acknowledgment, though much be- neath the Favours with which you have loaded me.
Hemingius's Poem, dedicated to Queen Eliza- beth, is undoubtedly an Original, and as fuch is a Rarity, though the intrinfic Value be not much; I don't know that it has been printed, and I am apt to think never will. The other two have lefs to fay for themfelves, and yet they * are
[ 4' 3
are not to be defpifed, but I muft not make a Judgment upon fo tranfient a View as I have yet had.
If I meet with Dr. Beveridge's Pande&ae Cano- num, I fhall be fure to remember. It begins now to be fcarce and dear, and it is very valua- ble; I have it not in my Study, and indeed fcarce any Books that are in our Library.
I thank you for your kind Invitation, but without Compliment, I am not fit to go any where beyond my own Chamber, where I fhall always be glad to wait upon you, when your Oc- cafions call you this Way.
Dr. Dickins is very agreeable Company, whom I will acquaint with the Favour you offer him, the next Time I meet him at the Coffee Houfe. I am, Sir,
Your moft obliged humble Servant,
Tho. Baker.
By another, dated 14 June, 1722, he acknow- ledges his Receipt of the Doctor's Recommenda- tion of Dr. Cutler, an eminent New England Di- vine, and once Governor of Yale College, with three other Gentlemen, Mr. Johnfon, Mr. Brown and Mr. Cherkley, who came into England for Millions, and were favoured with Degrees at Ox- ford, in the following Words.
Worthy
[ 42 J
Worthy Sir,
Not knowing whether I mall fee Dr. Cutler and his Friends any more, I fend this by the Carrier, with my Thanks for the Favour of your lad Letter.
The Dr. and his Friends return with the fame Degrees they had at Oxford, which by the fhort Conversation I had with them, as well as by the Teftimony of better Judges, I find they very well deferve.
I hope they will meet with better Encourage- ment, from thofe that are beft able to confer it.
You will probably have feen Dr. Middleton "before you receive this, who will acquaint you with our Affairs, and make it needlefs for me to add any more, than that I am
Yours, fcc.
Tho, Baker.
In another, dated 10 Oct. 1724.
— . The Book I received, for which and
many others, I return you hearty Thanks. I de- are you will give yourfelf no further trouble to look out more, I have Books enough: this latter will be a very proper Employment for my old Age, if I have Grace to ufe it. The other Book I fent to the Matter of Magdalen, who was glad nothing new happened fince you left usj the
Friends
[ 43 ]
Friends you name return their humble Services, with Dr. Middleton's, who is now with us, and Mr. Newcome, who thanks you for your kind
Letter.
There are two large Volumes of original Let- ters of Mr. Baker to the well known Mr.Thomas Hearne, the Oxford Antiquarian, now in the Bod- leian Library, beginning about the Year 17 16; from whence it appears, that he gave him mar- vellous AfTiftance, in all the Books he publifhed from that Time to his dying Day, and which abundantly fhews his great critical Skill in Eng- lifh Hiftory, and particularly in that of Books relating thereto : and from whence many ufeful and inftructive Extracts might be made, of fuch Things as were not publifhed by Mr. Hearne; whom we find very liberal in his Acknowledg- ments for his moil friendly AfTiftance in almofl every Book he publifhed.
Thus in his Preface to Sprott's Chronicon l, fpeaking of Nic. Cautelupe's Hiftory of the Uni- verfity of Cambridge, Baker us Amicus nofter in- tegerrimus et doctiflimus; aliique fapientes Can- tabrigienfes flocci faciunt.
And again, — idem teftatur Codex Cantabri- gienfis, ut e Literis Antiquarii amiciffimi doctif- fimique Thomas Bakeri S.T.B. intellexim.
In
1 P. 36. A. D, 1719.
m Prscfat. Rob. de Avefbury Hift. P. IV. A. D. 1720.
[ 44 ]
In his Preface to the Hiftory of Glaftonbury ", he fays, " I cannot but here acknowledge that that great Man, the Rev. Mr. Baker of Cambridge, was pleafed, while the Book was under the Prefs, to fend me fomething curious relating to this Subject, (viz. a Catalogue of its Abbots, 5cc.) which fhall be placed by me in the Appendix."
And farther, In principio exemplaris Catalog! hujufce, mihi ab amiciilimo Tho. Bakero S.T.B. Cantabrigienfi Antiquario equidem fpectatae vir- tutis donati, haec inter alia, a manu (r.empe Ba- keri) fcripta habentur, &c.°
In his Preface to Robert of Gloucefter's Chro- nicle, publifhed in 1724, he gives a large Ac- count of the Nuremberg Chronicle, Hartman Schedelp, &c. given to Chrift College, (Clafs D. 4, 2.) by Ferdinando Pulton, Efqj the great common Lawyer, who had been Scholar and Fellow there, as it appears from Mr. Baker's Letters, and the very Words of the Infcription therein q.
" In turning over my Papers (faith Mr. Baker) <{ I find we have another Copy of Hartman Sche- " del, &c. at ChrifVs College, given to that Col- 11 lege by Ferd. Pulton, Efq; admitted Scholar in
" his
" P. LXXX. Append. N.XI. A. D. v/zz.
° Prxfat. Johan. Forduni Schoti-Chron. p. cexvui.
* See a full Account of this Book from Baker's MSS. Vol. XXIX. p. 408. inferred in the Append.
<* See the latter end of the ift Vol. MS.
[ 45 ]
" his You the into Chrift College in Cambridge, " the laft Yeare of the Reigne of King Edward the " Sixt, where he continued until the laft Yeare ■' of Queene Marye, tooke the Degree of A. B. in " I555> anc^ was ma(^e Fellowe of the fame Col- " lege one Yeare before he departed thence r. cc Became afterwards a painfull Student, and " Profeflbr of the Common and Statute Lawes " of this Realme (as may appeare by feverall tc Books or Workes by him compofed and pub- {C lifhed in Print, tending to the knowledge and " divulging of the fame Lawes) even untill his " age of fourfcore Years and upwards5. For " the Love and Affection which he did beare to " to the faid College, his Nurfe and School-mif- " trefs, and in token of good Will to the fame *€ Houfe, did upon the fixt Daye of September, " anno Domini 1617, et anno Regni Jacobi 15, " beflowe this Booke upon the Mafter and Fei- (l lowes of the forefayd Colledge, and their Suc- " cefTorsi too meane aGuifte for fo worthie, and " well deferving a Place: intended neverthelefs " to have beene much greater, had it not beene t{ extenuated by the Charges and Expences of his " Travail and Labours in the Workes aforefaid,
" wil-
r Had the induftrious Author of Athen. Oxon. ever feen this re- markable Infcription, he never would have placed him at Brazen Nofe, amongft the Oxford Writers.
5 20 Jan. 1617. **< g2- See Athen, Oxon. Vol. I. p. 319,
[ 46 ]
" willingly beftowed npon the Profeflbrs of the c< fame Studie, for the Benefit of his Countrie <£ and Commonwelth thereof, by me
" Fernando Pulton, of Burton
" in theCountie and Parifh of
" Buckingham."
We find Mr. Hearne in like Manner, making honourable Mention of Mr. Baker, in all his fub- fequent Works, and indeed with the greateft Reafon : for he had been indefatigable in his Re- fearches for him, and afforded him extraordinary Affiftance in carrying them on to the laft.
Mr. Hearne willing to teftify a grateful Senfe of the many Favours conferred upon him by Mr. Baker, writes thus to him from Oxford, July 3,
!783-
Hon. Sir,
Having been informed by Mr. Rawlyns of Pophill \ of your noble Defign of con- tinuing Mr. Wood's Athens, and that any No- tices which would be ferviceable to fuch an Un- dertaking, would be kindly received, I drew up a fhort Account of the Life of my learned and in- genious Friend Mr. Graves, which, however un- fit I am for fuch a Purpofe, I will venture to communicate to you.
Tho. Hearne.
By
1 Near Alcefter in Warwickfhi;e
[ 47 3
By thefe means, fuch a Friend/hip was con- traded between them, as continued to the Death of the former: which the latter, in a Letter to the fame Tho. Rawlyns, Efq; thus laments.
Worthy Sir,
I have the Favour of your Let- ter, and am to thank you for your Account of the lofs of our common Friend, and heartily con- dole with you upon that melancholy Occafion ; and for the common lofs, not only to you and me, but more fo to the Public ; I often cautioned him againft fatiguing himfelf too much, and over- loading his Constitution, but he was not to be advifed, and fo dies a Martyr to Antiquities.
Yours,
Tho. Baker. Camb. Aug. 23, 1735.
Mr. Baker had likewife a Ccrrefpondence with Dr. Thomas Smith, of Magdalen College at Ox- ford (a great Friend of Mr. Hearne's, and whole Letters and Papers he inherited) for whom he copied K. Edward VI's Letters to Queen Cathe- rine Parr, from the Librarv of C. C, C. C.J
A Divine of great Eminence, Dr.Jolm Smith x,
in
u Mr. Hearnc left a Life of himfelf in MS.
* In Hearne's Append, to Tit. Livii Foro-Julienfis Vitas Hen. V. Reg. Angl. publ, i 7 16- containing a Collection of Letters of great Perfons,
t 48 ]
in his Preface to his Edition of Venerable Bede's Ecclefiaftical Hiftory (publifhed by his Son George Smith, Efq; in 1722) thus fpeaks of Mr. Baker \
Hujus Impreflionis mihiCopiam fecit ex Biblio- theca Coll. Corp. Chrifti Cant. Vir celeberrimus at que Antiquitatum omne genus peritiflimusTho- mas Baker S.T.B. quern ob prascipuam ejus erga me benevolentiam atque honoris caufa nomino z.
Dr. Samuel Knight likewiie, in his Introduc- tion to the Life of Erafmus a, makes honourable mention of him. " Monfieur Le Clerc for fome " (as he thought) critical Miitakes, would endea- " vour to leflen the Credit of Erafmus, but I " could almofl forgive him, for having done " more for the honour of our Author in having " fo great a Hand in the Publication of his " Works, than he hath difhonour to him ; efpe- cc cially too, fince they ftand judicioufly confut- " ed, by a very learned Friend (Mr. Baker in his <c Reflections upon Learning] to whom I take " this Opportunity of paying my Acknowledg- " ments, for the Afilllance he has afforded me cc towards this Work, and thereby contributed " to the farther honour of Erafmus and his Eng-
" lifh
y See his Character in Carter's Hill, of Camb. p. 258.
z He was buried in St. John's College Chapel, 30 Jul. 1713, at the Age of 56, with a long Infcription over him by his learned Friend Mr. Baker, which although printed by Le Neve. Vol. V. p 266. and Blomfield 123. Collect. Cantab, fhall have a Place in the Append.
a Publifhed in 1726. p. 16.
[ 49 1
tc lifh Friends." And again in the Life of Eraf- mus at p. 88. he ftiles him <{ the greater! Mailer <c of the Antiquities of this our Univerfity."
The late learned Hilkiah Bedford, one likewife of the ejected Fellows of St. John's College, in Prcefatio Vitas Johannis Barwick S.T.P. published by him, from the MS. depofited in that College Library by his Brother Peter, the Author, thus {peaks of him, Amicifilmus mei Thomas Bakerus, egregium illius Collegii Ornamentum, atque An- tiquitatum Cantabrigienfmm ftudiofi fir mus peri- tiiTimufque. To this Book, printed in 172 1, there were eleven or twelve hundred Subfcribers, and yet a Tranflation was called for in three years Time ; which was made by the Editor, and publifTied with many curious Notes in 1724. Of whom may be feen a long Account in Carter's Hiilory of Cambridge (p. 261.) which Hiflory was chiefly compofed from the Collections of the Rev. Rob. Smith of Woodfton; whofe Handwrit- ing was ^o bad, and the Compiler fo ignorant and illiterate, that it abounds with innumerable Faults.
Mr. Browne Willis, in like Manner, freely ac- knowledges his Affiitance in the feveral Works that he was from time to time carrying on -, as does alfo Mr. Francis Peck, ;n his Preface to the fiiir. Volume of his Defiderata Curiofa, in the follow- ing Terms. " For this, and a multitude of other
D uncom-
[ 50 ] uncommon Favours, which Mr. Baker for a long courfe of Years, has moft generoufly done me, I fhould of all Men living, certainly be the moft ungrateful, if I did not here make him this pub- lick Acknowledgment;" and indeed in the Pre- face to the fecond Volume, and elfewhere, he fre- quently repeats thefe Acknowledgments; as many of the moft curious of them had been copied from his Collections, fuch as Queen Elizabeth's Recep- tion and Entertainment at Cambridge, Count Arundel's Apology, the Life of Mr. John Bois, Smith's Obituary, &c. and in particular for two Letters concerning Dr. Anthony Walker, the Au- thor of the Life of Dr. John Bois, with fome farther Particulars relating to the Life and Death of the latter b.
The learned and celebrated Dr. Middleton in his Differtation concerning the Origin of Print- ing in England, after producing three Authorities for its Origin at Mentz, viz. Caxton himfelf, the Black Book, or Regifter of the Garter, and Fa- bian's Chronicle, adds, thefe three Teftimonies have not been produced before that I know of > two of them were communicated to me by Mr. Baker, who, of all Men, is the moil able, as well as the moft willing, to "five Information in every Point of curious and uncommon Hiftory. And in his De Medicor. apud vetcrcs Romanos clegcn-
tium
' See Life of Cromwell, p. :;j, 4.
t 5> ]
tiara conditione DifTertatio, he thus fpeaks of him, Bakerus denique nofter, qui Colloquiis hifce noftris, non intereffe folum, fed pro ilia, qua praeftet omnibus, Antiquitatis cognitione, prasefle etiam folebat; cum Opinioni meoe fuse etiam (cn^ tentiee pondus, tanquam cumulum quondam ad- jeciflit. p. 5.
The late worthy and learned Dr. John Ward, when meditating the Lives of the Grefham Pro- feflbrs, got a Friend to communicate his defign to Mr. Baker, who not only approved of it, but agreeably to his conftant readinefs to promote every laudable Undertaking, for the Improvement of Knowledge, was pleafed likewife to promife him Affiftance, from his large and valuable Col- lections. And not long after, fent manv Parti- culars relating to moft of the Profefibrs, who were bred at Cambridge".
