Gordon Goodwin

“ He became in fact one of the chief sights of Windsor. Very early each morning he locked up his house in the castle, which no one entered but himself, and went forth to purchase provisions. ‘He then wore a large cloak called a roquelaure, beneath which appeared a pair of thin legs encased in dirty silk stockings. He had a formidable umbrella, and he stalked along upon pattens. All luxuries, whether of meat, or tea, or sugar, or butter, were renounced. ... Wherever crowds were assembled—wherever royalty was to be looked upon—there was Sir John Dineley. ”

“ Winchester being a Roman catholic, Basing House, Hampshire, his chief seat, on every pane of which he had written with a diamond ‘Aimez Loyauté,’ became at the outbreak of the civil war the great resort of the queen's friends in south-west England. ”

“ One day James gave the duke (a staunch protestant) the sword of state to carry before him to the popish chapel, but he stopped at the door, upon which the king said to him, ‘My lord, your father would have gone further;’ to which the duke answered, ‘Your majesty s father was the better man, and he would not have gone so far’ (Burnet, Own Time, Oxf. ed., i. 684) . In 1687 the duke undertook to act as James's agent in Surrey and Norfolk, for the purpose of obtaining information as to the popular view of the Declaration of Indulgence. ”

“ Four years later, in 1717, Birbeck died, and Drake, availing himself of the opening occasioned by his death, commenced practice at York. It was not long before he had gained for himself a reputation as an expert practitioner. In May 1727 the corporation of York appointed him city surgeon, an office of little profit but of considerable local importance.
Drake had not been long in practice when the perusal of a copy of the manuscript history of York, by Sir Thomas Widdrington, formerly recorder of the city, gave him the first impulse to collect materials for the great work of his life. ”

“ In 1617 James visited Scotland for the first time after his accession to the English throne. Among the entertainments was a competition of archery in the garden of Holyrood, at which Gordon gained the prize, a silver arrow. His father-in-law, at his death in September 1619, left to him the care of publishing his works both in English and Latin. He remained in Scotland for some time, and having settled his affairs in Sutherland, he returned with his family to England in November 1619, and in the succeeding May revisited France, when he disposed of his property of Longorme to Walter Stewart. ”

“ BUTTS, JOHN (d. 1764) , painter, was born and bred in Cork, and with but little instruction developed extraordinary powers in landscape. His compositions, in which he is fond of introducing figures, are Claudelike in subject and in treatment, but English in touch and tint, showing great breadth and harmony of colour. To supply the wants of a large family of young children, and, it must be added, his own vicious propensities, Butts was glad to do anything, from scene-painting to coach-panels and signboards. ”

“ The bank made at first very slow progress, owing to the opposition of the African Company, which started a banking business in defiance of the bank's charter, and of the Bank of England. Holland's prudence and sagacity, seconded by considerable literary power, carried the bank successfully through these and other difficulties. In recognition of his services, the company presented him with a silver cistern, which in his will he directed to be carefully preserved as a family heirloom. With his son Richard he drew up a scheme for the establishment of a bank in Ireland. ”

“ CLARKE, CHARLES (d. 1767) , antiquary, describes himself in his literary advertisements as ‘late of Baliol College, Oxford,’ but his name does not appear in the college admission book, nor is there evidence of his having been matriculated. His attainments as an antiquary were slender indeed, to judge from the one extant specimen entitled ‘Some conjectures relative to a very ancient piece of money lately found at Eltham in Kent endeavouring to restore it to the place it merits in the Cimeliarch of English coins, and to prove it a coin of Rich the First King of England of that name. ”

“ When in the spring of 1642 the Princess Mary was betrothed to Prince William, and Henrietta Maria accompanied her to Holland, Elizabeth had to part both from her sister and her mother. For the next few years she led a secluded life, with no other relation than her little brother, Henry, duke of Gloucester. ”

