Alsager Richard Vian

“ In one of many letters addressed by Franklyn to Wolsey in 1528 he points out the neglect of certain palatine rights which might be exercised with advantage, shows how collieries and lead mines might be more profitably worked, and suggests that some one else should be appointed chancellor and he himself Wolsey's surveyor of Yorkshire, for, though the chancellorship carried the best pay, ‘I am young and can do more service thus.’ He was still chancellor under Tunstall, Wolsey's successor at Durham, but he already enjoyed marked proofs of Wolsey's favour. ”

“ ERSKINE, WILLIAM (d. 1685) , master of Charterhouse, was the seventh son of John, second or seventh earl of Mar [q. v.] , by his second wife, Lady Mary Stewart, daughter of Esme, duke of Lennox. In 1677, on the death of Martin Clifford, he was elected master of Charterhouse, which office he held till his death on 29 May 1685. He was a member of the Royal Society, and his name appears in the list of the first council named in the royal charter, under date 22 April 1663, but he took no active part in the scientific proceedings of the society. ”

“ He engaged in burglary unaccompanied by violence, and speedily gained great notoriety. Early in his career he was apprehended for a robbery of plate from the Earl of Pembroke, but escaped and left the country. He stayed abroad some time and visited various countries. In Denmark he is said to have robbed the royal treasury of vast sums, and then to have obtained from the queen of Sweden 4,000l. in gold, besides plate and jewellery . After this adventure he was caught and imprisoned, but escaped to Rotterdam, where he introduced himself as a merchant, and won a fair repute for upright dealing. ”

“ On 10 March 1720 the duke married Lady Catherine Hyde, second daughter of Henry, earl of Clarendon and Rochester. He was appointed a privy councillor and a lord of the bedchamber by George I, and vice-admiral of Scotland by George II. In 1728 the duke and duchess warmly took up the cause of John Gay when a license for the production of his opera ‘Polly’ was refused. ”

“ But more than once in his career he required royal letters of legitimation to enable him to take office, and there is every reason to believe that he was the son of an illicitly married cleric, who was probably identical with the William Elphinstone who was canon of Glasgow from 1451 to 1482, dean of the faculty of arts in Glasgow University in 1468, prebend of Ancrum in 1479, and archdeacon of Teviotdale in 1482, and who died in 1486. The younger Elphinstone was educated in the pedagogie at Glasgow and afterwards at the university. ”

“ On the death of her grandmother, Jane, lady Dormer, which took place in 1571, at Louvain, the duchess caused a marble tomb to be built over her remains in the chapel of the Carthusians of that place, and devised a sum of a hundred florins to be paid annually to the order. Evidence is not entirely wanting that the ambition of the duchess was not only ecclesiastical but personal. ”

“ He was engaged in a campaign against the English invaders in 1337, when his wife defended their castle, and at the battle of Durham he held part command of the left wing of the royal army. After that defeat and the capture of the Scottish king he was especially active in his endeavours to obtain David's release, and when that event took place became one of his sureties. He was rewarded by David with a grant of castlewards of all his lands and a pension of 40l. per annum, and Dunbar was made a free burgh in his favour. ”

“ GREGORY, FRANCIS, D.D. (1625?–1707) , divine and schoolmaster, born about 1625, was a native of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. He was educated at Westminster under Busby, who, as he afterwards said, was not only a master but a father to him, and in 1641 was elected to a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating M.A. in 1648. He returned to Westminster School as usher till he was appointed head-master of the grammar school at Woodstock. He was a successful teacher, and numbered among his pupils several sons of noble families. ”

“ He seems to have entertained a strong personal dislike to Elizabeth, and when she refused to allow Jane, lady Dormer, his wife's grandmother, to return to England to collect her rents, he vainly urged Pius IV to excommunicate the queen, though his wife strongly opposed his action. The duchess had the stronger character of the two, and her husband, in his will, left her sole guardian of their son and manager of his estates. ”