Dr. William Richardfon, the learned Mafter of Emanuel College in Cambridge, in his large Work, de Praefulibus Angliae, amongft other Helps and Affiftance he met with from MSS. and Friends, fpeaks of Mr. Baker in the following Manner. — Hunc Librum in ipfo Operis primor- dio mihi commendavit Vir Thomas Baker S.T.C. nuper e Coll. Divi Johan. Cant, cujus peritiam in Britannicis Antiquitatibus, Comitatem Humani-
tatem-
c Pref.icc to the Lives of the Profefibrs of Grefham College, P- 1.
D 2
[. 52 i
tatemqne in Opera et confiliis preftandis* norunt omnes qui hafce Literas vel leviter attingerintd.
He revifed Dr. Rawlinfon's Hift. of Eton Coll. as appears from Ballard's MS. Vol. Il.'fol. 93. in the Bodleian Library, with his Account of pur- chasing ibme of his Books, and Additions to Wood's A then. Oxon. in the fame Volume.
Mr. Baker likewife greatly affifted the Editor Mr, J. Tanner in the lait Edition of Bp. Tanner's Notitia Monaftica, wherein he ftileshim, Amicif- fimus, clarifllmus etVir docrifTimus Tho- mas Baker. And in a Note at p. 155. he ac- knowledges to have received from him, the Num- ber of Fellows and Scholars in mofl of the Col- leges in Cambridge.
Mr. Jofeph Ames, F.R.S. and Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, alfo in his Typographical Antiquities of England, informs us that he cor- refponded with Mr. Baker by Letter, and that he had confiderable Amftance from him in that Work. Some Particulars of which are fpecified in p "52. concerning Thomas Vaiitrollier the Printer, at p. 458. Thomas Thomafius, the Au- thor of the Dictionary called by his Name, who- had been Fellow of King's College, and Univer- fity Printer, and at p. 564. a Book iutitled, A Declaration of the trueCauies of the great Trou- bles, prefunpofed to be intended againit the
Real mo
* Firf;.?': p. ■;,
r 53 ]
Realme of England, Sec. which was deemed Co dangerous a Libel, again ft the Queen and Go- vernment, that Lord Bacon thought it worth while, to publifh Obfervations upon it in 1592.
The Editor of this Life, although he never had the honour of his Acquaintance, being very young at the Time of his Death, yet being well informed of his amiable Character, makes honour- able mention of him, both in his Preface to the Hiitory of C. C. C. C. at p. 42. and elfe where, and in his App. N. LIX. has given the Account above inferted (p. 29. note g.) taken from his own MSS.
In the Year 1725, Mr. Baker gave alTiitance to Father Courayer6, in the Defence of our Englifh Ordinations, on which Subject he held a Cor- refpondence for fome Time with ABp. Wake, who acknowledged it in the following Letter.
Rev. Sir,
Yefterday in a large Cafe, I fent by Mr. Knapton to Mr. Crownfield your Printer, was returned the MS. you was fo good as to fend me, with that you will receive a Copy of Father Courayer's Book.
I fliould have added another Copy for Dr.
Drake,
e Written in French by Father Francis Courayer, Canon Regular and Librarian of St. Genevieve at Paris, the Tranfiation of which by Daniel Williams, Prefbyter of the Church of England, was print* ed likewife at Paris in J 725.
D3
[ 54 ]
Drake, but the Books we expect from Paris are not yet arrived; and what we now have are only a few brought over by Mr. Ott my Library Keep- er: one of the firft, I thought myfelf obliged to fend to you. Dr. Drake fhall have his as foon as the Books come to hand, which we expecl: every Day.
In this Book you will find your Name made nfe of for the Hiftriola in the Univerfity Ar- chives', which I hope you will excufe, though I gave no direction for it. The good Father has, I think, been guilty of a Blunder, in taking the Date of that MS. from the Year 1568, under ABp. Parker's Arms: but this may be excufed in a Foreigner. Yet I muft do myfelf the Juftice to acquaint you, that I cautioned him againft it, as foon as I received your fecond Letter, and un- derfrood that the Arms were printed, fo as to be applied to any other MS. of a different Year; but I doubt this was done by him before that Letter came to hand ; the befc is, that nothing of any Moment depends upon it. And upon the whole I believe, you will find fewer Miitakes, in (o much as he has publifhed of our Hiftory, than in any Foreigner that has ever wrote of it.
I can-
f Mr. Baker'.? Name is not mentioned in Mr. Williams's Tranfla- tion of this Book, though probably referred to in that of the Au- thor's I'reface, p. 7. where he {peaks of his Vouchers, and regrets the Injunction laid upon him not to divulge their Names, as they would have done great honour to his Work.
t 55 ]
I cannot end this, without my repeated Thanks for your great Kindnefs to him in the Profecu- tion of this Work, which I am fure will meet with a very favourable Reception from the learn- ed in France.
I am, good Sir,
Your moft obliged and faithful Friend and Brother
W. Cant.
Amongft the Letters that parTed between ABp, Wake and Father Courayer upon his Book, con- cerning the Validity of the Englifh Ordinations, there is one in which his Grace with great Re- flect mentions Mr. Baker, the famous Antiquary of St. John's College, Cambridge, who commu- nicated to him fome Information concerning the Hiftriola, 6cc. relating to ABp. Parker, which was difcovered during the Correfpondence with Cou- rayer, in Bene't College Library. The Archbi- iliop had before received fome AfTiftance from this learned Nonjuror, in writing his State of the Church, and after the Work was completed wrote to him a Letter of Thanks; and as a Teitimony of his Senfe of the Service he had done him, of- fered to accept his Recommendation of a Friend (as he could not receive it himfelf) to a Benefice worth 2oo£. a Year, then vacant. Mr. Baker waved this Offer; and very politely requefted his
d a Grace's
[ 56 ]
Grace's Favour might be to himfelf, by a Prefent of a Copy of the aforefaid Work, with his Grace's Corrections and Additions in his own Handwrit- ing. With this the Archbifhop complied, and fent befides, many Manufcript Evidences bound up with the Volume, now in the Univerfity Li- brary s.
In the Year 1728, we meet with the following Letter, to his old Friend Mr. John Strype.
" Rev. and worthy Sir,
" After fo long a Si- lence, I was glad to hear from you; had your Letter brought an Account of your Health, I lhould have been perfectly eafy, fmce if it is otherwife, pray God comfort you under your great Affliction. You have one fure Comfort and Support, in having done more Service to your Generation than any one I know. For which you may expect a Reward in Heaven, though not from an evil World. I was very much concerned, to meet with that undeferved Reflection in Father Courayer's Book, though I am certain it cannot hurt you with candid Readers. You can have faid nothing in your Preface, from me, which I fhall not confirm, or which I have already upon Occafion, to moft of my Friends; fo that will want no Apo- logy, be it what it will.
" I am
* :ies Biogrrph, Brir. p. 4096.
[ si ]
C£ I am glad to hear your lad Book is in fuch c< Forwardnefs, though I have feen moll of it al~ " ready. The Compiler of the Index, Dr. Grey, " being my particular Friend. Fie has a true " Efteem for you, and prefents you with his Ser- " vice. I expecl: to fee Dr. Knight the next tc Month, in his Way to London, I will then re- " member your Service, though you will have an " Opportunity of doing it yourfelf, fince he in- tc tends to fee you, and promifed to make the " fecond Payment for me and the College, and " to take care to convey the Books to me.
" As to myfelf, I blefs God, I enjoy a tolera- " ble Share of Health, more than I could reafon- <c ably expect at this Age, and much more than " I deferve ; but yet I feel the Infirmities of Age, cc and am very fenfible of my own Frailty and " Mortality. You ftand in my Will for ABp. " Bancroft's Piclure, which I am afraid you will " hardly be the better for -3 if not, it ihall Hand as <c the belt Teftimony of Refpecl, from, worthy iC Sir,
cc Your moft obliged humble Servant
" Tho. Baker."
Camb. May 20, 1728.
Mr. Strype has frequently acknowledged Mr. Baker's Affiftance in many Paxts of his Works,
par-
[ 58 ]
particularly in his Prefaces to the Lives of ABps. Parker and Whitgift; but in that to the third Volume of the Annals of Queen Elizabeth, the Book abovementioned, publifhed this Year, he thus fpeaks of him. " The Rev. T. B. S.T.B. <c another of my Correfpondents (well known for tC his Searches into the Hiftory of this Church "and Kingdom) divers Years ago, upon fome <c Occafion in a private Letter to me had thefe <c Words, ' I have not read any Books with more < Pleafure than I have your's, nor met with any c Thing that beareth more lively Impreffions of c Sincerity and Truth; and it is that, that makes « me fo ofhcious to ferve you.' I hope that the tC Rev. Perfon will excufe me in thus openly c< ufing his Name, and declaring his good Opi- «e nion of me; efpecially upon this Occafion, for <c preferving my good Name to Posterity, and tc Reputation of what I have writ."
Mr. Strype has fatisfactorily anfwered the mif- taken Objections of Mr. Daniel Williams, the Tranflator of Father Courayer's Book, and fully juftified himfelf againft his flanderous and illibe- ral Reflections , which occafioned the Uneafinefs above hinted at, in the beginning of the Preface to this Volume: upon the Publication of which Mr. Baker wrote to him from Camb. Aug: 9,1729, in Anfwer to one lately received.
Rev.
[ 59 ]
" Rev. and worthy Sir,
"After fo long Silence, ' I was very glad to hear of your Health, and ' that you are yet in a Condition to think of c Bufmefs, which all the World would excufe ' you from attending, at your Age. What you ' propofe would be very agreeable to me, and 1 would certainly be of Ufe to the World; but I 1 doubt you muft not propofe any prefent Ad- 1 vantage to yourfelf, but muft be content that ' your Book will be valued, and bear a Price an ' hundred Years hence. And thus it is I com- 1 fort Mr. Willis when he complains his Books c flick upon his Hands. Whatever you under- ' take, I fliall fubferibe for myfelf and the Col- ' lege, though the College was forgot in your ' laft Book, of which fome Notice was taken.
<c I have lately met with a fmall Volume ; of original Letters, from 1592 to 1598, from c Lord Burleigh to his Son Sir Robert Cecill, c which belonged to the late Bifliop of Ely, (Dr. c Moore) you may probably have {een thefe al- c ready, however I will fend you a Copy of the c laft Letter, rather as a Curiofity than of Ufe. ' By that you will judge whether you have ken ' the reft.
<c Dr. Knight I have not feen this Harveft time. c Mr. Willis has told us he is upon the Hiftory 1 of the Church of Ely, as you will find when his
" next
[ 60 ]
ct next Book is publifhed. I wifli you Health, tf and though I fhould be glad to fee a Continu- " ance of your Annals, yet not otherwife than it " will confift with your Health.
" Yours, &c.
" Tho. Baker."
Mr. Baker fent Mr. Strype likewife a long Ac- count of Dr. Peter Baro, Margaret Profellbr of the Univerfity of Cambridge, and of his Family, which is barely mentioned in his fourth Volume of the Annals of Queen Elizabeth.
Thefe Letters were afterwards publifhed by Mr. Peck in Defid. Curiofa, Lib. V. and the Ac- count of Dr. Baro fhall have a Place in the Ap- pendix.
About the fame Time Dr. White Kennet, Lord Bifhop of Peterborough \. thanks Mr. Baker for the Affifrance he gave towards the compiling a large Folio, publifhed by him under the Title of, A Regifter and Chronicle Ecclefiaftical and Civil, &c. in 1728, in the following Terms1.
" Rev.
h Well known for his celebrated Antiquities of Ambrofden and Burcheilcr, publifhed in 4:0. 1695, and many other valuable Pieces, whofe Character by Bp. Gibfon, may be feen in his Dedication to his Tranilation of Somner's Treatife of Gavelkind, and in the Hif- tory of the Bp's Life publifhed in 1730.
1 Printed in Anecdotes of Boyvyer, p. 553,
[ *i 1 " Rev. Sir,
" I have taken an Opportunity by my Curate, Mr. Land of Clare Hall, to fend you a tedious, heavy Book for Acceptance, not a Prefent, fo much as a Debt in Juftice due to you, for lending me fo many good Materials, that your Hand could have put into better Or- der, with more Correctness. <c The Volume too large, brings me no Profit, and I dare fay no Credit. In good Truth, the the Scheme was laid for Confcience Sake, to reftore a good Principle, that Hiflory mould be pure Matter of Fact. And when fuch Matters are delivered, upon profefled Authority for them, every Reader by examining and compar- ing, may make out an Hiflory by his own Judgment.
" I have Collections tranfcribed for another Volume, if the Bookfeller will run the Hazard of Printing, which will reach to 1670. If within that Compafs you have any Notes of like Nature, I defire you to be of the fame communicative Mind; and if you ever fubmit to the dull Work, of running over the fir ft Volume, nothing can oblige me more, than to be told of my Faults of Commiflion, or Omif- fion, that in a fecond Volume the World may be honeftly informed of them. " You will fee, I have been too much in a
" hurry
[ 62 ]
" hurry for a Writer, but without any ill Mean- " ing. I could envy your Recefs in a College " Life, where I am lure you are doing true Ser- C( vice to Poflerity, and (what is greater) there <{ defpife the prefent World.
" I have delivered to our good Friend Dr. " Knight, your fecond Volume of Dr. Calamy's li Abridgement, with your exact Notes upon it ; Cl and thank you for the Ufe of that, and many tc like Favours, and pray God to give a Blefiing cc to your Life and Studies.
" I am u Your very much obliged Friend and Brother,
Wh. Peterbor. Weftminfter, Jan. 13, 1728.
Mr. Baker, according to the Bifhop's Requeft, wrote large Notes upon the above Book, in which is an Extract from the forementioned Letter, in- dorfed the lad Letter I ever received from my ho- noured Friend the Bp. of Peterborough, who died on 19 Dec. in that Year.
His Friend Dr. Grey received a Letter from him, dated 15 July, 1728, to the following Pur- port, foon after his leaving Cambridge, and Ar- rival at Houghton Conqueft in Bedfordfhire : where as Rector, he ufually redded in the Sum- mer Seafon.
" r>
ueav
[ 63 ]
" Dear Sir,
" I was glad to hear you and your " Lady came fafe to Houghton ; together with fC your Letter the Coachman delivered the Book, " which though imperfect (as fuch old Books tc will commonly he) yet it is a fair Copy, and " very valuable, and I thank you for it.
