The History of the Worthies of England, Part 2 · County 20 · Section 14 – Section 17

The History of the Worthies of England · Part 2 · County 20 · Section 14 – Section 17

p. 73States-Men.

Sir EDWARD POYNINGS, Knight, was in martial performances inferiour to none of his age, and a Native of this County, as from the Catalogue of the Sheriffs therein may be collected. We will insist only on his Irish Action, being employed by King▪ Henry the seventh to conjure down the last walking Spirit of the House of York, which haunted that King, I mean Perkin Warbeck.

Having ferreted him out of Ireland, he seriously set him self to reclaim that barbarous Nation to civility, and in order thereunto passed an Act in Parliament, whereby all the Statutes made in England b…fore that time, were enacted, established, and made of force in Ireland. He caused also another Law to be made, that no Act should be propounded in any Parliament in Ireland, till first it had been transmitted into England, approved there by the King, and returned thence under his broad Seal.

Now though this Act seemeth prima facie, prejudicial to the liberty of the Irish Subjects, yet was it made at the request of the Commons upon just & important cause, being so sensible of the oppression, and Laws imposed by private Lords, for their particular ends, that they rather referred themselves to the Kings Justice, than to the merciless mercy of so many Masters.

Also to conform Ireland to England, he procured the passing of an Act; that the Irish Barons should appear in Parliament in their Robes, which put a face of Grandeur and State on their Convention. And indeed formalities are more than Formalities in matters of this nature, essentiall to beget a veneration in barbarous people, who carry much of their Brain in their Eyes.

He thriftily improved the Kings Revenues, and obtained a Subsidy of twenty six shillings eight pence, payable yearly for five years, out of every six score Acres manured. The worst was, the burden fell on their backs, whose Islands were most industrious, whereby the Soveraign became not more wealthy, but the Subjects more lazy, the mischief being as apparent as the remedy impossible. Many more large Laws of his making found but narrow performance, viz. only within the Pale. Nor was Henry the seventh (though in title) in tr…th Lord of all Ireland, but by the favour of a Figure, and large Synechdeche, of a part for the whole. These things thus ordered, Sir Edward was recalled in to England, created a Baron, and dying in the beginning of King Henry the eight, left a numerous natural, but no legitimate issue.

Sir ANTHONY St. LEGER, is rationally reputed a Kentish man (though he had p. 74also a Devonshire Relation) as will appear to such who peruse the Sheriffs of this County. He was properly the first Vice-Roy of Ireland, seeing shadows cannot be before their substance, and in his Deputy-ship Henry the eight (in the 33. year of his reign) assumed the Title of King and Supream Head of the Church of Ireland.

To him all the Irish Nobility made their solemn submission, falling down at his feet upon their knees, laying aside their Girdles, Skeines and Caps. This was the fourth solemn submission of the Irish to the Kings of England, and most true it is, such seeming submissions have been the bane of their serious subjection. For out of the Pale our Kings had not power either to Punish or Protect, where those Irish Lords (notwithstanding their Complemental Loyalty) made their list the law to such whom they could overpower. He caused also certain Ordinances of State to be made, not altogether agreeable with the Rules of the Law of England, a satisfactory reason hereof, being given in the**In the Councel Book of Ireland, in the 33 of King Hen. 8. Preamble to them.

Thus the greatest Statesmen must sometimes say, by your leave to such as are under them, not acting alway according to their own ability, but others capacity.

He seized all the Abby Lands in Ireland for the Kings use, a flower of the Crown which alone had made a Posey, if continued thereunto. But alas the Revenues of Abby Lands are as … as their buildings, nothing more than the rubbish thereof remaining in the Kings Exchequer. He made a Law, that no Children should be admitted to Church livings, which importeth the frequency of that abuse in former times. He perswaded O Neile, O Brian, &c. to go over into England to surrender their lands into the Kings hands, promising they should receive them again from him by Letters Patents, with the Addition of Earls, which was done accordingly. At his desire the King conferred on them Houses nigh Dublin, that residing there, they might suck in Civility with the Court air. These things thus setled he returned into England, and died (as I take it) in the raign of King Edward the sixth.