“ In 1778 Elphinston, who, after a lecturing tour in Edinburgh and Glasgow, had settled in Edward Street, Cavendish Square, published 'An Universal History,' translated from the French of Bossuet, and in the same year appeared a 'Specimen of the Translations of Epigrams of Martial,' in a preface to which he informed the public that he was only waiting for subscriptions to be taken up before he published a complete translation of Martial. ”

“ The endowments of Downing consisted almost entirely of agricultural lands, the management of which devolved on the bursar, and Frere's previous residence on his father's estate at Balsham, Cambridgeshire, rendered him admirably suited to the post. He travelled much in Europe, and became a good linguist. His combination of a knowledge of agriculture and foreign languages led to his appointment as editor of the ‘Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society’ in 1862, when the council determined to raise the standard of their publication. ”

“ EDGCUMBE or EDGECOMBE, Sir RICHARD (d. 1489) , statesman, traced his descent from Richard Edgcumbe or Edgecombe, who in the reign of Edward I was in possession of the manor of Edgcumbe, Cornwall, which passed to his grandson, John Edgcumbe. John Edgcumbe's younger brother William, marrying Hillaria, daughter of William de Cotehele, and sister and heiress of Ralph de Cotehele of Cotehele, became possessed of that property. His great-grandson was Sir Richard Edgcumbe, who was the eldest son of Piers Edgcumbe, by Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Holland. ”

“ There is no doubt that his proceedings were for a time tolerated by those in authority on account of the services he was in a position to render, for while fair in his dealings with his own creatures so long as they remained loyal to him, he made merciless use of other criminals to serve his own ends. When one of his own gang was arrested he had witnesses at command to prove the culprit's innocence, and equally, when it was desirable to obtain a conviction, the same witnesses were ready to swear to the prisoner's guilt. ”

“ In Lord John Russell's cabinet of 1846 Minto (whose daughter Russell had married) became lord privy seal, and in the autumn of the following year he was despatched on a diplomatic mission to Italy to ingratiate Sardinia and Tuscany, to assist in the carrying out of the reforms suggested by Pius IX on his accession to the papacy, and generally to report to the home government on Italian affairs. ”

“ Fuller remained in prison till June 1695, when he was released by the influence of Charles Herbert, who made him an allowance. Fuller formed a new intimacy with Oates, and published ‘A Brief Discovery of the True Mother of the Prince of Wales,’ 1696. Fuller repeated the old story, and declared that as a page in St. James's Palace he had witnessed on 10 June 1688 the transference of a warming pan from the chamber of a pregnant lady, Mary Grey, to that of the queen, and that this warming-pan contained the child of Mary Grey. ”

“ CORDER, WILLIAM (1804–1828) , murderer, was a young man of some property. He had become the father of an illegitimate child by Maria Marten, a native of Polstead, Suffolk, who had before borne children to at least two other men, but who still continued to live with her parents. Corder frequently promised to marry Marten, and at length arranged that she should leave her home on 18 May 1827, dressed in male attire, and join him at a place known as the Red Barn, whence they would proceed together to Ipswich to be married on the following morning. ”

“ On 14 July 1623 he was incorporated at Oxford University, but he continued to reside at Cambridge, where, after taking orders, he was appointed a university preacher, and earned the name of 'Young Luther.' In February 1627 he preached a sermon in which he counselled his hearers not to seek carnal advice when in doubt; declared he would testify and teach no other doctrine though the day of judgment were at hand, and was committed to prison until he could find bonds for his appearance before the ecclesiastical courts. ”

“ When he returned to London he was at once arrested for debt, and wrote from prison to Tillotson and Lord Portland professing that he was able to disclose a plot against the throne. No notice being taken, Fuller addressed the House of Commons to the same effect, alleging that he could prove a Jacobite conspiracy against Halifax and other prominent noblemen. He stated at the bar of the house that he relied on the evidence of two witnesses named Delaval and Hayes. He received passports from the house and a blank safe-conduct from the king to bring these men from abroad ”

“ GREENE, ANNE (fl. 1650) , criminal, born in 1628, was a native of Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire, who entered the household of Sir Thomas Read of Dunstew in the same county as a domestic servant. She was seduced by her master's grandson and gave birth to a child, which, as she alleged, and according to medical evidence, was stillborn. She was, however, condemned to death for murder, and on 14 Dec. ”