" I have two or three Books, Duplicates with " me, which I believe you may want, when I fee " you next, they (hall be at your Service, as a <c Debt of Gratitude.
" I wrote to Dr. Waterland, who (with his cc Service to you) fends this Anfwer, ' I fhould be ' glad to fee the Quarto Bible of 1569, I have * not ken any fuch. Dr. Brett mentions an Edi- £ tion of Archbifhop Parker's that Year, a large ' 8vok. I know no more;' fo you fee he will <c be glad to fee your Bible, and having almoft tc finifhed with Mr. Lewis, the fooner the better. " However confult your own convenience.
" We have no News, all Things continue in {C the State you left them.
" I have
k The Edition here mentioned is of the 4to Size (penes R. M.) hut notwithftanding there are eight Leaves in each Sheet, lo that the Paper mult have been uncommonly large, a particular Account of which may be ken in Mr. Lewis's Hiitory of the Englifli Trans- lations of the Bible at p. 232, 253, although he has omitted to take Notice of the Song of Solomon, which is there ftiled, The Ballet of Ballettes of Solomon. Dr. Waterland not only affilted Mr. Lewis, in collating i'or him twelve MSS. of Dr. Wicklifre's Tranflation, in the Libraries at Cambridge, but furnifhed him lilcewife, with a very curious Account of the other Tranflations. Monthly Chron. izr 1730. p. no.
[ 6+ ]
{C I have the favour of a Vifit from the fa- " mous Mr. Vertue, but I fhall always make good " what I faid to you, &c."
In another Letter to the fame.
<c Dear Sir,
iC I have the Favour of your Letter " with a Bible for Dr. Waterland. I fhall take " care to convey it to him this Morning.
<c But I have a greater Favour to thank you " for, which I fhall fay no more of, till I have £C the Happinefs of feeing you at Cambridge. — " Speaking of Dr. Waterland, puts me in mind, <c that his Brother has nonfuited Mr. Kettle this " Afiize, to the Satisfaction of every Body I have " fpoke with.
" Dr. Knight was with me Yefterday in good " Health 3 but poor Dr. Pearfon is worfe than " ever.
" I have, I thank God, undergone Mr. Lunn's ' " Operation with Succefs. Mr. Hearne's laft *c Book is printed off"1, but I have not yet re- <c ceived it. I ihall prefume your Confent to
" fub-
' William, an eminent Surgeon at Cambridge, Son of Dr. William Lunn, Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Reclor of Elfworth in Cam- briegefhire, and Brother to the prefent worthy Redlor, Edward Lunn, A. M. Sec Hilt. C. C. C. C. p. 343.
m Vita Ricardi II. a Monachc de Evefliam. ijzii.
[ 6S ]
tc fubfcribe for the next, viz. Annals of Edward " the Second".
" Camb. July 24, 1722."
It appears from Mr. Ballard's MSS.° in the Bodleian Library, that he revifed Dr. Rawlin- fon's Hiftory of Eton College; where is likewife an Account of purchafmg fome of his Books, and of his Additions to Wood's Athen. Oxon.
He correfponded familiarly with Mr. Anftis, Garter Principal King at Arms, and mod pro- bably affifted him in his feveral Publications, as we may infer from the following friendly Letter.
Heralds Office, 20 Jan. 1729. <c Rev. Sir,
" I return you many thanks, for " the Information you kindly gave me, of the " Provifions made by fome Benefactors for their " Kindred in your College, and I have got the " like Inftances in feveral Colleges beyond Sea, cc which are regularly obferved to this Day, but " the Fellows of fome Colleges in Oxford, though " fworn particularly to the preference of Kinf- <; men in their Oaths upon their firft Admiffions, c< contemn that Obligation. I fend you the Copy "of a Grant to Dr. Caius of Arms, and I wifh
<{ you
!i Annales Edwardi II, a Johanne de Trokelow, 1729. •Vol. II. p g-.
E
t 66 ]
" you was in Town to infpect the feveral Grants " made to Bifhops and others, from the Time of " Hen. VII. who have been Members of your " Univcrnty,
cc Your mod obliged Servant,
" John Anftis."
In the Year 1730, Dr. Grey p received a Letter from Dr. William Baker, Senior Fellow of St. John's College, bearing Date 15 Oct. as follows,
" Dear Sir,
lc That I am fo troublefome a {C Correfpondent to you, is at prefent owing to " our good Friend Mr. Baker, who defired me to " convey this Prefent of a fine Common Prayer " Book for Mr. Willis's new Chapel, by the " Coach that goes from hence, and if you have *c an Opportunity, to fend it to him, or elfe let " it remain with you, till he can fend for it him- l( felf q. He bids me farther to add, that he hath
" now
p See an Account of him in Anecdotes of* Bcwyer, p. 354.
1 It is in Folio, printed in 1662, elegantly bound in blue Moroc- co, and placed upon the Communion Tabie ox the beautiful Cha- pel of St. Martin at Fenny Stratford in Buck;, built by Subfcrip- tions raifed by the unwearied pollicitations of Mr. Willis, and nei- ther endowed by him, or built at his expence, as eironeouily afl'er- ted by Mr. Cough, in his Briiifh Topograph, p. itg. It was begun in 1724* finilhed and confecrated on 27 May, 1730. The Cieling of which, is decorated with the Arms of all the Benefactors who ga^.e 10I. or upwards.
/ifu-r a fenous and refpeclable Character of this Gentleman, (who
died
t 67 ]
" now by him Mr. Strype's laft Volume of An- iZ nals in MS. which had you been here, he " thinks you was fitter to examine than himfelf, " whether he hath been guilty of making Repe- <c titions, a Fault he is too fubjecl to. It is to cc remain in his Cuftody till the laft Day of this " Month. Dr. Middleton is returned hither, and (i he and Mr. Robinfon, are fince gone to Ld. " Oxford's ; where I fliould have been too, if " neceffary Bufinefs had not prevented.
cc Dr. Dickens is at London, but expected here <c every Day. You mud: not wonder that we, fc who are defirous of your good Company, are " apt to think you defer your Journey too long.
" My humble Services wait upon all the good " Company, and I am with hearty Willies for " their good Journey home,
" Dear Dr.
" Your moll affectionate humble Servant,
" Win. Baker."
Dr. Grey,
died on 22 May, 1760) drawn bv Dr. Ducarel and others, can any thing be more injudicious than the Addition of Mifs Talbot's Let- ters characterizing his Daughters : which however pleafing they might have been from one Frien i to another, could certainly never have been dcfigned for the Publick ; no msre than Mr. Cole's De- scription of his Drefs, publifhed from a Letter of his in Nichols* Biogiaphical Anecdotes of Bowyer, the former at p. 24 S, the latter at p. 58 1. which indeed Mr. C — ■ could never have confented to give, without the greateft Ingratitude to a perfon, from whom he received juch a confiderable Kmolument, as the Prefentation to a valuable Living. But fuch is the prcfent Mode of Book-making, that it is become a Vehicle for all manner of literary Scandal, even fuch, as muft highly difgrace Lompolltions, however other wife re- fpectable.
£ 2
[ 63 ]
Dr. Grey, in anfwer to fome Queries, received the following Letter from Mr. Baker in the Year 1734,
Dear Sir,
I am glad to hear of your Health, and that you are fo well employed in examining Mr. Neale's Bookr. I mall be glad to fee the Fruits of your Enquiries, which doubtlefs would be of ufe and fervice to the Publick. Dr. CowelFs Book8 did give Offence, but it was chiefly to the Lawyers, who are jealous of a Civilian, and ap- prehenfive of the Civil Law's prevailing, and gaining too much Ground from Scotland. Black- wood's Book', might likewife give Offence, he having wrote againft Buchanan. The Book is fcarce, and I have it not by me. But he was a Scot ; and the fame that compiled the Epitaph upon the Queen of Scot's, hung up at Peterbo- rough upon her Shrine j and had the Author then been known to Queen Elizabeth, it might have coil him dear.
Sir
r Dr. Madcox, afterwards Bp. of Worcester, publifhed Remarks tipon Neal's ill Vol. of the Hiitory of the Puritans, and Dr. Grey an Examination of the three others.
r The Beck referr'd to, was his Interpreter, fome Portions of which, were much ciiliked by K. James 1, as appears from his Speech to the Parliament, on ?.6 Mar. 1609. See hib Works, p. 528.
1 The Title v, Advcrfus Gcorgii Buchanani Dialogum de Jure Uegni ajiud Scotos pro R.egibus Apologia. Per Adamum Blackvo- ckcum Senatorem ;*pud I'ictavos, 155^.
r 69 ]
Sir Charles Cornwallis's Book" I have, but there is no Intimation in it of the Prince's being poyfon'd, nor in a MS. of the Bp. of Ely's (Moore's) Library", giving a very particular Ac- count of the Prince's Death.
Dr. Richardfony is faid to have died worth 10,0001. and only to have left. 300 1. to the Col- lege, the reft to two Nephews. His Succeflbr is not yet known, but one of Pembroke Hall, Whalley I think is his Name, is like to be the Man, and being faid to be a Man of Worth, I wifh him Succefs.
He had a Correfpondence with Mr. Cook, who publifhed an Edition of Hefiod, in the Year 1733, &c. as appears from his Letters, printed in Howard's Collection, at p. 592, and which may be properly inferted here.
Mr. Baker to Mr. Cook.
Camb.
J Son of Sir Thomas, of Brome in Suffolk, who had been Trea* furer to Prince Henry, wrote A Difcourfe of the molt iliuftrious Henry Prince of Wales, in 1626, which was not printed till 164.1, 4to. penes R.M.
* Printed in Dead. Curiofa, Vol. I. Lib. VI. p. I.
y Thomas Richardfon, S. T. P. ele&ed Matter of Peterhoufe College, Dec. 9. 1699, who had been Fellow of Emanuel College, Preacher to Gray's Inn, Fellow of Eton College and Prebendary of Ely. He died 1733. An. JEt. 79, was interred in the College Cha- pel, and fucceeded by Dr. John Whalley, afterwards Regius Pro- feffor of Divinity, who died 12 Dec. 1748, and was buried iikewife in the College Chapel.
E3
[ 7° ]
Camb. Jan. 24, 1733. <c Worthy Sir,
" Yefterday, by the Convey- ance of the Waggon, I received your ncble Prefent of Books, and take the firft Opportu- nity of returning my Thanks for fo great and undeferved a Favour, and though I have had little Time to perufe them, yet I have feen enough already, to know how much I am en- gaged to you, not only for the Prefent, but for the Performance.
" As I am to thank you for the Books, fo am I next to apologize for the Print, which doubt- lefs colt you too dear ; I hope you will believe I had not Vanity enough to countenance fuch a Defign. When I firft heard of it, I did all I could to fupprefs it, but it was not in my Tower to hinder them from playing the Fool with my Face ; they might have fpent their Time and Pains better in taking yours, and I dare fay more to their Advantage. " I am forry to hear of your Want of Health, which I fmcerely wifh you, as well for your own Sake, as for the Ufe of the Publick. I condole with you for the Death of my Lord Pembroke, a Lois that will be lamented by all thole, that have any Regard to great Worth
and much Learning.
" Yours, &c.
« Tho. Baker."
To
[ 7* ]
To Mr. Cook.
Worthy Sir,
What you have heard concern- ing my Lord Oxford' and me, I can allure you is a great Miftake. I have that Regard and Ho- nour for his Lordfhip, that any Book in my Study fliould be at his Service without Reward ; but the Report you mention is altogether Groundlefs, and without Foundation.
I am glad to hear of Dr. Tancred Robinfon's Health, for whom I have the fame Eiteem he has for me, and much more defervedly; well re- membering the great Character he bore in Col- lege, when mine was very obfcure. Be pleafed, Sir, when you fee him again, to prefent my humble Service, and bed Willies for his Health.
I wifh you Succefs in your new Edition of Hefiod, the firft Part whereof I have perufed with Pleafure, but am not Critic enough, to pretend to make Improvements ; which truly, as far as I can judge, it will not want. I am
Yours, &c.
Tho. Baker
Camb. Jul. 22, 1733
To
z Which was, that Lord Oxford had purchafed his MSS. In the Biographia Britannica, in a Note in p. 3726, Ld. Oxford is faid to have given him an Annuity of 60 1. per Ann. and Bp. Burnet to have aflitted him in the fame Way.
E 4
[ 72 ]
To the fame.
I am clearly of Opinion, that it is bed for you to retain the Latin Name of Gabriel Faernus2. But that I might not feem to be opinionative, I confultcd a Friend who had been in Italy, and a Year or two at Romeb, who is of the fame Opin- ion, and thinks if you fhould Italianize the Name, it would be loft to Men of Letters, to whom he is now {o well, and fo defervedly known. He never heard of fuch a Family in Italy, and is not fure, but he might be a German by Birth or Extraction0.
I am to thank you for your entertaining Ac- count of Mr. Dennis, who with his fine Parts, feems to have been an unfortunate Man. He may have been a Year or two older than entered upon the Books ; for it is ufual for young Scholars, to give in their Age too low, efpecially if they be admitted old. I am
Yours, &c.
Tho. Baker.
In another Letter to the fame, he thus fpeaks of the Duke of Somerfet. "He was elected Chan- cellor
3 One of the carliefl and mod judicious Editors of Terence.
>■- Dr. Middle ton.
He i<, raid by Thuanus to have been cf Cremona, Vide Ann. MDI.XJ.
[ 73 ] cellor of this Univerfity, Anno. 1688", and has continued Chancellor longer than any one ever did, to the great Honour and Advantage of the Univerfity : to which he has been a noble Benefactor, by giving 500 £ towards the New Building, or Senate Houfe, and 1000^. by him- felf, or by his Intereft, to our Prefs ; befides Books of a confiderable Value, Rymer's Faedera 17 Vols, and his Countenance and good Offices at all Times.
Camb. Aug. 23, 1733.
To thfrfame. Worthy Sir,
To your Enquiries I anfwer, Ifaac Newton was admitted into Trinity College under Mr. Pulleyn (the fame I prefume that was after- wards Greek ProfefTor) Jun. 3, 1661. Art. Bac. 1664, 5. Art. Mr. An. 1668. He was likewife admitted Socius-minor Coll. Trim Oct. 2. 1667. and Socius-major the Year following. He fuc- ceeded Dr. Barrow, as Mathematical ProfefTor, Nov. 8, 1669; who, though he was not his Tu- tor, inftructed and encouraged him in the Study of Mathematics \
Nat.
