Thomas Cobham

“ Probatio ætatis."
There is also abundant proof that Thomas de Brotherton died in 12 Edward III. The most natural way of removing this difficulty would be to conclude that John de Cobham was the son of Ralph by a previous marriage. But here we have another difficulty to encounter. He is not only called the son of Mary, Countess of Norfolk, or Marishall, by Dugdale, but in all contemporaneous records. See Rymer's Foed., vol. vi. p. 136.; Rot. Orig., vol. ii. p. 277.; Cal. Rot. Pat., p. 178., again at p. 179.; Cal. Ing. P. Mortem, vol. iii. pp. 7. 10. ”

“ Whittle (Thomas) , an old man of 63, who wants to cajole his nephew out of his lady-love, the Widow Brady, only 23 years of age. To this end he assumes the airs, the dress, the manners, and the walk of a beau. For his thick flannels he puts on a cambric shirt, open waist-coat, and ruffles; for his Welsh wig he wears a pigtail and chapeau bras; for his thick cork soles he trips like a dandy in pumps. He smirks, he titters, he tries to be quite killing. He discards history and solid reading for the Amorous Repository, Cupid’s Revels, Hymen’s Delight, and Ovid’s Art of Love. ”

“ Is ́sachar, in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Thomas Thynne, of Longleate Hall, a friend to the duke of Monmouth. There seems to be a very slight analogy between Thomas Thynne and Issachar, son of Jacob. If the tribe (compared to an ass overburdened) is alluded to, the poet could hardly have called the rich commoner “wise Issachar.”
Mr. Thynne and Count Koningsmark both wished to marry the widow of Henry Cavendish, earl of Ogle. Her friends contracted her to the rich commoner, but before the marriage was celebrated, he was murdered. ”

“ Master Walter, “the hunchback,” was the guardian of Julia, and brought her up in the country, training her most strictly in knowledge and goodness. When grown to womanhood, she was introduced to Sir Thomas Clifford, and they plighted their troth to each other. Then came a change. Clifford lost his title and estates, while Julia went to London, became a votary of fashion and pleasure, abandoned Clifford, and promised marriage to Wilford, earl of Rochdale. The day of espousals came. The love of Julia for Clifford revived, and she implored her guardian to break off the obnoxious marriage. ”

“ Shakespeare borrowed his "government of the bees" (Henry V. act i. sc. 2) from Lilly. Euphuês was designed to exhibit the style affected by the gallants of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Thomas Lodge wrote a novel in a similar style, called Euphues' Golden Legacy (1590) .
"The commonwealth of your bees," replied
Euphuês, "did so delight me that I was not a
little sorry that either their estates have not been
longer, or your leisure more; for, in my simple
judgment, there was such an orderly government
that men may not be ashamed to imitate it." ”

“ Tyll Owlyglass or Tyll Owleglass, by Thomas Murner, a Franciscan monk, of Strasbourg (1475-1536) ; the English name of the German “Tyll Eulenspiegel.” Tyll is a mechanic of Brunswick, who runs from pillar to post as charlatan, physician, lansquenet, fool, valet, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything and everything, but invariably “spoils the Egyptians” who trust in him. He produces popular proverbs, is brimfull of merry mischief, droll as Sam Slick, indifferent honest as Gil Blas, light-hearted as Andrew Bode, as full of tricks as Scapin, and as popular as Robin Hood. ”

“ Who was Hang’d as a Traytor, and Burnt as a Heretick.
At the beginning of the reign of Henry V., about the year 1413, the anger of the clergy was excited against the Lollards, and they fabricated a report of a pretended conspiracy among them, headed by Sir John Oldcastle, or, as he was called by courtesy, Lord Cobham, in his wife’s right.
Lord Cobham has the honour of being the first author and the first martyr among the nobility of England. He was a man of considerable natural abilities, proficient in literature, of a ready wit, and skilled in the affairs of the cabinet or in the field. ”

“ COBHAM, a village in the Medway parliamentary division of Kent, England, 4 m. W. of Rochester. The church (Early English and later, and restored by Sir G. G. Scott) is famous for its collection of ancient brasses, of which thirteen belonging to the years 1320–1529 commemorate members of the Brooke and Cobham families. There are some fine oak stalls and some tilting armour of the 14th century in the chancel. Cobham college, containing 20 almshouses, took the place, after the dissolution, of a college for priests founded by Sir John de Cobham in the 14th century. ”

“ He was a careful and accurate man; you can still trace below Lord Cobham's left knee the fastenings of the Garter.
Lord Cobham's wife, Joan, was the author of one of the longest wills in existence. She remembered everybody, including the prisoners in chains at Southwark and the sick men in the hospitals. Her executor Robert Belknappe was to have "a horn made from a griffin's hoof with a silver core, and the said horn has a silver rim and two silver gilt feet." But she was most anxious, poor lady, about her soul. ”

“ Attorney, you said this never came out of Cobham's quiver; he is a simple man. Is he so simple? no: he hath a disposition of his own, he will not easily be [Pg 26] guided by others; but when he has once taken head in a matter, he is not easily drawn from it: he is no babe.
He then goes on to point out the inherent improbabilities of Cobham's story; he himself had no means for persuading the King of Spain to disburse money, having lost his wardenship of the Stannaries; he knew England to be stronger and Spain to be weaker than they had been ”