“ The queen took the greatest interest in the match, and at her wish the marriage was put off till Philip should return from Flanders, so that the ceremony might be invested with all the importance possible. But before Philip was ready to return, Mary died, and Jane Dormer went back to her grandmother, now lodging in the Savoy. The Count of Feria, who was in England at the time, having been sent by Philip when he heard of the queen's sickness, strongly urged an immediate union, and accordingly the marriage took place on 29 Dec. ”

“ Here, as he confessed, he was too fond of sports, violent in temper, and prone to lying. He was specially trained in writing and accounts with a view to his being apprenticed in London, but his ability led to his being sent to Cambridge, where he was admitted to Jesus College. His tutor was Bantoft, whom he succeeded in the office, but he gave up tuition on proving successful in a preaching competition against a Dr. Brooks for the college living of Kirton, Suffolk. Franklin found that he was unable to subsist in comfort on his living, which only produced 50l. ”

“ EGERTON, STEPHEN (1555?–1621?) , puritan divine, was born in London about 1555. He became a member of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and earned so great a reputation for learning that a fellowship was only denied him on account of the poverty of his college. He took the M.A. degree in 1579, and on 9 July 1583 was incorporated at Oxford. He had already taken orders and attached himself to the puritan party, being one of the leaders in the formation of the presbytery at Wandsworth, Surrey, which has been described as the first presbyterian church in England. ”

“ On ceasing residence at Oxford he entered as a member of the Temple, and intended practising at the bar, but on the advice of his uncle, Frederick Cornwallis, archbishop of Canterbury, he altered his mind and took holy orders. He commenced his career in the church by acting as chaplain to his cousin, Lord Townshend, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, till in 1769 he was presented by his uncle to the living of Ickham, Kent, to which that of the neighbouring parish of Adisham was added in the following year. ”

“ Her married life appears to have been rendered miserable by the cruelty of her mother, whereby she became a chronic invalid. Reduced, as she described it, to the condition of 'a dead woman among the living,' she 'resolved to break the barren soil of her fruitless brain,' and devoted herself to the compilation of a moral guide-book for the benefit of her son Bernye Grymeston, the only survivor of her nine children. She died in 1603 before the publication of her work, which appeared under the title of 'Miscelanea : Meditations : Memoratives,' by Elizabeth Grymeston, London, 1604, 4to. ”

“ HAYES, Mrs. CATHARINE (1690–1726) , murderess, whose maiden name was Hall, was born near Birmingham in 1690. At the age of sixteen she gave up a disreputable life to marry John Hayes, a carpenter. The husband's trade not prospering they went to London, set up a small shop in Tyburn, afterwards Oxford Road, and let lodgings. Towards the close of 1725 there came as lodgers two men named Wood and Billings. Although the mother of twelve children she was criminally intimate with these persons, and the three determined to remove Hayes. ”

“ The child of Margaret Drummond was brought up at the king's expense, and in the ‘Treasury Accounts’ appear payments made at regular intervals for several years to priests to sing masses for the mother's soul. ”

“ In 1636 Dallington had grown so infirm that the governors appointed three persons to assist him in his duties of master. In the following year he died, seventy-six years old. Two years before his death Dallington had, at his own expense, built a schoolhouse in his native village, Geddington; he also gave the great bell of the parish church and twenty-four threepenny loaves every Sunday to twenty-four of the poor of the parish for ever; and by his will he left 300l. to be invested in behalf of the poor of the same village. ”

“ Augustine at the monastery of Clare in his native county, and was eventually made prior. He was confessor to Lionel, duke of Clarence, and accompanied him to Italy on the occasion of his marriage with the daughter of the Duke of Milan. On his return to England, Edwardston took over the charge of archiepiscopal duties, but in what diocese is not known; it was probably in a temporary vacancy, for it does not appear that he was ever raised to the full dignity of an archbishop. He died at Clare 20 May 1396, and was buried in his monastery. ”