Sir HENRY SIDNRY, was son to Sir William Sidney of Pensherst in this County, who by his own worth, was advanced into the favour of Queen Elizabeth (never a whit the lesse for marrying Mary Dudley, sister to Robert Earl of Leicester;) he was by her made Knight of the Garter, Lord President of Wales, and for eleven years (off and on) Deputy of Ireland.

Now, though generally the Irish are querelous of their Deputies (what Patient for the present will praise his Chirurgion, who soundly searcheth his sore?) yet Sir Henry left a good memory, and the monuments of a good Governor behind him.

1. He**Sir John Davis in his discovery of Ireland. pag. 251. made Annaly a Territory in Loynsteresse by the Sept of Offerralles, one entire Shire by it self, called the County of Longford; he likewise divided the Province of …onaght into six Counties.

2. In a Parliament held the eleventh of Elizabeth, he abolished the pretended and usurped Captain-ships, and all extortions incident thereunto.

3. He caused an Act to pass, whereby the Lord Deputy was authorized to accept the surrenders of the Irish Se…gniories, and to re-grant estates unto them, to hold of the Crown by English Tenures and Services.

4. Because the inferiour sort of the Irish were poor, and not Ames…able by Law, he provided, that five of the best persons of every Sept, should bring in all the persons of their surname, to be justified by the Law.

5. A Law was made, that for the civil education of the youth, there should be one Free Schoole at least, in every Diocesse.

6. To acquaint the people of Mounster and Conaght with the English Government again (disused amongst them for two hundred years) he instituted two Presidency Courts in those two Provinces.

7. To augment the Revenues of the Crown, he resumed and vested therein (by p. 75the power of the same Parliament) more than half the Province of Ulster, upon the attainder of Shane O Neale.

8. He raised Customs upon the principal Commodities of the Kingdom, and reformed the abuses of the Exchequer by many good instructions from England.

9. He established the Composition of the Pale, in lieu of Purveyance and Sesse of Souldiers.

It must not be forgotten, that he caused the Statutes of Ireland unto his own time, to be printed, and so (saith my**J. Wareus de script. Hibern. pag. 136. Author) ex umbra in solem eduxit, he brought them out of the shadow into the sun-shine. Whereas formerly they were only in Manuscript; a sad case, that men should be obliged to the observation of those Laws, scarce ever seen by one in an hundred subjected thereunto.

Being to leave Ireland, Anno 1578. and now ready to go up into his Ship, he took his**Camb. Eliz Anno 1578. leave thereof with the words of the Psalmist, **Psal. 114. 1.Ps 114:1When Israel came out of Egypt, and Jacob from a strange people; rejoycing in heart, that, he came with a clear conscience from that dangerous employment. He died at Worcester, May the fifth, 1586. and his Corps being brought to Pensherst, were there solemnly interred amongst his Ancestors. I will close his Life with this Encomium which I find in a Worthy**Doctor Powel in his Hist. of …. Epist. to the Reader. Author: His disposition was rather to seek after the Antiquities, and the Weal-Publick of those Countries which he governed, than to obtain lands and revenues within the same; for I know not one foot of Land that he had, either in Wales or Ireland.

Sir PHILIP SIDNEY. Reader, I am resolved not to part him from his Father, such the Sympathy betwixt them, living and dying both within the compass of the same year. Otherwise, this Knight in relation to my Book, may be termed an Ubiquitary, and appear amongst Statesmen, Souldiers, Lawyers, Writers, yea Princes themselves, being (though not elected) in election to be King of Poland, **Fragment. regal. in his Charact.which place he declined, preferring rather to be a Subject to Queen Elizabeth, than a Soveraign beyond the Seas.

He was born at Pensherst in this County, son to Sir Henry Sidney (of whom before) and Sisters Son to Robert Earl of Leicester, bred in Christs Church in Oxford. Such his appetite to Learning, that he could never be fed fast enough therewith; and so quick and strong his digestion, that he soon turned it into wholsome nourishment, and thrived healthfully thereon.