''- As a grateful Acknowledgement of which, an elegant Marble Statue was erected to his Memory, and placed in the Senate Houfe, loon after his Deceafe in 1748 ; the Infcription upon which, ihall have a Place in the Appendix.
c Mr. Cook wrote Notes upon Sir I. Newton's Chronology.
[ 74 ]
Nat. Lee (the Poet) was of the fame College, (admitted from Weftminfter School) where I do not find he took any Degree, as his Friend and Collegian Mr. Dryden did ; and their being of the fame College, might be one Ground of their Friendfhip and Acquaintance : his End, you know, was deplorable, and much to be lamented, and is therefore to be palled over in Silence.
Ben. Johnfon (by Tradition) is claimed by St, John's College, of which Houfe he is generally allowed to have been admitted, even by Mr. Wood; who places him among the Oxford Writers, as having taken a Degree there. We have no Re- gifter in the College fo antient, and therefore I can fay nothing more fi om the College Monu- ments. He (Ben. Johnfon) is faid to have imi<* tated and borrowed from Plautus ; and that I prefume was the Reafon of your Enquiry. Wifhing you Succefs in your Undertaking, I am
Your's, &c.
Tho. Baker.
The learned Mr. Lewis, of Margate, in an Ad- vertifement prefixt to the find Edition of his Hiftory of the Englifh Tranflations of the Bible, fays, " The Editor thinks himfelf obliged to own
" the great Helps he has had from
cc and the Rev. Thomas Baker, B. D." And his Opinion cf Mr. Baker's great Judgment farther appears, from the fubfequent Letters to Dr. Grey.
" Mar-
[ 75 ]
" Margate, May 7, 1736.
c< Rev. Sir,
" Your kind Letter of the 30th ult. tc came hither, when I was abfent on a Journey " to London, to look after finifhing at the Prefs, il a new Edition of this little Ifland f; about which cc I have been at fome Pains and Expence, in re- tc viewing and making it fomewhat more perfect.
" I am afraid Mr. Baker and you are too fa- cc vourable in your Judgments of my Papers; I cc can bear being told of what is wrong, and am " very fenfible how liable I am to blunder and " miitake. For which Reafon I dare not trull tc myfelf, and wifli therefore you would examine " my Remarks on Neal, with the Eye and Heart cc of an Adverfary, and exercife your fevered Cri- " ticifm upon them.
" My adding a Cut of the Mafs Habits, is in- " tended as an Appeal to the DhTenters Senfes, " whether our Prieftly Habit be like the Papifts, " or Miniftering Prieft of the Church of England, Ci cannot be diftinguiflied from a Popifli Prieft s.
iC The Papers relating to Calamy, I fent to c' you, to fee what Account I have to give of that
" furious
f The Hiftory and Antiquities of the Ifle of Tenet firft publifhed in 4to. 1723.
p Being of Scarlet, the fame with the Doftors' Habit in Oxford, and worn over the Rochet or Lawn Sleeves in K. Edward's Time, but changed into Black in Q;_ Elizabeth's Reign, and ib has conti- nued ever fince.
[ 76 ]
<c furious Fanatic Culmer8. Calamy died juft as " they were finifhed. For which Reafon I have <c kept them by me ever fincej and intend fo to "keep themh. I fhould never forgive myfelf, " mould I act by him, and infult his Allies, as <c he has done thofe of that learned and honed " Man Dr. Bennet1.
" I don't know whether any of our Bookfellers " will care to print my Remarks. I'm a Man of " no Reputation : and that commonly recom- tc mends a Book, as much as the Matter, and " fometimes more. — My humble Service to the " good Mr. Baker.
li P. S. If it be not too much to afk, I fhould " be glad of a Copy of Caxton's Preface to his <c Chronicle, to be fent with my Papers."
In another of June 3, 1736.
" Rev. Sir,
cc Soon after the receipt of your's cc of the 20th, I received my Papers alfo, which I " have reviewed and made fome Additions to.
"As
'■' He was Minifter of Harbledovvn in Kent, and one of the moft furious of thofe 'rimes. See Wood's Athen. Oxon. Vol. I. p. 863. and Wharton's Note in ABp. Laud's Trial and Troubles, p. 34.4..
h Sec Calamy's Reflections upon Mr. Lewis in his Preface to the Abridgment cl Baxter's Life, p. 10, 11.
' Sec his Remarks upon Dr. Bennet's Eflay on the XXXIX ArtiU cTes, in App. to his Continuation, Vol. IV. 1727- p- 97>
[ 77 1
" As to Mr. Baker's Notes concerning a Mi- : flake of the ABp's, p. 599, of his State, &c. I 1 fancy I have corrected it in my Papers.
tc His Grace has quoted in his Margin, an An- ' fvver for the Time, &c. for Words which are in ' the Examination, for the Time, &c. The Au- ' thor of which is fnppofed to be ABp. Parker, c who certainly does fay, that the 33d Article of c 1552, ' are the Words,' which the whole Sy- c nod were well pleafed withal, and thereunto all c the Clergy's Hands were fet ; and in the Mar- ' gin is added, a Hand pointing to the Words,
whofoever through his private Judgment, &c.J c and underneath, ' the Articles agreed in the laft
Synod.' That thefe Expreffions cannot refer to ' the Synod of 1562, feems plain from what c goes before, where this Article is called, * The
Determination of the Church of England,
agreed upon in King Edwardes Dayes.'
<c My Papers in Vindication of myfelf from the
' ill Ufage of Dr. Calamy, I ftill think I mould
' not publifh, for the Reafons given p. 4, 5, of
c the Examination of Dr. Chandler's Hiftorv.
" I have (ten an Advertifement of ' A full
View of the Tranfactions in the Reign of Q^
Elizabeth, in two Volumes, by Dr. Forbes.' ' Pray who is Dr. Forbes? and what Character
c does the View bear?
" When you fee Mr. Baker, pray prefent my
" hum-
[ 78 ]
" humble Service to him, and fhew him the In- " fcription underneath. It is on a Tombftone <£ in the Chapel of Dover Caftle, perhaps he may " know who Creone was.
C- ET- PETRVS- DE- CREONE. IE- PRO- ANIMA- EIVS-
<c jMr. Baker fays he can fhew by unexception- cc able Authority, that the Catechifm, &c. was Cl written by Bp. Poynet, I wifh he would be fo tc good as to fend me that Authority.
" ABp. Parker calls the Chimere, Crimere. cc Perhaps Mr. Baker can tell the original Defign " of it."
Mr. Baker's Anfwers to the foregoing Queries, as entered upon the Backfide of the Letter, were;
<c The famous John Bale, who was fometime Chaplain to Bp. Poinet, and lived in the Family, in his Scriptorum Britanniae Centuria oclava. N. XCI.I. p. 694. has thefe Words, Joannes Po- nctus memorise commendavit (inter caetera) Ca- techifmum Latinum ad Regem, Lib. I. Cum bre- vis Explicatio Catechifmi, &c. which arc the firft Words of the Catechifm, and Bale's ufual Way of defcribing Books and Authors.
The full View of the Transactions of Q^Eliz. Reign, I have not yet fc^n. Dr. Forbes isLL.D.
and
[ 79 ]
and his Book well recommended by the Faculty at Edinburgh1.
I know nothing of Peter de Creone."
In the Year 1736, Dr. Grey received the fol- lowing Letter from Mr. Baker.
" Dear Sir,
" I blefs God I am pretty well re- cc covered of my troublefome Indifpofition, though " not without Apprehenfions of a Relapfe.
<c I wifli you and your Lady much better <c Health than I can hope to enjoy at this Age, <c and therefore I muft always think them happy " that can die in good Time.
" The laft Sunday in the Veftry of St. Marie's, c' the Vicechancellor (Dr. Adams, Mailer of Sid- <c ney College) propofed a Degree for the Gentle- <c man you have lb often fpoke of (Dr. Lether- " land) but it did not then pafs the Heads. No- <c thing was faid of Dr. Bedford".
" I am
■ William, Son of Mr. Hilkiah Bedford abovementioned, had a Mandate Degree of M. D. conferred upon Jiim in 1737. He was a
rhyfician
t 80 ]
<c I am glad you wrote to the Vicechancellor, " whatever he fends to me I fhall take 'care of."
Dr. Grey received the following Letter from Mr. Weft in 1738.
" Rev. Sir,
t£ My firft Duty is, to return you " my moft hearty Thanks for the many Favours " I received at Cambridge, for which I fhall ever <c retain the moft grateful Senfe.
" The Proclamation printed by Authority, iff " literally the fame with yours, that you have " obliged the World with.
" My Lord Oxford defired to return his Com^ " pliments and Thanks, and to afTure you of his " Efteem.
" I have looked into my Edition of Taverner's " Bible, which I find is printed in 1539, the " fame Year Mr. Baker's Copy was, of which I tc beg the Favour of you to acquaint him.
<c I thought myfclf not entitled to trefpafs fo " much on his Time, which is always ufefuliy <c employed, to trouble him about a Miftake of " my own, which was owing to the Copy I have, <c being fo fair and perfect, that I concluded it to " be a later Imprefiion.
"If
PhyGcian well efteemed in London ; and I apprehend one of the Phyficians to it. Thomas's Hofpital.
t Si ]
fc If the worthy Vicechancellor" is going? on c< with his Intention of continuing Gociwyn de c< Prsefulibus ; I am deiircd by Lord Oxford to " allure him, that he may command out of his <c Library the MS. Additions made by Mr. Cam- i( den, Anthony Wood, and Bp. Wren.
fC Mv Refoects attend him. I know not
(C how to excufe myfelf for giving you this Fa- <c tigue ; and mu ft throw it all on your great <c Humanity to forgive, and to permit me to be " with great Truth, " Rev. and honoured Sir,
" Your moft obliged and moft obedient Servant,
cc James Weft. Lincoln's Inn, Apr. 19, 1738.
In a Letter of Mr. Baker to Dr. Grey, (in the Year 1738 or 9) he fpeaks of Mr. Peck's Books in the following Terms.
Dear Sir,
Your MefTenger calling upon me in the dark, and my Eyes not well bearing a Can- dle, I doubt I mail fend you a fhort and imper- fect Aniwer.
I am <rlad vou have heard from Mr. Peck : you are very kind in fubicribing for his Books ; That
is
r Dr. William Richrrdfon, Mailer of Emanuel College, who pub- lished a pompous Edition cf that Work in folio in 1743-
F
[ 82 ]
is as much as I can do, or he will expect from me, who am a perfect Reclufe, and fee nobody but at Chanel. He feems to have met with Food Encouragement, the Speaker having given him leave to dedicate one of his Books to him°, and Mr. Benfon for the other'. Thefe arc Men of Intereft, and will I hope enable him to go through with his Books.
1 ihould have been glad to have io^n you at Cambridge, but we muft all give Way to Bufinefs, fo I wifh yon Succefs in your Tithes.
And the laft Letter he ever received from him was dated from Cambridge, Feb. 9, 1739, thank- ing him for a kind Prefent of Mountain Wine, which he had juft received by the Carrier from London, with a Letter from the Merchant, figni- fying from whom it came. " Had he faid no- " thing, I fhould have prefumed it to have come <c from my beft Friend, of whole overflowing " Kindnefs, I have had fuch Experience already, 11 without any other Return than dry and barren £' Thanks. That Return I muft make at prefent, u and with my humble Service to your Lady, tl wiming her and you Health in this fevere and " trying Weather, I am, &c."
Mr.
0 New Memoirs of the Life and Poetical Works of Mr. John Milron, dedicated to the right honourable Arthur Onflow £fq, Speaker of the Houfc of Commons in 4 to, 174.0.
p Memoirs of the Life and Actions of Oliver Cromwell, dedica- ted to Mr, Auditor Benfon, 4W, 1740.
t 33 ]
Mr. Baker now began to find himfelf declin- ing apace, and therefore thought it advifeable to make his Will on 15th of October 1739, where- in he obligingly remembered many of his Friends, befides his valuable Legacies to the Lord Oxford, his College, and the Univerfity of Cambridge. On which Account, as well as for the religious and pious Strain in which it is drawn up, it de- ferves a Place in the Appendix.
He did not long furvive this, but died on 2d July, 1740, of a Paralytic Stroke, much lament- ed by his Friends ; as will appear, from the few following: Extracts of Letters on that Occafion to Dr. Grey.
Camb. Jan. 29, 1740. Dear Sir,
I have juft Time to acquaint you, that our worthy Friend Mr. Baker, was yefterday feized with a Paralytic Diforder, which has been in- creating ever fince, and it is the Opinion of every Body, that he cannot be of long Continuance. I thought this Advertifement due to you, as you will be fo great a Sharer in the common Con- cern. I am Dear Sir,
Your mod obedient and mod obliged
humble Servant, James Tunftal7.
Mr,
r- Tie was Fellow and Tutor of St. John's College, Orator of ;h; timerfity. and after wards Chaplain to the AI>p, of Canterbury,
F 2
[ 84 ]
Mr. Barton, Mr. Baker's Coufm, is here with his Nephew Mr. Baker, who was admit- ted Fellow Commoner the Day before this Dif- affer happened.
And the late very worthy Dr. William War- ren, Prefident of Trinity Hall, thus exprefTes himfelf in a Letter like wife to Dr. Grey on that Occafion.
Dear Sir,
" I preiume you have already heard of Sir John Hatton's Death'; but perhaps it may be News to you to be told, that on Wed- nesday laft, the Reverend, learned, pious, con- iciencious, and judicious Antiquary, Thomas Ba- ker, B. D, departed this Life in his own Cham- ber. He was found lying on the Floor, in a Paralytica! Diforder, two or three Days before he died."
Trin. Hall, July 4, 1740.
Dr. Sam. Knight, Archdeacon of Berkfhire, and Prebendary of Ely, thus fpeaks of him in a Letter to the fame of Sep 4, 1741.
cc I much lament (as I am Hire you do) the Lofs of our worthy Friend Mr. Baker. This alone will render Cambridge lefs agreeable to you."
He bequeathed by Will to his Friend Dr. Grey, his
Pictures
hrt, -r V-- Gta " Qamou '<
r 85 ]
Pictures and Prints unbequeathed, which upon the Doctor's enquiring after, gave Occafion to the following Letter from Dr. Williams.