“ He lived in such princely state that he was nicknamed by his neighbours ‘Solyman the Magnificent.’ From his town house in Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury, he is said to have constantly driven to the house of his printer in Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, only a few minutes' walk, with four horses, and attended by four footmen. It was his custom to surround himself with an army of sycophants, who extolled his literary and musical talents, and contrived to keep him in ignorance of the opinion of the outside world. ”

“ Henrietta, in her own name and that of Louis, recommended ‘the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion and of absolute power.’ She advised Charles to ‘flatter the English Protestant Church, and by alternately coaxing and persecuting dissenters to render them at last ... subservient to his will.’ He was also to join with France against Holland, the commercial rival of England, and to support the claim of the house of Bourbon to the monarchy of Spain. Louis engaged to pay a large subsidy, and promised to support Charles with an army against any insurrection in England. ”

“ CLOUGH, RICHARD (d. 1570) , merchant and factor for Sir Thomas Gresham, came of a family which had been long seated in North Wales. His father, Richard Clough, was of sufficient consideration in Denbigh, where he followed the trade of a glover, to marry into two families of note; his first wife was a Whittingham of Chester, and his second wife the daughter of Humphrey Holland. He survived to so great an age that he obtained the epithet of Hen, or The Old, having lived, it is said, during the reigns of Henry VII and VIII, of Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. ”

“ Faccio was destined at first for the church, and, after a good classical training at home and at Geneva, studied philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. He then began to study Hebrew and attend divinity lectures at Geneva, of which he was enrolled a citizen in 1678, but his mother wishing him to take service at some protestant court in Germany, he was, he says, ‘left wholly to himself,’ and gave up all thoughts of the ministry. ”

“ A country gentleman of large property, situated in one of the most beautiful portions of the Peak, he devoted his time and wealth to antiquarian and ethnological pursuits. This taste was inherited from his grandfather and father, who severally laid the foundation of a fine library and museum. Bateman himself crowned their work by adding greatly to both, and by an extensive series of excavations in the tumuli of Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire, but more especially in the latter county. ”

“ During the voyage Hunt was seriously ill. A settlement having been formed at a place which was called James Town, Hunt on Sunday, 21 June, there celebrated the communion, that being the first occasion on which the ordinance was observed by Englishmen in America. By his efforts a rude church was soon afterwards erected, but it was burnt down, together with the greater part of the dwellings of the new colony, in the ensuing winter. Hunt lost his books and all that he had except the clothes on his back. A new church was reared in the spring of 1608, but Hunt did not long survive. ”

“ It occurred to the king's military advisers that the house might be fortified and garrisoned to much advantage, as it commanded the main road from the western counties to London. The journal of the siege of Basing House forms one of the most remarkable features of the civil war. It commenced in August 1643, when the whole force with which Winchester had to defend it, in addition to his own inexperienced people, amounted only to one hundred musketeers sent to him from Oxford on 31 July under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Peake. ”

“ Lady Preston, on petitioning the queen for her husband's life, received an intimation that he could save himself by making a full discovery of the plot (ib. ii. 162) . During some time he regularly wrote, it is said, a confession every forenoon, and burned it every night when he had dined. At last he confessed his guilt, and named Clarendon, Dartmouth, Francis Turner, bishop of Ely, and William Penn as his accomplices. He added a long list of persons against whom he could not himself give evidence, but who, if he could trust to Penn's assurances, were friendly to King James. ”

“ Sir Joseph, after unsuccessfully attempting to cultivate madder in Essex, had made up his mind that it could not be done in England. Field then commenced the cultivation in his own garden, and from roots of his own growth produced beautiful specimens of colouring matter. A contrivance, both mechanical and chemical, was still wanted to reduce the liquor to its finest consistence. His invention of the ‘physeter’ or percolator by atmospheric pressure admirably accomplished this purpose. ”

“ The servants of the Old (or London) Company refused to recognise the new men or even the authority of Sir William Norris, who came out as King William's ambassador to the Great Mogul. Waite unscrupulously turned every engine against the Old Company, not even hesitating, it would appear, to stimulate the native excitement by charging his rivals with piracy. ”