His homebred abilities travel perfected with forraign accomplishments, and a sweet Nature set a glosse upon both. He was so essential to the English Court, that it seemed maimed without his company, being a compleat Master of Matter and Language, as his Arcadia doth evidence.

I confesse I have heard some of modern pretended Wits cavil thereat, meerly because they made it not themselves: such who say, that his Book, is the occasion that many pretious hours are otherwise spent no better, must acknowledge it also the cause, that many idle hours are otherwise spent no worse, than in reading thereof.

At last, leaving the Court, he followed the Camp, being made Governor of Flushing, under his Uncle Earl of Leicester. But the Walls of that City (though high and strong) could not confine the activity of his mind, which must into the Field, and before Zutphen was unfortunately slain with a shot, in a small skirmish, which we may sadly tearm a great battel, considering our heavy losse therein. His Corps being brought over into England, was buried in the Quire of St. Pauls with general lamentation.

Sir FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, Knight, was born in this County, wherein his Family long flourished at Chiselhurst, though I**Camb. Brit. in Norfolk. read, that originally they fetch their name from Walsingham in Norfolk. He was bred in Kings Colledge in Cambridge, and gave the King of …pain his Bible to the Library thereof. As a traveller many years beyond the … he learnt experience, as an Agent he practised it there, and after his return, a Secretary of State: he taught it to many Emisaries imployed under him.

None alive did better ken the Secretary Craft, to get Counsels out of others, and keep them in himself. M…rvellous his …agacity in examining suspected persons, either to make them confesse the truth, or confound themselves by denying it to their detection. Cunning p. 76his hands, who could unpick the Cabinets in the Popes Conclave; quick his ears, who could hear at London, what was whispered at Rome; And numerous the spies and eyes of this Argus dispersed in all places.

The Jesuites being out-shot in their own Bow, complain'd, that he out-equivocated their equivocation, having a mental reservation deeper and farther than theirs. They tax him for making Heaven …ow too much to Earth, oft-times borrowing a point of conscience, with full intent never to pay it again, whom others excused by Reasons of State, and dangers of the times. Indeed his Simulation (which all allow lawful) was as like to Dissimulation (condemned by all good men) as two things could be, which were not the same.

He thought that Gold might, but Intelligence could not be bought too dear; The cause that so great a States man left so small an estate, and so publick a person was so privately buried in Saint Pauls, Anno Dom. 1590. His only Daughter Frances was successively matched to three matchlesse men, Sir Phili Sidney, Robert Earl of Essex, and Richard Earl of Clanricard.

Capital Judges and Writers on the Law.

Sir JOHN FINEUX, was by all probability born at Swinkfield in this County (as I am informed from my good friend Mr. Thomas Fineux, a descendant from him) a place (**In his Remains, pag. 118. saith Mr. Cambden,) bestowed on his Ancestor by T. Criol, a great Lord in Kent, about the raign of King Edward the second. I learned from the same Gentleman, that he was eight and twenty years of age, before he betook him to the study of the Law, that he followed that profession twenty eight years before he was made a Judg, and that he continued a Judge for twenty eight years, whereby it appears, that he lived fourscore and four years. This last exactly agrees with**In his Glossary Ve…bo Justiciarius. Sir Henry Spelman, making him continue Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench, from the eleventh of King Henry the seventh, until the seventeenth of King Henry the eight.

He was a great Benefactor unto Saint Augustines in Canterbury, whose Prior William Mallaham thus highly commendeth him in a**Will. Somner in his Antiq. of Cant. Manuscript Instrument,

Vir prudentissimus, genere insignis, Justitia praeclarus, pietate refertus, Humanitate splendidus & charitate foecundus, &c.

Now though some will say, his Convent may well afford him good words, who gave them good deeds; yet I believe this Character of him, can in no part be disproved. He died about the year 1526. and lies buried in Christ Church in Canterbury; who had a fair habitation in this City, and another in Herne in this County, where his Motto still remains in each window, Misericordias Domini cantabo in Aeternum.