Dear Sir,
cc You receive with this, the Cata- logue which you defiredj I believe one of the Anonymous is Dr. Corbett, which is bequeathed to Dr. Dickens for his College. There are feve- veral loofe unframed Prints, and two Books of Prints. Mr. Richd. Burton defires your Opinion, whether you think thefe fall within the Con- flruction of that Claufe, that relates to you, be- ing determined to execute his Uncle's Will, to the bed of his Knowledge and Information." Dr. Grey had likewife written to Mr. Burton, a Letter of confolatory Compliments upon this Occafion, to which he received the fubfequent Anfwer.
Rev. Sir,
" Your Letter of Condolence upon the Death of my Uncle is extremely kind, in whom I have not only loft a moft obliging Friend and near Relation, but muft bear a Share alfo of the Lofs fuftained by the Publick.
Should any fuch Papers as you enquire after, come to my Hands, they (hall certainly be com- municated to you : but I am inclined to think,
f 3 that
[ 86 ]
that moft of Value are difpofed of with his Ma- nufcript Collections, which feem to be fluffed with loofe Papers and Letters. Of thefe XXIII Volumes Folio are bequeathed to Lord Oxford, XV Folios and III Quarto Volumes to the Uni- verfity Library5, to the College Library, all fuch Books, printed or Manufcript, as he had, and were wanting there. From whence the Col- lege ieems to claim every Book in my Uncle's Study, cf which they have not the fame Edition, which in my Opinion is extending the Words a little too far : but I never heard that they claim- ed any Prints, in which I apprehend you have miitaken Dr. Williams meaning : Prints bound we look upon to be out of the Queftion. The loofe Prints which I found in a Box, are what are reckoned doubtful, for the Words, all Prints undifpofed of, are very exprefs, yet I think the following Words for the Ornament of his Houfe, feem to aflign the Ufe; but in this you fhall be your own Chancellor, nor will I feek or accept of any Other, and they mall be all ready to be delivered to your Orders at your own Time j for they are no fort of Trouble or Inconvenience to me where they are.. Your kind Offer of a Copy of my Uncle's Picture, I thank- fully
* A Grace for the proper Difpofal of which, ar.d fcr the placing his Name in the Commemoration Book amongft the Benefactors to the Publick Library, was pafTcd in the Senate on 30 Dec, 174c, which fhall have a Plate in the .4 :;rcndix.
[ «7 I
fully accepted, and accordingly employed Mr. Ritz to go to work upon it, but I find fome Dif- ficulty in coming at the Picture, &c.
Your moil faithful humble Servant,
R. Burton. Camb. July 19, 1740.
P. S. If you know any Inftances of Legacies left to the College, and how they have been de- termined, or have at any Time heard my Uncle declare his Defire therein, I fliall be very thank ful for an Account of what you have heard. My View in difputing any Claufe of the Will, being only to come at the Knowledge of his In- tention, and to purfue that wherever I can find it.
In another of 5th Aug*
— > £C He complains, that the College
Legacy frill kept him clofely confined there, though he fhould be very glad to be releafed, having fuch a whimfical crazy Conflitution to deal with, that it was dangerous to truft himfelf fo far from Home, when the Winter approaches1."
After Mr. Burton's return Home he had again Occafion to write to Dr. Grey, concerning the difpoial and Value of Mr. Baker's Books, which
Mr.
c Sec this Letter more at lar^ein Anecdotes of Eowyer, p.617.
F 4
[ 88 ]
Mr. George Baker had fome Difpohtion to pur- chafe and preferve in Memory of his Uncle, but was then obliged to make vile of another Hand, having no ufe of his own, it having been for a Month or more bound faft in Mifery and Flan- nel, and adds, as icon as I am able to write, I will defire Dr. Williams to look out Spelman's Gloffary, which you will give me leave to beg a Place for in your Study, where I fliall be proud to have it preferved, as a Memorial of our com- mon Friend, and a mark of that EfTeem with which 1 am
Your moil faithful and obliged humble Servant,
Rich. Burton. Elamore Hall, Jan. 17, 1740.
This worthy Gentleman died not long after, as appears by a Letter of Dr. Williams dated Mar. 4, 1740.
Mr. Burton Mr. Baker's Nephew died at Durham about ten Days ago, and if you will return the Catalogue of Mr. Baker's Books by Mr. II — with your Opinion of the Value, it may be of Service to ?4r. G. Baker, who I be- lieve will purchafe them of Mr. Burton's Ad mi- ni ftrator, for it is feared he died Inteliate" — — When Dr. Grey was collecting Materials for an
Account
1 ., -. f.,]nr rf the Pocks, that were not put into the College i,..tj '.V: Hands of Mr. Thurlbourne, Eooklcl^er at •■ jic rAd there bv Au&iou
[ .«9 ]
Account of Mr. Baker, he got fome Friends to apniy to Dr. Bedford" for that purpofe, who ac- cordingly favoured him with the following Par- ticulars in a Letter of 27 July, 1755. —
•' Dr. Sharp, at the Defire of your Brother at Newcastle, applied to me for any Particulars which I might have concerning Mr. Baker. Dr. Hunter alfo fhewed a Letter from you to the fame Effect.
I acquainted him with every Body I could think had any thing, and am a good deal furpri- zed that Mr. Crow fliould have nothing material, for he married one of Mr. Burton's Sillers, and immediately was pofTefled of every thing at Mr. Burton's Death, he dying inteftate. I will now give you an Account of Mr. Baker's Death, be- ing at that Time at Cambridge; and attended him with Dr. Heberden. " In the Afternoon be- ing alone in his Chamber, he was (truck with a flight apoplectick Fit, which abating a little, he recovered his Senfes, knew all about him7, and feemed perfectly fatisfied and refigned. When the Doctors defired him to take fome Medicine they mould order, he declined it, faying, he would only take his ufual Suftenance, which his Bed- maker knew the Time and Quantity of giving $ he was thankful for the affectionate Care his
Friends
* A Phyfician at Durham, a Relation, and formerly of ihc College^ 7 His Nephew Burton, Drs, Bedford and ticberden.
[ 9° ]
Friends {hewed towards him, but hoped the Time of his Difiblution was at hand, and would by no Means endeavour to retard it. His Difor- der increafed, and the third Day from the Seiz- ure he departed7. His accuitomed Regularity, and abftemious Way of Living, had, one would have imagined, been a Security from a Diforder of this Nature, though when perhaps it did come, ren- dered him the lefs able to flruggle with it. But it happened at the very Time, his great Nephew the prefent Mr. Baker, o^ Crook, was juft come from Eton School to be admitted at St. John's. Upon which Occafion, befides the great Joy he exprefied in feeing him, he frequented Company more than ufual, and had Entertainments in his own Chambers (what he very rarely practiced on any Account) fo that this unufual Hurry, de- stroyed that /Equilibrium of Spirits, his wonted Tranquility kept up; and like any other violent Excefs, proved too much for him to bear.
I recollect it always as one of the moft fortu- nate Incidents of my Life ; that I happened to be thrown in the Way at this Time, both as I had an Opportunity of feeing my much honour- ed and great Friend in his laft Minutes, as al- fo of having an Occafion of exerting myfelf in
his
y A more particular Account of his Ulnefs and Death oblig- ingly communicated by Dr, Heberdcn, -will be infencd in the Appendix.
[ 9' ]
his Service, who when I was a Student, had left no Act of Friendfhip or Relation undone towards me. Next, I am extremely glad of this farther and publick Opportunity of owning the great Obligations and Honour I had, in being known to, and in my youth regarded by ib great and learned a Man, fo kind and an affectionate a Re- lation. In a fubfequent Letter of 28th Sep- tember following, he farther acquaints him that Mr. Crow fays, "he has no Letters, &c. among Mr. Baker's Papers relating to him at all. That he had fome he let Mr. Smith, of Burne Hail fee, but they being as was thought, of no Account, were defTroyed in Mr. Burton's Houfe, where they were ufed by the Servants as vvafte Paper. Two Things Mr. Crow has, one the Deed to the College concerning the Exhibitions, of which the College muft have a Counterpart. The other the Inftrurnent, drawn for creating our Friend, Chaplain to Lord Crewe; and what is remarkable in it, 'tis in the Month and Year of the Revolution, and I fuppofe rejected by him, for the Day is left blank, and the whole not fub- icribed by his Lordfhip.
Dr. Grey wrote alio to Mr. Geo. Baker, to make the like Enquiries, to which he received the following Anfwer. " Sometime fince I did myfelf the Pleafure of anfwering your obliging Letter, and am foiry to find it has not reached
your
[ 92 ]
your Hands. In it I acquainted you that I have made diligent Search after the Effects and Papers my Uncle left, but can find none, as I believe they were all confirmed after Mr. Burton's Death, by an Accident, when in his Brother Crow's Cufto- dy, fo that I am afraid, I can give you no Light whatfoever of his Correfpondence or Life. I am greatly obliged to you for your kind Intention of perpetuating the Memory of my Uncle, and am
Yours, &c. Sep. 1 8, 1755. George Baker.
In relation to a Monument, Mr. B fays
pofitively, that the old Gentleman forbad any fuch to be erected in his Will. The words of the Will however are only " as to my Funeral I am not follicitous; I defire nothing but Christian Burial," fo that a plain Stone, with a moit and modefl Infcription at the lead, might have been laid over him, either by his Relations, or the College, with the greater!: Propriety, and had his Executor Mr. Burton, furvived him long, it is probable from his Character, that a decent Mo- nument to his Uncle's Memory, which he much revered, would not have been neglected. The latter part of Bp. Scougall's Character upon his Monument, would have exactly fuited that of Mr. Baker.
> — Omni Eloquio dignus, utpote pie pacificus, o modeite
[ 93 ]
modeite prudens, Eruditse probitatis decus et ex- emplar: nee morose gravis, nee fuperbe doclus".
And I cannot help adding, that I think its hav- ing been not hitherto done, fhews a Want of pro- per refpeel to his Memory; as in a very few Years the Place of his Interment, (on the North Side of the Antechapel, near the Monument of Archdeacon Afheton, on whofe Foundation, he had been both Scholar and Fellow) may be for- gotten, although his Name never can, whilft any of the many Works of Literature, he aflifted in communicating to the Publick, fhall remain2.
He died on the fecond Day of July, in 174c, in the 84th Year of his Age, and was attended by the Society, as ufual, at his Funeral foon after: when an Oration was made over him by Mr, Clarke one of the Fellows b; wherein the Lofs of fo valuable a Perfon to the Republick of Letters, the Univerfity and College was juflly lamented.
The following Account of him in a printed Paper drawn up by a Member of the College,
and
z Montekh's Theatre of Mortality, p. So.
a And that it cculd not be his Intentien to forbid any kind of a Monument, 1 think farther appears, from his having erected one in the Chancel of the Great Church of Kingtton upon Hull, to the Memory of his Grandfather Sir George Baker above mentioned, at no fmall Expence ; whole Remains, defcrving as he was of a better Fate, laid t!-*-re unregarded above forty Years. Upon this he pla- ced an Infcription given at length in the Append. See Gents Hilt, cf Kingilon, p. 25.
h See a full Account of this Ceremony, by Mr. Wm, Cole cf King's College, in a Letter to .Dr. Grey in the Append,
[ 94 ]
and prefixed to the Books given by him to the Library, may ferve inftead of a Monument.
Biblioth: Coll: Div. Johan. Cant.
Ex dono
Viri Reverendi Thomae Baker, S.T.B.
Qui olim fuerat hujus Collegii Socius,
Poftea vero, ex Senatus Confulto ejectus,
In his iEdibus Hofpes confenuit,
Vitae integritate et fama,
Quam ex Antiquitatis fludio confecutus erat
celeberrimus.
Nothing now remains, but before I conclude thefe Memoirs, to fpeak fomewhat of the Cha- racter of the worthy Subject of them, as well as of the Friends with whom he was immediately connected in the Univerfity, in the latter part of his Life,
Dr. Warburton, afterwards Bp. of Gloucefler, who was not difpofed to flatter any one, thus fpeaks of him, <c Good old Mr. Baker of St. *< John's has indeed been very obliging. The " People of St. John's almoft adore the Man ; t{ for as there is much in him to efteem, much <c to pity, and nothing (but his Virtue and «« Learning) to envy, he has ail the Juflice at " prefent done him, that few people of Merit «' have till they are dead".
s Sec W-irbn: tor;iar..ii i'>\ Maty'? r.ew Re ::;-.',. p. 1 44.,
t 95 ]
And Dr. I.Green late Bp. of Lincoln, who lived many Years with him in the fame College, in a Letter to the Editor, fays, " that although he had " no Intercourfe with him, yet he had a general <c Knowledge of his great Civility, his gentle and tc affable Behaviour to all, and that mafterly Skill ct in all matters of Antiquity, for which he was <c fo much celebrated and confulted.
He was, I am informed, b^ one who knew him well, of an eafy and polite Addrefs, info- much that he might have been thought to have been educated in a Court, had not his Sincerity been fuch, that it might reaibnably be judged he never faw one, and of confequence avoided all the Inconveniences of fuch a kind of Life.
His Converfation was lively and yet grave, chearful and yet ferious : fomething inftructive and agreeable was ever dropping from his Lips, but nothing trifling or cenforious, was ever known to proceed thence.
As his Studies were employed both in Divinity and Humanity, and he withal made Chriftianity his conusant Practice, that which had taken firm PofTefiion of his heart, occaficually flowed from his Mouth; and as every one was fatisfied of his invincible Integrity, the ufeful Hints fu^efted in common Converfation had a fuitable Influence upon their Minds : Infomuch that everyone who had the Pleafure of his Company, mud be high-
Iv
[ 96 ]
ly fatisfied with the Man, and go out of it, a bet- ter Man himfelf.
And when he formerly apppeared in the Pul- pit, the Sentiments of an honeit Heart, recom- mended by good Senfe, Learning and a graceful Addrefs, could not fail of having a proper Effect upon every candid and unprejudiced Hearer.
