Camden

“ In 1622 Camden carried out a plan to found a history lectureship at Oxford. He provided an endowment from some lands at Bexley, and appointed as the first lecturer, his friend, Degory Wheare. The present occupant of the position is known as the Camden professor of ancient history. His concluding years were mainly spent at Chislehurst, where he had taken up his residence in 1609, and in spite of recurring illnesses he continued to work at material for the improvement of the Britannia and kindred subjects. ”

“ In 1605 he published his Remains concerning Britain, a book of collections from the Britannia, which quickly passed through seven editions; and he wrote an official account of the trial of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators as Actio in Henricum Garnetum, Societatis Jesuiticae in Anglia superiorem et caeteros.
Camden, who refused a knighthood, was a man of enormous industry, and possessed a modest and friendly disposition. He had a large number of influential friends, among whom were Archbishop Ussher, Sir Robert Cotton, John Selden, the French jurist Brisson, and Isaac Casaubon. ”

“ At the close of Camden’s answer, he introduced the allegorical picture of Calumny, that elegant invention of the Grecian fancy of Apelles, painted by him when suffering under the false accusations of a rival. The picture is described by Lucian; but it has received many happy touches from the classical hand of the master of Westminster School. As a literary satire, he applies it with great dignity. I give here a translation, but I preserve the original Latin in the note as Camden’s reply to Brooke is not easily to be procured. ”

“ Hal and Reg both did excellent justice to the fare, much to the satisfaction and delight of Mrs. Camden, their landlord's wife. After their repast they decided to take the chance offered them of inspecting the prisons, and asked Camden to procure them a guide.
"There's the very man for you," said Camden, pointing to an old fellow sitting in the bar, whom they at once recognised as the man they had met when entering the Port.
"What's your name, old chap?" asked Hal, going towards him. ”

“ On 7 Sept. 1607 Camden had injured his leg so severely by a fall from his horse that he was kept to his house for nine months, only leaving it at length to attend the funeral of his friend Sir John Fortescue, who had assisted him in his early work on the 'Annals.' During this confinement 'he put the last hand to his "Britannia" which gained him the titles of the Varro, the Strabo, and the Pausanias of Britain in the writings and letters of learned men' (Gibson) , and published during 1607 an edition in folio, which was a considerable enlargement on those which had preceded. ”

“ William Holloway, who argues at some length (Romney Marsh, 23 to 40) in favour of the idea suggested by Camden. Mr. H. quotes the words of his authority thus: "Newenden, I am almost persuaded, was that haven I have so long sought after . . . Anderida, &c." (compare with the extract above from Gibson's Camden.) Such language appears to indicate, that at first Camden himself felt no certainty on the subject, although afterwards, if he wrote what is cited as from him in the preceding note, he seems to have almost persuaded himself that his conjecture was fact. ”

“ He confesses he had copied Leland, but not without acknowledgment; and argues that while Leland had spent five years, he had passed six times that number in the study of antiquity. Camden would have been to blame had he not made use of his predecessor. How much he improved upon him is too manifest to need proof (see Gough's edition, in which, under Dorsetshire, the passages taken from Leland are printed in italics) . As Bishop Gibson remarks, a perusal of Leland's 'Itinerary' is Camden's best defence. ”

“ He was the intimate friend of Camden; they occupied the same house in Westminster, and when, in 1609, Camden was attacked by a pestilential disease, he retired to Heyther's house at Chislehurst to be cured, and there he died in 1623, having appointed Heyther his executor. When Camden founded the history lecture at Oxford in 1622, he made his friend Heyther the bearer to the University of the deed of endowment. The University on that occasion complimented Heyther by creating him Doctor of Music, May 18, 1622. ”