Sir ROGER MANWOOD, born at**Lambert in his perambulation of Kent, pag. 131. Sandwich in this County, applyed himselfe from his youth, to the study of the Common Law; wherein he attained to such eminency, that by Queen Elizabeth he was preferred second Justice of the Common Pleas, in which place he gave such proof of his ability and integrity, that not long after in **Sir Hen. Spelman in Gloss. Verbo Justiciarius.Hillary Term, in the 21. of Queen Elizabeth, he was made chief Baron of the Exchequer, discharging that office to his … Commendation, full fourteen years, till the day of his death. He was much employed in matters of State, and was one of the Commissioners who sate on the Trial of the Queen of Scots. His Book on the Forest Laws is a piece highly prized by men of his Profession. In Vacation time his most constant habitation was at Saint Stephens in Canterbury, where, saith my**Camb. Brit. in Kent. Author, the poor inhabitants were much beholding to his bounteous liberality. He erected and endowed a fair Free Schoole at Sandwich, the place of his Nativity, and died in the 35. of Queen Elizabeth, Anno Dom. 1593.

Sir HENRY FINCH, Knight, was born in this County of Right Worshipful Extraction, (their ancient sirname being Herbert) a Family which had and hath an hereditary happinesse of Eminency in the study of the Laws. He was Sergeant at Law to King James, and wrote a Book of the Law, in great esteem with men of his own profession▪ yet were not his studies confined thereunto, witnesse his Book of The calling of the Jews; and all ingenious persons which dissent from his judgement will allow him learnedly p. 77to have maintained an error, though he was brought into some trouble by King James, conceiving that on his principles he advanced and extended the Jewish Commonwealth, to the depressing and contracting of Christian Princes free Monarchies. He was father unto Sir John Finch, Lord Chief Justice, and for a time Lord Keeper, and Baron of Foreditch, who is still alive.

Souldiers.

Kent hath so carried away the credit, in all ages, for Man-hood, that the leading of the Front, or Van-guard (so called from Avant-guard, or Goe on guard, because first in marching) in former times hath simply and absolutely belonged unto them; I say absolutely, for I find two other Shires contending for that place. The best is, it is but a Book-Combate, betwixt learned Writers, otherwise if real, such a division were enough to rout an Army, without other Enemy. But let us see how all may be peaceably composed.

It is probable, that the**Michael Cornubiensis, see Cornwall, title Souldiers. Cornish-men led the Van in the days of King Arthur, who being a Native of Cornwall, had most cause to trust his own Country-men. But I behold this as a temporary honour, which outlasted not his life who bestowed it.

The men of Archenfeld in Hereford-shire, claimed by custom to lead the**Camb. Brit. in Herefordshire. Van-guard, but surely this priviledge was Topical, and confined to the Welsh Wars, with which the aforesaid men, as Borderers were best acquainted.

As for Kent, Cantia nostra primae cohortis honorem, & primos congressus hostium usque in Hodiernum diem in omnibus praeliis obtinet, saith my**Joan. Sarisb. de nugis curial. 6. cap. 18. Author.

Reader, It may rationally be concluded that the ensuing Topick had been as large in this as in any County in England, seeing it is bounded by the Sea on the East and South sides thereof, had not the Author departed this life before the finishing of the same.

Seamen.

WILLIAM ADAMS, was (as his own**Purchase his Pilgrims. Pen reporteth) born at Gillingham in this County, and take the brief account of his Life, being the first Englishman, who effectully discovered Japan.

Twelve years he lived at home with his Parents.

Twelve years he was Apprentice and Servant to Nich. Diggins, a brave Seaman, for some time he was Master of one of the Queens Ships.

Ten years he served the English Company of Barbary Merchants.

Fourteen years (as I collect it) he was employed by the Dutch in India.

For he began his Voyage 1598. Pilot to their Fleet of five Sail, to conduct them to Japan; and in order to the settlement of Trade endured many miseries. He who reads them will concur with Cato, and repent that ever he went thither by Sea, whither one might go by Land. But Japan being an Island, and unaccessible, save by Sea, our Adams his discretion was not to be blamed, but industry to be commended in his adventures. He died at Firando in Japan about 1612.