As to his Literature, the Compilers of the Bi- ograph. Britan. in their Preface thus (peak of him, after mentioning Wood's Athenae Oxon. &c. It was once hoped we mould have (ttn the like Attention {hewn, towards the learned Men educated at Cambridge, and had the Work been executed, as it was at firft defigned, by the late reverend and excellent Mr. Baker, it muft have been a mafterly Performance, fince, with all the Care and Induftry of Wood, he had a fine Ge- nius, and wrote a moil correct Style 3 equally re- moved from the itarched Setnefs of a fententious Writer, and from that luxuriancy that produces long and languid Periods. But befides all thefe, he had ftill greater Qualities, fuch as Calmnefs of Mind, Candour of Heart, and a moft un- fufpected Integrity. We may juftiy therefore re- gret the Lofs of fuch a Work, from fuch a Man. p. xi.
His Life was in every refpect irreproachable, his Converfation entertaining and improving; his Manner extremely agreeable ; his Countenance
pleafmg
t 97 ]
pleating and venerable ! and whenever he vouch' lafed to fpeak upon any Subjecl, within the com- pais of his Knowledge (and he never went out of it) it was fure to lofe no Advantage thereby. With (6 many excellent Qualifications and Ad- vantages, there were no Shades in his Character, but what tended rather to add greater Beauty to the whole. Some who ftudied Politicks more than Cafuiftry, might pofiibly call the exaclnefs of his Judgment in queftion, in refpedt to his itrong Attachments to the Party he had made choice of; but even that muft raife our Idea of his inflexi- ble Goodnefs and Integrity.
He lived in Times, when the Notions of Re- gal Power, were raifed much above thofe of our prefent Conftitution j and as Politicks were never his favourite Study, he only confidered the fa- crednefs of an Oath (as many worthy Men among his Fellow-fufferers did in like Manner) which in general it is certain, will admit of no Sort of Difpenfation, and the deteftable Sin of Perjury, with all its dreadful Confequences ; and being bound to that deluded and unfortunate Prince, K. James, by an Oath, which in his Judgment appeared to be indifpenfable, when the Revoluti- on was brought about, in adherence to his for- mer Principles, which would not permit him to transfer his Allegiance, he relinquifhed, not only his Living in the Bifhoprick of Durham, but
G with
[ 98 ]
with it all his future Profpecls in Life, which from his Situation muft have been very great, to fecure a quiet Confcience in a peaceable Retire- ment from the World: the ftrongeft Inftance be could polfibly give of his Sincerity, whatever it may be thought, of his Prudence and Difcretion. With this civil Miftake (for which every can- did Perfon will be difpofed to make all reafonable Allowance) he was not in the leaft inclined to an- other of an Ecclefiaflical kindj nor do I believe he would have been that Way difpofed, had he continued in full Power with his Diocefan.
The late reverend and learned Mr William Whifton, in his Memoirs'1 afTures us, that Bp. Lloyd told him, " that after the Aflaflination Plot in 1696, the Odium of which was fo great, that not a Jacobite would have remained in the Nati- on, had not the extreme Rigour of the following Act, againft thofe that would not fign an AfToci- ation, kept up the Spirit of Oppofition to the Government ever afterward ; which puts me in mind of the like cafe of two of the Non-jurors of St. John's College, Cambridge, Mr. Billets and Mr. Baker, who loved their Religion and' their Country, as well as any Jurors whatever: but having- once taken an Oath to K. James, could not iatisfy their Con fciences in breaking it, whilit. he lived, for any Confideration whatever.
Thcfe
• r irii fcditio::, p. 32.
[ 99 ]
Thefe two were long my particular Acquaintance : and I well remember, that when K. James died, they began to deliberate about taking the Oaths and coming into the Government, till the Abju- ration Oath, unfortunately in that refpeel, was to be taken."
And this fame Mr. Whifton (to whofe Tefti- mony a much greater regard is to be had than to his Judgment,) when he had once efpoufed an Opinion, was fo fanguine (although probably at the fame Time fincere) that he imagined all Friends who did not contradict him, were in the fame Way of thinking with himfelf : had publiflied a fmall Tracl, in Vindication of the Genuinenefs of the Apoftolical Confutations, which although containing many excellent Things, conformable to the Doctrines of the Apoftles and Opinions of their SuccefTors, yet at the fame Time are intermixt with many Heretical Interpo- lations, of much later Date than he affigns them. And here he has introduced Mr. Billers and Mr. Baker (in Company indeed with ABp. Sharpe, Bps. Smallridge, Hoadly, Bradford, &c.) as being of the fame Opinion, as may be {qci\ more at large in his Memoirs, they having been amongft the Friends he moft familiarly converfed with at Cambridge, whilft he was examining the Primitive Faith and the Apoftolical Conftituti- ons. Now this Intimacy with thefe two Gentle- men,
G 2
[ 10° ]
men, gave Occafion to a Report, that they were of his Opinion, as appears from a Letter of Mr. Baker to Mr. Whifton0 of 29th Nov, 1710, to the
following Purport. " Dr. O f makes a Noife
" in the Coffee Houfes, that you had given out, " that Mr. Billers and I, were of your Opinion, " which though I don't believe, having always t( referved myfelf, till I faw the Strength of what " could be faid in your Books and the Anfwers, 44 yet it makes as much Noife as if it was true. " I am dear Sir,
" Your mofl obedient humble Servant
" Thomas Baker."
This I think fully clears Mr. Baker's and Mr. Billers's Characters on this Head, who could not fee hindered, as he fufpecls many others were, by worldly Motives, from declaring their Opinions.
He publifhed not many Books himfelf indeed, yet thofe he did publifh, mew a mafterly Hand, and are truly valuable. But his principal Labour was beftowed in doing honour to his Country, by fearching out its mod valuable Antiquities ; in which he made fuch a Progrefs and fo much excelled, that many learned Men, who were well able to judge of his Abilities, willingly offered him that tribute of Praife, fo juftly due to his Merit.
By
c See the Life of Dr. Clarke, p. 22,3.
4 Pnbably Dr. Otway, Fellow of St. John's College.
t 10! ]
By his great Knowledge in Englifh Hiftory and Antiquities, he was enabled to enlighten the darkeft and moft obfcure PafTages in both, as hath appeared from many Parts of the foregoing Memoirs. But nothing could better manifeft his great Reading, extenfive Knowledge and accurate Judgment, than the large and curious Obferva- tions he made upon thofe Books he vouchfafed to read with Attention2, and which are by that Means become truly valuable. And fuch are thofe more efpecially bequeathed by Will to the Uni- verfity, and private Friends, all noted with his own Hand. A Collection, extracted from which, by a Perfon of Judgment might probably be of great Ufe to the Publick, and it is hoped will fome Time or other be accordingly made. Thefe, with the large MS. Collections he left behind him (a Catalogue of which, copied in part from Dr. Middleton's, will be hereunto annexed) fhew what great Things may be accomplifhed, by a Perfon of Induftry and Application, during a long Life, and how every portion of his Time may be em- ployed in ufeful Enquiries.
I have
s In a Note by T. F. In the Anecdotes of Bowyer, Mr. Baker's Obfervations in his Books are reprefented as trifling, and that too from his not having wrote Notes on Taylor's Lyfias, whereas his Notes were generally of a Biographical Nature, and related either to the Life of the Author, or fome Account of the Book; and thefe too, if I am not miftaken much to the Purpofe, as may be feen in thofe prefixed to Smith's Catal. Libror. MSS. Biblioth. Cotton, in the Append, inferted there with fome others as a Specimen, to ob- viate this Objection.
G3
[ I02 ]
I have already mentioned his Act of parental Piety, in creeling a Monument to the Memory of his Grandfather : nor was he lefs inclinable to general Acts of Charity and Beneficence : as far as his {lender Income would enable him. His particular Regard to his own College, was fully manifeiled in the following Inftances.
Being appointed one of the Executors of his eldeft Brother's Will, whereby a large Sum was bequeathed to charitable Ufes, he prevailed with the other Tru flees, the Hon. Charles Montague, of Efington, in the County of Northumberland, Efquire, and Francis Baker, of Whicham, in the Bifhoprick of Durham, Gent, to lay out 1310^. ( and it is fuppofed he added fomething of his own) in the Purchafe of an Eilate, to be veiled in the College, for the Maintenance of Scholars therein. The Indenture for thefe Exhibitions bears Date 5 May, 1710. The Number of them is fix, and the right of difpofal of them was referved to himfelf during his Life, and after- wards veiled in the Mailer and the eight fenior Fellows of the College.
He likevvife gave an Hundred Pounds to the College, referving only the ufual Intereii, at the Time he gave it, to himfelf for Life, with fe- veral choice Books both MS. and printed, with Coins and Medals to the Library, befides thofe he bequeathed by his Will, which were not a few:
and
r 103 ]
and moil of thofe rendered very valuable, for his Notes and Obfervations upon them.
He was alfo, it is faid, greatly inflrumental in raifing the Sum of 200^. for procuring Queen Ann's Bounty, towards the Augmentation of the Livmg of his native Parifh of Lanchefter, which he thought flood in need of fuch an Addition.
Nor was his Charity in other Refpecls lefs re- markable ; he was of fo benevolent a Difpofition, that he judged favourably of every one, till he found fufricient Reafon for altering his Opin- ion. And fo far was he from treating any Man with Contempt and Infolence, or injuring any- one's Reputation, that he chofe willingly to allow him a greater degree of Efteem, than he could fairly claim, rather than deny him any Part of the Refpe6l that was really his due.
And though, as we obferved before, the Lofs of his Fellowfhip gave him real Concern, and his Circumflances, before but ilrait, were thereby- much reduced, yet he flili retained a chearful Difpofition, and the Principles of Chriflianity were fo thoroughly implanted in his Mind, that the Lofs of no earthly Thing, could rob him of that Contentment and Confolation, a quiet Con- fcience affords. He was always uniformly difpofed to conform to the Allotments of Providence, whether profperous, as at the beginning of Life, or adverfe, as towards the latter end, and not
g 4 more
[ io4 ]
more defuous of improving the one, to the Ho- nour of the Donor, than of patiently acquiefcing under the other, to teftify his Submiffion.
And fuch was his Attachment to Religion, and its feveral Offices (at which he regularly attended whilft able) that I doubt not he made it his conftant Care, and the chief Buiinefs of his Life, to prepare for Death ; which, had he not been feized with a Diforder, that depriv- ed him in fome Meafure of his Senfes, would have -appeared, in a far difFerent Light to him than to the generality of Mankind ; and though Nature might have been difpofed to recoil, yet would he, as indeed he did, without the leaft Alarm fubmit, with the greater!: Calmnefs and Compofure.
A man thus humane, courteous and benefi- cent : ever difpofed to live in Harmony and Unanimity with others, cannot well be fuppofed to have had many Enemies, fince it mult have been difficult for them to have found any Occa- fion of Quarrel, and therefore he was the moft likely Man living to enjoy Peace and Quiet, whilfl others were embroiled -, yet when others broke their Words with, or attempted to deceive him, he could not help (hewing fome degree of Refent- ment. So remarkably punclual was he to his Word and Promife, that he was not a little hurt at the Want ef it in others. His Hours of
Repofe
[ J°5 1
Repofe and Refrefhment were fo regular, and his Attachment to his Studies fuch (all the Refidue of his Time being fo employed ) that any Interrupti- ons therein were very diipleafing. No Man paid a greater regard to real Merit, whenever he became acquainted with it, but he was not given to flat- ter thofe whofe Pride taught them to form high Conceits of their fuperiour Abilities, and fo were difpofed to look upon that as a Neglect, which was never intended as fuch ; to whom an Omiffion in a Punctilio of Refpecl, is a high Provocation, and a Crime fcarcely to be forgiven. Perfons of this Character he induftrioufly avoided, and there- fore it is not to be wondered at, they fhould be diflatisfied with himh.
In fhort, fuch were Mr. Baker's Talents and his model! Opinion of himfelf, that I cannot bet- ter conclude his Character, than in the Words of Mr. Nelfon upon Bp. Bull, none being more fuitable and expreflive of it.
<£ Amidil
h Mr. Baker was generally allowed to be one of the moil exaQ: Copiers of original Papers, and yet I find Mr. Bennet, the late Editor of Mr. Afcham's Englifh Works, after the Obligations he was un- der to him, for preferving fome of his Letters to private Friends, which he had tranferibed into his 1 6th Vol. p. 275, is pleafed to ob- ierve in a Note at the bottom of p. 369, that thefe Letters are un- ikilfully tranferibed, fo that proper " Names are not always recover- able." Whereas their being copied from the Original according to the old Way of fpelling, is what I prefume has offended our modern Editor, although therein confift their greateft Merit. His Note upon Touch of Crell in the following Page feems to be very trifling, fince the Writer's meaning feems to be only, that the Bird could fwallow a Penny Loaf without any trouble, or making of his Creft. See beginning of Vol. I.
[ io6 J
<l Amidil all thofe extraordinary Talents, with which God had blefTed him, it never ap- peared that he ever valued himfelf, or defpifed others. For though his natural Endowments were of no ordinary Size, and were wonderfully improved by Study and Application, his great Learning was tempered with that modeft and humble Opinion of it, that it thereby fhined with greater Luftre'."
His Picture was purchafed out of Lord Ox- ford's Collection, by Dr. Ravvlinfon, and placed by him in the Picture Gallery at Oxford. Charles Bridges, pinxit memoriter, and a Mezzotinto Print was done from it by J. Simon. And Mr. Virtue on going to Cambridge, had been privately engaged to draw by ftealth, the Portrait of old Mr. Tho. Baker, of St. John's then an eminent Antiquary, earlier in his Life the modeft Author of that ingenious and polifhed little piece, Reflec- tions on Learning1".
I fhall now proceed to fay fomething of his Friends and Acquaintance in the Univerfity, more particularly of thofe of the latter Part of his Life, being not fo well acquainted with thofe in the former. And at the Head of thefe may juftly be placed the Earl of Oxford, fo famed for his moft
excellent
1 Life of F!p. Bull, p. 4.80.
i: \V,-;lpn]t\ [ ifc of Virtue, p. 259. His Arms, on a Letter to Mi. Wilhr.ma were, on a Snkirc engrailed 5 Efcallops, no Colours
cwprciild.