“ Hills—expensive open.”
“Is it rot?”
“Umph—listen to this!” Camden’s sharp eye lighted on a vivid sentence or two. “Not the usual type of villain—and the girl is rather unique. Up to tricks with her eyes shut. I wonder how she’ll pan out?” Camden turned the pages rapidly, overlooking some of Con’s best work, but getting what he, himself, was after.
“By Jove! she doesn’t do it!”
“What—push those matches this way—what doesn’t she do?” asked the angel.
“Eternally damn the man and claim her sex privilege of unwarranted righteousness!”
“Does she damn herself—like an idiot?” The angel was interested. ”

“ Camden's appointment as Clarenceux had given offence, for it was mainly a feeling of jealousy that prompted the public attack opened upon him in 1599. His antagonist was Ralph Brooke (or Brookesmouth) [q. v.] , York herald, who is said to have also aspired to the post which Camden had obtained. Taking the fourth edition of the 'Britannia' of 1594, Brooke had set himself to examine the pedigrees of illustrious families therein set forth, and produced the errors in a book entitled 'A Discoverie of certain Errours published in print in the much commended "Britannia," 1594,' and without date. ”

“ Cotton's friendship with Camden began at Westminster School, where Cotton was educated—Camden being at that time second master. In the last year of the century, the two friends made an antiquarian journey into the North, where they explored the old Roman wall, built to keep out the marauding Picts, and returned to Connington laden with trophies. These were afterwards presented to Trinity College, Cambridge, where they are still preserved. Camden's Britannia contains more than one allusion to this journey. His History of Queen Elizabeth was long supposed to be their joint work ”

“ A few weeks before Lord Chatham died, Lord Camden paid him a visit. Chatham’s son, William Pitt, left the room on Lord Camden’s coming in. “You see that young man,” said the old lord; “what I now say, be assured, is not the fond partiality of a parent, but grounded on a very accurate examination. Rely upon it, that young man will be more distinguished in this country than ever his father was.” His prophecy was in part accomplished. At the age of twenty-four he was Chancellor of the Exchequer ”

“ He was nominated lieutenant of the Tower in 1595–6. Drury, whom Camden describes as a sincere, honest man, and a puritan in his religion (‘Annals of Elizabeth,’ in Kennett, Hist. of England, ii. 501) , died at his seat, Riddlesworth, Norfolk, 29 April 1617, aged about eighty-six, though on his monument the age of ninety-nine is absurdly given (Le Neve, Monumenta Anglicana, i. 59) . ”

“ There is no comfort like living under your own “vine and fig tree.” My work in the Camden Church was very successful. I had associated with me Mr. C. W. Robinson, Taswell Green, W. Starr, James Hunt, James Martin, George Rice, Mary White, Lizzie Green, Mary Merril, Emma Pitts, Mary Stevenson and other helpers, whose loyalty and faithfulness were most praiseworthy.
We had the great pleasure of entertaining the Conference, which was a most profitable meeting. The Conference was opened by a sermon from Bishop Campbell and presided over by Bishop Wayman. ”

“ The Camden Council have lost a distinguished member, and many persons a singularly warm-hearted and unselfish friend. He was indeed one of those attractive characters who carry into old age the fervour and generosity of early life. ”

“ Bolton was an indefatigable student and amassed large stores of historical and antiquarian learning. Kitson describes him as 'a profound scholar and eminent critic,' while in the judgment of Hunter he claims as an antiquary to stand beside Camden, Selden, and Spelman. Early in life he formed an acquaintance with Camden, and he made extensive travels in England and Ireland in search of antiquities. As his religion stood in the way of his progress on any of the ordinary roads to distinction, he adopted the desperate expedient of trusting to literature as the source of his livelihood. ”

“ The above incident from Strype is interesting, for here manifestly is the source whence Camden derived his information upon the subject. In his quaint “Remaines,” published thirty years later (1614) , after alluding to the Latin names then in vogue, he adds:
“As little will be thought of the new names, Free-Gift, Reformation, Earth, Dust, Ashes, Delivery, More-fruit, Tribulation, The-Lord-is-near, More-triale, Discipline, Joy-againe, From-above, which have lately been given by some to their children, with no evill meaning, but upon some singular and precise conceite.” ”