“ In July 1644 change of air was recommended, and the princess and her brother were removed to the residence of Sir John Danvers at Chelsea. During the weary years which she passed in separation from her parents and friends, Elizabeth sought consolation in the study of languages and theology. Her lessons were mostly received from a learned lady, Mrs. Makin, who professed herself competent to teach at least six languages. A tradition represents Elizabeth as being able to read and write Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and Italian before she was eight years old. ”

“ HERBERT, WILLIAM, first Marquis and titular Duke of Powis (1617–1696) , born in 1617, was the son of Percy Herbert, second baron Powis of Powis, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Craven, knight, of London. Before 1661 he married Lady Elizabeth, Somerset, younger daughter of Edward, second marquis of Worcester. He succeeded his father as third baron on 19 Jan. 1667, and was advanced to be Earl of Powis on 4 April 1674. An upright and moderate man, he was generally regarded as the chief of the Roman catholic aristocracy. In religious matters he held very tolerant views. ”

“ The multitude of panegyrics in prose and verse penned in sorrow for her untimely death led Rochester to declare that ‘never was any one so regretted since dying was the fashion.’ Henrietta left two daughters: the elder, Marie Louise, became the queen of Charles II of Spain; the younger, Marie, was married to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. In the year following Henrietta's death Philippe married her second cousin, Elizabeth Charlotte, daughter of Charles Louis, elector palatine, eldest son of the queen of Bohemia. ”

“ On the accession of Edward VI, in 1547, Arundel was retained in the post of lord chamberlain and chosen to act as high constable at the coronation. He had also been named, in the will of Henry VIII, as a member of the council of twelve, intended to assist the executors in cases of difficulty; but his influence was destroyed when Somerset became protector. Somerset soon disgusted the other members of the cabinet, and Arundel was among the first to urge his dismissal in favour of the Earl of Warwick. ”

“ Struck by the eloquence and imposing presence of Jeacocke, who sat in a large gilt chair, Goldsmith thought nature had meant him for a lord chancellor. ‘No, no,’ whispered Derrick, who knew him to be a baker, ‘only for a master of the rolls’ (Forster, Life of Goldsmith, 1888, i. 287–8) . ”

“ Collier says that his erudition procured for him the title of the ‘Great Dictator of Learning,’ and that he was charitable to a fault, ‘easy of access, wonderfully communicative of his rare learning and knowledge, facetious and pleasant in conversation, never ruffled with passion.’ He adds that he was ‘endued with a strong habit of body made for noble undertakings, of a clean and venerable countenance’ (Dict. Supplement) . ”

“ Fulwood's influence in the district was of great value to the royalist cause. He was specially employed to raise the Derbyshire miners as a life-guard for his majesty in 1642, when the lord-lieutenant of the county, the Earl of Rutland, declined to appear in the service. He was soon at the head of a regiment of eleven hundred men, who were mustered on Tideswell Moor. His success appears to have alarmed the leaders of the parliamentarians in the neighbourhood, who, according to the local tradition, soon found an opportunity of seizing Fulwood while at his house at Middleton. ”

“ Lewis's bindings are characterised by elegant and classic taste. According to Dibdin ‘he united the taste of Roger Payne [q. v.] with a freedom of forwarding and squareness of finish very peculiar to himself.’ He excelled in the mechanical parts of his craft, and ‘his books appear to move on silken hinges.’ He was also very successful in book restoration. His chief colours were buff or subdued orange for russia bindings, and French grey for morocco. Francis Bedford lived with Lewis for some time, and carried on later Lewis's tradition and style as opposed to the more ornate school of Rivière. ”

“ The child was then called by the surname of her mother's husband, and ‘being,’ we are told, ‘of a vivacious, lively spirit, and a promising beauty,’ she was much petted by the fine gentlemen frequenting the coffee-house. The charm of her voice, and the extraordinary correctness of her ear for music, brought her into notice. She caught at once the tunes which the ‘humming beaux’ (so the musical gentlemen were called) brought from the theatre and the opera-house, and repeated accurately every song she had once heard her mother sing. ”