[ *°7 ] excellent Collection of Books and MSS, then de- pofited at Wimple in this Neighbourhood, the ufual Place of his Reiidence; from whence he frequently vifited his Friends at Cambrid, , and in particular Mr. Baker, for whom he always tes- tified the higheft Regard j andjindeed often mewed it, not only by frequent Vifits, and mod obliging Correfpondence, but by generous prefents of Wine, &c. (for I am told he would receive no others) In Return for which Favours, Mr. Baker bequeathed to him the larger Sharer of his valu- able MSS, after having given him all the Affift- ance he was able, in making that extraordinary Collection. A fubftantial proof of his Gratitude, which would have been exceeded by no one, had his Circumftances correfponded with his liberal Difpofition. This Nobleman's Attachment to Literature, the indefatigable Pains he took, and the large Sums he expended in making the above Collection, are too well known, to Hand in need of any farther Notice, than that of Mich. Mat- taire, in the Dedication of the Catalogue of the printed Books to Lord Carteret, in the following Words. " Comes Ille Oxonienfis, infignis apud probos omnes et eruditos domi forifque, undecun- quecorradi poffint, paffimperquifitas, magnisfum- ptibus, Induftria fingulari, ftudioque indefeflb, in banc congeflit." And in that large one of MSS, now happily depofited in the Britifii Mufeum,
where
[ io8 ]
where all Men of Literature, may not only have free Accefs to, but the moft comfortable Accommo- dations for their Perufal and Application. As to other Parts of this Lord's Character, Family Connections, &c. they are to be met with in the Peerage, and elfwhere, to which I mall rather choofe to refer the Reader, than enlarge upon them here.
As Mr. Baker had for many Years before his Death, been almoft a Reclufe, and feldom went farther than the College Walks, unlefs to a Coffee Houfe in an Evening, after Chapel, where he commonly fpent an Hour with great Chearful- nefs, in converting with a felect Number of his Friends and Acquaintance, chiefly upon literary Subjects ; I fhall here take the Liberty of giving a fhort Account of fome of them.
Dr. Francis Dickens, Fellow of Trinity Hall, was one of thefe, who took the Degree of LL.B. in 1704, and had that of A.M. conferd upon him by Mandate in 17 10, in order to enable him to take the Proctorfliip, upon a Devolution to that College by the Death of Mr. Fran. Turner, A.M. Fellow of King's College, for the Re- mainder of that Year1, which Office was in like Manner confer'd upon him again, on the Death
of
1 This Office comes regularly to this College, only once in fifty Years, (I fuppofe by Reafcn of their being all Civilians, except two Fellows) unlefs in Cafes of Death, when it always devolves to that Houfe.
[ io9 ]
of Mr. John Bagnell, A.M. of Jefus College, ill the following. This Office, according to his ufual Humanity, he is faid to have executed with great Lenity and Tendernefs, and therein to have copi- ed Bp. Sanderfon's Conduct, when Fellow of Lincoln College, in Oxford, in 1615, as related in his Life by Walton.
He proceeded LL.D. in 17 14, and upon the Death of Dr. Ayloffe, was foon after appointed Regius Profeffor of Civil Law, in Oppofition to Dr. Audley, in Favour of whom a Petition had been fent up to the Queen, ligned by the Vice- chancellor and many of the Headsm, but the In- tereft of his Brother, Mr. Dickens, Serjeant Sur- geon to the Queen, prevailed.
He was a Perfon, not only well efteemed for his Learning in general, and extraordinary At- tainments in his Profeffion, but beloved by all who knew him, for his fweetnefs of Difpofition, and uncommon Degree of Humanity. No Pro- feffor, I may venture to fay, from the Foundation, ever made a greater Figure in the Chair, and few I believe have equalled him. His Command in the pureft Latin Tongue, placed him upon a Le- vel in that Refpecl:, with two of our moft cele- brated Profeffors of Divinity, Dr. Beaumont and Dr. James, the one Matter of Peterhoufe, and the other of Queen's College; and was not fup-
poied
m Mar. 21, 171-1
[ "o ]
pofed to fall greatly fhort of them, in Knowledge of the Queftions and Management of the Difpu- tations. And his Determinations upon forne of the Queftions that came before him, were fo ex- cellent, that they were much attended to and ad- mired i and an eminent Divine, has been heard to declare more than once, there were fome Paf- fages in St. Paul's Epiftles, he could not compre- hend, till he heard them explained by him, in the mod fatisfactory Manner, from the Roman Laws. Yet fuch were his great Modefty and Humility, that he ordered them all to be burnt before his Death, to the unfpeakable Lofs of fuch, as pur- pofe to make the Civil Law, their principal Study. No one, I will venture to afTert, was better quali- fied for the Inftrudtion of Youth, as having joyned to his natural Sweetnefs of Temper, and great Knowledge in Literature, a happy Manner of communicating it. And wherein he fpared nei- ther Pains nor Labour, in inftrucling both his own Pupils, and thofe who attended his Courfe of Lectures ; fo that where Capacity, or Attention were not wanting, they were enabled to keep Exercife under him to advantage, and when they did fo, were fure of meeting with his publick Ap- probation. In Confirmation of which, a Gentle- man who attended a young Baronet abroad, to the Law Lectures of that celebrated ProfefTor, Bar- beyrac, at Laufanne, has been heard confidently
to
[ I" ]
to affert, that Dr. Dickens had fuch a happy Way of expreffing hirnfelf, and explaining every Thing in the Civil Law, that his Pupils might learn more from his Lectures in a Week, than from Barbeyrac's in a Month.
To this I may add, his uncommon Degree of Generofity, well known to all his Friends and Acquaintance, and particularly experienced by fuch as kept Exercife under him, and whofe Cir- cumftancesgave them any Claim to it. By fuch Acls of Bounty, he greatly leflened his annual Income j which from his Paternal Eftate, Profefforfliip, Fellowfhip and Pupils was very confiderable. Nay had he lived to have enjoyed a large Eftate in Suffolk, left him by a remote Relation, after the Deceafe of his Widow, 'tis probable, a good Part of it would have been employed in Acls of Be- nevolence, and fuch like good Works. But his Death which happened in iy- — prevented any fuch Application, and gave an Opportunity to Ambrofe Dickens, Efq. his worthy Nephew, of Wollafton, in Northamptonfhire, to ftand in his Room.
Dr. William Baker, fenior Fellow and Dean of St. John's College, was another of his Friends, whom he ufed to meet at the fame Place. A Man of great Learning and Probity, but reckoned ri- gorous in the Execution of his Office. As it is well known however, that he had both the Inter- eft
eft of the College, and of the Youth at heart, Co he often received Thanks, from fuch as he had animadverted upon in the mod fevere Manner, when they confidered the real Service he had done them, by his well intended and timely Admonitions.
Dr. Conyers Middleton", Principal Librarian of the Univerfity of Cambridge, was another of the fame Party. A Perfon well known to the learned World, as an accomplifhed Gentleman and a Polite Scholar. His Life of Cicero, Book of Genuine Antiquities, and many other Pieces, were received by the Publick with the higher! Applaufe; and had he confidered the Imperfecti- ons of human Learning (without the Aid and Afliftance of divine Revelation) a little more, no one would have appeared to greater advantage, amongft Men of Letters. He gave great Offence, it is certain, by fome of his Writings, both to the Publick, and to fome of his particular Friends, which brought upon him many Reflections, and put a flop to his Preferment : but whatever his real Sentiments of the Chriftian Religion were, it muft in Juftice to him be owned, that he was ne- ver heard to fay any Thing, that in the leafb ten- ded to its Impeachment or Difcredit. His Con- verfation always appeared to be truly Chriftian,
and
n Sec his Life prefixed to his Works in 4 Vols. 4to. and in Bio- graph. Britan. p. 3092. And Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 125.
[ "3 ]
and no Man led a more exemplary Life, nor in his Practice paid a greater Regard to religious Ordinances and Inftitutions. Such however is the Power of Prejudice, that Mr. Baker himfelf, after his many open Declarations concerning Re- velation0, was thought by fome, to have been in- feezed by the Do6lor with the Principles of Infi- delity, from frequently converfing with him in this public Way, and in Company with many other learned Perfons of his Acquaintance5". Yea a City Divine, of fome eminence for Literature, was fo prejudiced againft the Doctor, as to ftyle him in Contempt, the Man of one Syllogifm, as if incapable of carrying an Argument above that length ; when every one who knew him, muft be fully convinced, that no one was more capable of defending the right Side of a Queflion than him- felf: and indeed his Writings themfelves, are an ample Attestation of this Truth.
Philip Williams, D.D. and fenior Fellow of St, John's College, another of Mr. Baker's Acquaint- ance, was an eminent Tutor, publick Orator of the Univerfity, and a good Divine.
He kept the Divinity Act, at the publick Com- mencement in 1730, and though oppofed by fome
of
0 In his Chapter on Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, and elfewhere.
p A Clergyman of the Town, once afked Dr. Grey if he was not an Infidel, from having heard that he fpent moft of his Evenings at the Doflor's Houfc, whereas perhaps he fcarce ever was there, but ufuallv m»t him in publick Company at the Coffee Houfe.
II
[ "4 ]
of the mod learned Men in the Univerfity, ac- quitted himfeif with great Credit and Applaufe. He likewife diftinguiihed himfeif as an Orator, although the Bufinefs of a good one is extremely difficult, and the Requifites to make one, attain- able by few. And his Addrefs in the Pulpit was fuch, as gave great Advantage to his Sermons, and caufed him to be an admired Preacher.
James Tundal, D.D. Fellow of the College, likewife, was a Perfon highly edeemed, not only for his good Learning, but for the Sweetnefs of his Difpofition. As a Pupil Monger, no one took more Pains for the Improvement of fuch as were placed under his Care ; and his Succefs was, I am told, anfwerable to his warmed Willies. As fenior Dean of the College, the mildnefs of his Reproofs, wrought more upon the Tempers of feveral Perfons of ingenuous Minds, than the fharpeft Cenfures, or the fevered Difcipline would have been able to effect.
He appeared with Credit both as a Divine, and publick Orator, but as a Difputant few were his Equals. He acquired fuch Applaufe by his Act for his Doctor's Degree, that in my Remem- brance no one deferved more, Dr. Rutherforth, the late learned ProfefTor of Divinity excepted, whofe Powers were really aftonifhing, and whofe Act probably equalled that of Dr. Clarke record- ed in his Lite. He wrote a Latin Treatife againd
Dr
t >>5 ]
Dr. Middleton concerning Cicero's Epiftles to At* ticus, &c. with other Publications, which may be kcny with a farther Account of him, in Nichols's Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 351. He was made Chaplain to ABp. Potter, from whom he received fome considerable Preferments, but lived not long to enjoy them.
Though thefe were Mr. Baker's principal Ac- quaintance, yet were there many others in the Univerfity, for whom he had the higheft Regard. Amongft thefe were the reverend and learned Dr. Newcome, late Mafter of the College, and his excellent Lady : who befides her unufual Attain- ments, in fome ufeful Branches of Science, not attended with the leaf! Vanity or Affectation, was pofleffed of every Accomplishment belonging to her Sex. Of the Favours received from thefe worthy Perfons, he makes honourable Mention in his Will, and of whom more may be fee 11 in the Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 17, and elfwhere.
To thefe I may add Mr. Robert Leke, B.D. Fellow of the fame College, and afterwards Rector of Great-Snoring, in Norfolk; who was generally efteemed a Man of Learning, and a good Preacher. And the late Mr. Henry Peyton, Fellow Commoner ; whofe good Nature and ami- able Difpohtion juftly endeared him to all his Acquaintance. Like wife the late worthy Dr. William Warren, Prefident of Trinity Hall, Dr.
h 2 Henry
[ n6 ]
Henry Monfon, Fellow of the fame, and Regius Profeffor of Law, with the amiable Sir James Bnrrough, A.M. Succeflbr to Bp. Gooch, in the Mafterfhip of Caius College j whofe focial Difpo- fition, united to a gentlemanlike and polite Be- haviour, gained him an univerfal Efteem.
But he had a greater Regard for no Man, nor did any one better deferve it, than the learned William Heberden, M.D. of the fame College, who attended him in his laft Illnefs, and upon whofe amiable Character I fhould gladly have en- larged) had not the ftricteft Injunctions been given to the Contrary. Some creditable Particu- lars however concerning him, are to be met with in the Anecdotes of Bowyer, at p. 26, 488, 641. The laft, though not the leaft of his Friends, whom I (hall here take Notice of, was Dr. Zach- ary Grey, the Collector of the Materials of this Life ; of whom and his Writings an Account is given in Nichols's Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 354, where he is faid to have been of Yorkfhire, ad- mitted Penfioner of Jefus College, in Cambridge, in 1704, and from thence removed to Trinity Hall, in 1706. He was Rector of Houghton Conqueft, in Bed ford (hire, where, or at the neigh- bouring Town of Ampthill, he uiually fpent the Summer, and refided at Cambridge in the Win- ter, where he was Vicar of the Parifhes of St. Peter and St. Giles, He was, as is there truly af
ferted
t "7 J
ferted, of a mod amiable, and communicative Difpofition, and never better pleafed than when performing Acts of Friendfhip and Benevolence, He had fpent a great deal of Time in reading a large Collection of Books, and publifhed many more Tracts in Relation to Englilh Hiftory, &c. than are enumerated by Mr. Nichols : who in- troduces the Bifhops Gibfon and Sherlock, as fpeaking highly in Commendation of him, for his Examination of Neal's Hiftory of the Puri- tans. But notwithflanding his great Application to his Studies, he always appeared lively and chearful, and no Man delighted more in the Com- pany of his Friends, or entertained them in a more hofpitable and agreeable Manner. In fhort, he feemed to enjoy, all that Eale and Hap- pinefs, ufually arifmg from a good Heart, and a contented Mind. Addenda.
In the Bodleian Catalogue, at p. 347, is a Book entitled, " Querimonia Johan. Somerfet, de Ingratitudine Univerfitat. Cantab, et fpeciali- ter contra fupremos Socios Coll. Regis, auftore Guil. Worcefter five Bottoner cum Obfervationi- bus Tho. Bakeri de eodem, Oxon. 8vo. 1727." This was publifhed by his Friend Tho. Hearne, who thus acknowledges his AiTiftance, Obferva- tiones de Joanne Somerfet, ex Epiftolis quinque ad Editorem datis, in quibus Obfervationibus et notas quafdam luculentas fimul et eximias habes,
H 3 et
[ n8 ]
et de viro magno et infelici Edmundo Caftelloq> quas meo rogatu mifit amiciffimus Bakerusr.