“ Camden, the antiquary, was much attached to Carleton, and speaks of him (Brit. in Northumb. p. 816) as one 'whom I have loved in regard of his singular knowledge in divinity and in other more delightful literature, and am loved again of him.' Anthony à Wood (Athenae Ox.) describes him as 'a person of solid judgment and various reading, a bitter enemy to the papists, and a severe Calvinist.' His views, however, upon the subject of election were not nearly so rigid as those of the majority in the synod of Dort, and his theology does not seem to have affected the amiability of his disposition. ”

“ Much of his leisure after leaving the university was passed in travelling through the kingdom and noting its antiquities. But his collections at this time were not made with any view to publication.
Camden's patrons at this period were Dr. Gabriel Goodman, dean of Westminster, and his brother Godfrey; and it was by the dean's interest that he was appointed in 1575 to the second mastership in Westminster School under Dr. Edward Grant. A schoolmaster's life still left him free in holiday time to make occasional journeys of inquiry. ”

“ He was cousin of Samson Lennard of Chevening, who married Margaret, baroness Dacre, and of whom honourable mention is made by Camden in his 'Britannia.' His early life was spent in military service. He accompanied Sir Philip Sidney to the Netherlands, and was with him when he received his fatal wound at the battle of Zutphen in 1586. ”

“ Neither at school nor at college did he show much promise, but at Cambridge he was an active member of the Camden Society, which had for its object the 'restoring of English churches on Gothic principles,' and inclined to advanced Anglicanism. ”

“ He continued in retirement until the beginning of the year 1580, when, says Camden, ‘Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, rendered his soul to God—in whom was extinct the surname of this most noble family, which had flourished with great honour for three hundred years and more’—from the time, indeed, of Richard Fitzalan, who, in the reign of Edward I., received the title of Earl of Arundel without any creation, from being possessed of the castle and lordship of Arundel, in Sussex. ”

“ Although this pedigree was recorded by authority of Norroy King of Arms, in 1613, while Camden held the office of Clarenceux, it does not show any connexion with Gyles Curwen, who married a daughter and coheir of Barbara, of Poulton Hall, in the county of Lancaster, and whose daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Sampson Camden of London, and mother of Camden. ”

“ I will yet go on to shew the reader my uneasiness of mind after I got to Camden. I then thought I wanted a preparation to adore the goodness of God, that had begun with me in the back countries, and had brought me through so many difficulties; but with shame I must confess, I sang his praise, but soon forgot his works: yet the great God pitied me, and exercised a careful constant mind towards me, for my good: Oh! how deceitful is the heart of man.
But not long after I got to Camden, my master came from the state of Virginia, to Camden, Kent County, state of Delaware, where he found me ”

“ J. E. B. Mayor has collected their testimonies in an appendix to his edition of the 'Scholemaster,' pp. 268-80. All scholars who were personally acquainted with him speak of his affectionate and gentle nature; but Camden adds in his 'Annals,' under date 1568: 'Nevertheless, being too much given todicing and cockfighting, he lived and died a poor man.' Upon this passage much discussion has arisen, and several writers have attributed the poverty of Ascham's later years to his habit of gambling. ”

“ As overseer of the will of Frances, countess of Sussex, he took part in the inauguration of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. In 1590 he founded Christ's Hospital at his native town of Ruthin, for a president, warden, and twelve poor inmates, and in 1595 added to the foundation a grammar school. Camden was always an intimate friend. Goodman assisted him in his ‘Britannia,’ to which he prefixed Latin verses in 1586, and bequeathed to him a gold ring with a turquoise stone. ”

“ EDWARDS, WILLIAM CAMDEN (1777–1855) , engraver, was born in Monmouthshire in 1777. Early in the nineteenth century he went to Bungay in Suffolk to engrave portraits and illustrations for the Bible, 'Pilgrim's Progress,' and similar works published by Mr. Brightly of that place. He left Bungay after Brightly's death, but eventually returned and settled there until his death on 22 Aug, 1855. He was buried in the cemetery of Holy Trinity, Bungay. ”