P. 18. Mr. Locke's EfTay on Human Under- ftanding was firfr publiflied in 1 689, and although Mr. Baker's Reflections upon Learning, did not come forth till ten Years after: yet the former, however valuable in itfelf, and however highly efteemed fmce, was at that Time in no Degree of Credit, and we may prefume little read ; yea at a Meeting of the Heads of Houfes at Oxford, fo late as 1703, it was propofed to cenfure and difcourage the reading of it*. 'Tis not much to be wondered at therefore, Mr. Baker in his Chap- ter of Logic fhould pafs it by without Notice.
The Author of his Life in the new Biograph. Britan. feems not only to countenance Dr. Jor- tin's Reflections upon Mr. Baker, but much dif- pofed to lower him in the Opinion of the World, and even taxes him with fpeaking contemptuoufly and ignorantly of the Copernican Syftem, in his Chapter of Afrronomy: without attending to the great Improvements made in Mathematics, Na- tural Philofophy, and in that very Science, by
the
r! This lesrned Man was concerned with Bp. Walton, in the publication of the Polyglot Bible, and Lexicon Heptaglotton. He had been Fellow of King's College, and became Redlor of Higham Ciobion in Bedfordshire, where he died in 1674, and was buried in the Church.
' Append. Tho. de Elmharn Vita et Gefta Henrici, V. 1727.
• See Locke's Works, Vol. IV, ^to. 1777. A Letter to Collins p. 61 S.
r "9 ]
the Difcoveries of Sir Ifaac Newton and others, fince that Period.
P. 33. Bp. Burnet fays in the Preface, to the III Vol. of the Hiftory of the Reformation, " In feveral Particulars I do not perfectly agree with thefe Corrections, but I fet them down as they were fent to me, without any Remarks on them, and I give my hearty Thanks in the fulled Manner I can, to him who was firft at the Pains to make this Collection, and then had the Good- nefs to communicate it to me, in fo obliging a Manner : for he gave me a much greater Power over thefe Papers than I have thought fit to alfume:" And that Mr. Baker was the Perfon al- luded to is certain from his own Entry in this Volume, " Ex dono doctiflimi Authoris ac ce« leberrimi Prsefulis Gilberti Epifcopi Sarisburi- enfis, adding I mall always have an Honour for the Author's Memory, who entered all the Cor- rections I had made, at the end of this Volume." If any more are found, they were not fent, for he fupprelled nothing. An Inftance much to the Credit of both, who were Perfon s of fuch differ- ent Principles.
Dr. Hatcher's is no more than a Catalogue of Perfons educated in King's College, with fome fhort Notes upon them, and does not extend to the Univerfity, as intimated in the Britifh Topo-
h 4 graphy
t 120 ]
graphy ifl Ed. p. 102. in Note D. The Account there given of Baker's MS. Collections is very fu- peifkial, and yet much too long and tedious for a Note, in a Work of that kind.
I never met with the leafl Hint of Mr. Prior's giving him the Profits of his Fellowfhip, but in the Biograph. Britan. p. 520, and therefore can- not imagine Dr. Goddard could be well informed in that Matter : or that there was more Truth in it, than in that of Ld. Oxford's Annuity above noticed, p. 71.
P. 56. Wm. Wake, ABp. of Cant.
ob. 24 Jan. 1736, iEtat 79. This Infcription is upon his Ring, which I preferve in Memory of him. T. B.
P. 62. In Bp. Kenet's Regifter, is the follow- ing Entry j
Donum
Doctiflimi Authoris
brevi poft extincli
Dec. 19, 1728, mihi quidem flebilis occidit.
P. 66. And in that of Mr. Anftis Regifter of
the noble Order of the Garter.
Donum ornatifiimi viri Joannis
Anftis Armigeri Fecialis Primarii,
Vulgo, Garter Principalis Regis
Armorum five Infignium.
APPEN-
APPENDIX.
No. I. p. 40.
TH E following Soliloquy is here intro- duced, as a Specimen of Mr. Baker's Pi- ety, not of his Poetical abilities.
Upon myfelf 3 and to my God.
My God, and what am I? — A Thing of nought. Hid from myfelf, and yet compos'd of Thought. How vain thefe thoughts ? how oft without Effect ? And yet I pleafe myfelf, that I reflect. Proud of a Phantom, that can only mow, That I more furely think, than furely know ; Ruffled with Paflions, with Affections blind, Involved in Clouds, nor Reft, nor Light I find, Till he that breath'd the Spark, does reinfpire my Mind.
Thou
[ 122 ]
Thou that breath'ft Life into the unthinking
Clod, Be thou my Light, as thou haft been my God. Thou took'ft me from the Womb, — fince, me
upheld, Be thou my Strength, as thou hail: been my
Shield, As furely fo thou art, — from Deaths, from Tears Thou oft preferv'dft me, — oft renew'dft my
Years, Difpell'd my Sorrows, banifh'd all my Fears. To Dangers oft expos'd, thy Help implor'd, By Follies loft, — as oft I've been reftor'd.
When Duty call'd me forth to rifque my all, Juft was my Lot, but eafy was my Fall; The Griefs and Sufferings, that mean Souls an- noy, Thou mak'ft them light to me, and turn 'ft to joy. So light, that if in ought I bear thy Crofs, It grieves me, that nought I merit by the Lofs. My Sins more juftly fcourges might demand, Should Juftice ftrike, as Mercy holds the Hand; In that my Refuge, there I place my Reft, Nor hurt by Frowns, in Spite of Fortune bleft. For all thefe Mercies, juft Returns from me Are due, — and yet my beft Returns, I owe to thee 3
My
[ 123 ]
My Pray'rs, my Vows, and all that ftiould be
mine, E'en thefe are due to thee, and truly thine.
Oh were I thine myfelf ! The Offering made, Were it as worthy thee, as freely paid ; But Worth, (forbid the Word) my Sins forbid ; Pardon's my Plea, and Sins by Mercy hid. Fixt here, I ftand, in hopes of Crimes forgiv n ; I trample Earth and antidate my Heav'n -, In brighter Manfions may I have my Share, And follow Thoughts, that are already there, But low therein, — for lowly is my PrayY.
July 7th, Die meo natali.
No. II. p. 44.
Of Hartman Schedel's Chronicon Chronicorum printed at Nuremberg, by Ant.Koberger, An. 1493, We have four Copies (or more) at Cambridge, two in the publick Library, one at St. John's, the fourth and mod beautiful at Trinity College, with the Faces, Maps and other Figures fairly depicted in Colours. In this laft Folio clxxxiii, are the Pictures of the Emperor, feven Electors, Princes and Counts of the Empire, with their Arms fairly depicled, and this Note in MS. "Hasc Scuta recle pinguntur in fuis Coloribus juxta Ju- dicium
t I24 ] dicium Heraldi." The reft have the Arms but not in Colors.
At Folio cclxi, [which is a blank in the ordi- nary Copies] is a Picture of Antichrift very mon- itrous, with feven Heads [Terpentine] and almoft as many Colors, and upon the Pedeftal this In- fcription in MS. " Haec depinxit Jacobus Jaqueri de Civitate Taurini in pede Montium An. Domini millefimo quatercentefimoprimo, [in the ordinary Copies, and in this, there is a Print of Antichrift [not fo monftrous] at Folio cclxii.] on the oppo- site Page thefe rhyming Verfes, and following Note in Englifh.
Judicabit Judices Judex generalis,
Hie mihi proderit dignitas papalis,
Sive fit Epifcopus five Cardinalis,
Reus condemnabitur, nee dicetur qualis.
Hie nihil proderit quicquam allegare,
Neque excipere neque replicare,
Nee ad Apoftolicam Sedem appellare,
Reus condemnabitur nee dicetur quare.
Cogitate miferi qui vel quales eftis,
quid in hoc Judicio dicere poteftis,
Idem erit Dominus, Judex, Actor, Teftis.
This Picture was fet in the Temple of the Ja- cobins at Jenoua, in An. 1401, a fhowe of An- techrifte, and from thens, abrode into the
Worlde,
[ »5 ]
Worlde, that the Abomination of the Wicked maye be perceived. B.S.M.
Stephen Batman's Name is upon the Book (in fronte libri) [I am apt to think the Verfes on Judgment are his ; he has wrote, The Doome, warning all Men to the Judgement, &c]
In all the Copies that I have feen, Trin. Coll. St. John's Coll. and one of the Bp. of Ely's (the other I have not feen) at Folio ccxix. is the Print- or Picture of Pope Joan, with a triple Crown and a Child in her Arms, infteadof a Crofs borne by the reft of the Popes, with her Story : both fair and undefaccd, neither of them obliterated, as they are in mod, or many Copies, as Mr. Hearne informs me.
At Folio cclii, there is a good Authority for the Invention of Printing at Mentz, &c. There is another Copy of this Book at Chrifl College, &c. Since another Copy (penes me) with Pope Joan's Picture undefaced, only the Face of the Mother and Child, a little fcratched, the reft of the Book very fair and perfect.
No. III. p. 48,
M. S.
Johannis Smith, S.T.P.
Lowtherke in Agro Weftmarienfi nati :
Qui Juvenis,
in
[ 126 ]
in hoc celeberrimum Collegium cooptatus eft ;
ubi bonis moribus informatus, et ingenuis Artibus
eruditus, ejufdem Coliegii decus
totlufque Ecclefis ornamentum evafit.
Quern
mira Facilltas morum et Elegantia, Comitati
adjun6tafempei'Gravitas}AnimiCandoretmodeftia
Ornatum ;
Ingenii Faecunditas, acumen Judicii, Memorise Vigor,
in re literaria promovenda. Fatalis induftria,
Doclum ;
In adverfis rebus animi magnitudo, in fecundis
Continentia, in Deum deniq. fuofq. fingularis Pietas
Optimum fuifTe demonftrarunt.
Ob hasc merita, quibus Honti(r'mi. et Revdi. admodum Epifcopi
gratiamfibi conciliavit, in numerum Canonicorum Dunelmenfium prius adfcitus, dein in Ecciefiam
Weremurhse Epi Parochialem promotus eft. Hifce Sacerdotiis honeftis audtus, ea non minus digne,
quam ipfa ilium exornavit.
Antiqua Ecclefise Jura et Privilegia nemo fortius
defenfit. Eloquentiam cum Theologia, omnefq.
bonas Artes cum facris Uteris adeo conjunxit;
ut Orator copiofus, Philologus eximius, Theologus
abfolutus merito audiret.
In Hiftoricis, Anglicis praefertim, evolvendis
fuit maxime afliduus; advertenfq. animum,
quod polita Venerabilis Bsedas Operum
Hiftoricorum defideraretur Editio, id laboris
a. nullo potius, quam a Canonico Dunelm. Biedae
[ *27 ] Set. Comprefbytero et Populari, fubeundum duxit : Huic igitur muneri fe accinxit ; fed, proh dolor!
dum non valgari Studio praelo infudaret ;
morte in medio ope re immatura praereptus eft :
Et intra facram hujus Collegii asdem, cujus in Gremio ic
nutritum non fine pia voluptate faspius jactavit,
humatus eft.
Natns, Anno Dni. 1659.
Obiit 30 Julii, 17 1 5.
No. IV. p. 60.
Taken from Mr. Baker's MSS. Vol. XXXIX, p. 185, but fomewhat abridged.
An Account of Dr. Peter Baro (alias Baron) and his Family, found in the Study of Mr. An- drew Baron, late Fellow of Peterhoufe, his great Grandfon.
Eftienne Baron, efpoufa en Marriage Philipe Petit, eurent plufieurs Enfans Fils et Filles, en- tre autres Jehan, Florent, et Pierre.
Pierre natif d' Eftampes fut mis aux Eftudes, et apres avoir eftudie en Droict Civil quelques Annees, fut pafse l'an. 1556, le 9' d' April, Ba- chelier en DroicT: a Bourges, and le jour fuivant receu Licentier en loix eftant age de 22 a 23
ans. L'an 15$/, fut receu et jure Advo-
cat en la Court de Parlement de Paris. Depuis eftant age de 26 ans, l'an et mois que Francois deuxiefme Roy de France morut a Orleans, c'eft
a dire.
[ 128 ]
a dire, Tan 1560, en Decembre, fe retira a Geneve, et la, s'eftant adonne a l'eftude de Theolosie, fut faicl: Miniftre, et receut l'impofition des Mains par Jean Calvin.
Apres retournament en France efpoufa a Gien 1'an 1563, entre le 19 de May et le 7 de Juin en fuivant Guillemette Burgoin fille d'Eftienne Bour-
goin Merchant, et de Lopfe Dozival. . De
Pierre Barron et Guillemette Burgoin fa Femme naquit a Orleans premierement une Fille le pre- mier jour de Juin, 1564. Qui fut nominee Marthe, par Eftienne Baron fon Aieul.
Depuis un fils aufii a Orleans le 15 Janvier, 1566, qui fut nomme Pierre, par Jehan Pinfelet. ■ ■ L'an 1567, le quatriefme jour de Novembre encores un fils a Orleans, qui fut nomme Efti- enne par Francoys Burgoin Ion Oncle.
LeDimanche 10 jour d' Octobre, 1568, naquit encores un fils a Sancerre, iequel fut nomme Efti- enne, qui mourut le jour fuivant, par fon Aieul maternel Eftienne Bourgoin.
Le Vendredi 26 de May, a Sancerre naquit une autre fille laquelle fut nommee Marie par fon Oncle maternel Anthoine Burgoin.
Depuis le fufdict Pierre Baion s'eftant retire avec fa Femmc Guillemette Burgoin et fes En- fans a Cambridge, l'une des deux Univerfites d Angleterre, a caufe des troubles de la France, fut
1:1
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le ProfefTeur des Lettres Hebraiques et en Theo«- logic mefme: fat receu Docleur en Theologieu.
Au dicl Cambridge le hui£tiefme jour de Juillet 1574, luy naquit Ion quatriefme fils, qui fut nomme Andre par B. Dodingthon ProfefTeur da Roy en la Langue Greque et Artus Purifoy.
Au mefme lieu de Cambridge le 24 d' Aouft, 1 S77j naquit encores une fille, et 39 heures apres, un autre, lcfquelles furent nominee Elizabeth, la primiere par Gabriel fils de Monfieur Mongo- meriet Damoifelles Boulingham et Norgett, et V autre