“ This evidence, he said, had been elicited by the hope of pardon and reward;—let those who had given it enjoy their lives with impunity;—to him death was far more welcome than life. Whatever interpretation lawyers might put upon it, the necessity of self-defence against Cobham, Raleigh and Cecil, had impelled him to raise the city; and he was consoled by the testimony of a spotless conscience. Lord Cobham here rose, and protested that he had never acted with malice against the earl, although he had disapproved of his ambition. ”

“ Sir Walter Raleigh, who was known to have been long on terms of great intimacy with Cobham, was entrusted with the task of obtaining information against him, and vague evidence was forthcoming to show that Cobham had been in negotiation with Aremberg, the ambassador of the Spanish archduke, to place Arabella Stuart on the throne, and to kill 'the king and his cubs.' The alleged plot is usually known as Cobham's or the Main Plot, while Watson's conspiracy goes by the name of the Bye Plot. ”

“ From the moment that John Cobham detected such an approach to the habits of civilised life as sleeping under a roof, he looked upon the wild son of the Moors as virtually reclaimed, and so it proved. Every day he became more and more like his fellow-men. He abandoned his primitive oven, and bought his bread at the baker's. He accepted thankfully the decent clothing necessary to his attending Miss Phoebe in her rides round the country. He worked regularly and steadily at whatever labour was assigned to him, receiving wages like the other farm servants ”

“ She was here sumptuously entertained by William lord Cobham, a nobleman who enjoyed a considerable share of her favor, and who, after acquitting himself to her satisfaction in an embassy to the Low-Countries, was rewarded with the garter and the place of a privy-councillor. He was however a person of no conspicuous ability, and his wealth and his loyalty appear to have been his principal titles of merit. ”

“ In the reign of King John, Henry de Cobham gave 1,000 marks to the king for his favour. He left three sons, viz., John, who was Sheriff of Kent, Justice of Common Pleas, and Judge Itinerant; Reginald, also Sheriff of Kent, Constable of Dover Castle, and Warden of the Cinque Ports; and William, also Justice Itinerant. The eldest, John de Cobham, was succeeded by his son John, who in turn became Sheriff of Kent, one of the Justices of King’s Bench and Common Pleas, and Baron of the Exchequer. ”

“ A rumour having gone abroad that the King intended to enforce the laws against heresy, notices were found fixed against the doors of the London churches, that if any such measure was attempted, a hundred thousand men would be in arms to oppose it. These papers were traced to Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise called Lord Cobham, a man whose true character is more difficult to distinguish, in the conflict of the evidence which has come down to us about him, than that of almost any noticeable person in history. ”

“ The humouring an Irish chief at the expense of an honest man might have been forgiven; but St Leger was less successful than before in keeping down the expenditure, and the home Government, trusting to the supplies from the mint, sent no remittances. His applications for money were in consequence vexatiously frequent. 'Religion' did not prosper with him; and the reviving uncertainty of the relations between England and France, in the winter of 1550–51, made the presence of a stronger hand desirable. Lord Cobham was first thought of as a fit person. ”

“ The road from Stoke D'Abernon runs north-west through the two Cobhams, Church Cobham and Street Cobham. The little Plough Inn, which acts as refreshment-room for Cobham railway station, suggests the proper spirit of village revelry. A spreading yew arbour should shade good ale from the summer suns, and by the side of the garden across the road, gay with geraniums, see-saws and swings, runs a tiny stream, rippling down to the Mole. ”

“ What you want, of course, is some man whose name and reputation, as well as his valour and skill, will inspire the whole party with trust. But I will pledge myself for such a man."
"For whom?" demanded Count Aremberg.
"None other than my old and dear friend, Sir Walter Raleigh," replied Lord Cobham. "He will never hang back when Cobham asks him to draw the sword; and, moreover, he has already received disgust which makes his blood boil. I saw him this morning, with a letter from Cecil in his hand. ”

“ By the time he had got to Cobham he was making up his mind as to the particular line of heroism to which he would apply himself. The old town, for Cobham calls itself a town, was still and silent, apparently unconscious of the glorious morning which was dawning on the world, and certainly unconscious of the young gentleman who was passing through its pleasant street, scheming schemes which, when brought to full fruition, would proclaim him a hero in the sight of a universe of men.
"I'll be a highwayman; I'd like to be; I will be. ”

“ Still more unfavourably shines another of the generals of this reign. Lord Cobham did not lack bravery, but he owed most of his celebrity to Pope. He did not care how wicked a man was, provided only he were a gentleman in his vices; and he was guilty of an act which Marlborough would have contemplated with horror—namely, tried hard to make infidels of two promising young gentlemen—Gilbert West, and George, subsequently Lord, Lyttelton. ”

“ The Lord Cobham’s (or Cobham’s) Head, named after Sir John Oldcastle “the good Lord Cobham,” was situated in Cold Bath Fields, and on the west side of Coppice Row, now Farringdon Road, at the point where it was joined by Cobham Row.
It was first opened in 1728 (about April) , and in its garden there was then “a fine canal stocked with very good carp and tench fit to kill,” and anglers were invited to board at the house. ”

“ John Cobham had married late in life, and had been left, after seven years of happy wedlock, a widower with five children. In his family he may be said to have been singularly fortunate, and singularly unfortunate. Promising in no common degree, his sons and daughters, inheriting their mother's fragile constitution as well as her amiable character, fell victims one after another to the flattering and fatal disease which had carried her off in the prime of life ”

“ In the case of an old and tried soldier like Lord Cobham this proceeding caused a great sensation. Bills were introduced in both houses to take from the crown the power of breaking officers, and motions were made to petition the king to inform them who had advised him to such a course. By breaking with Walpole Cobham forfeited the favour of the king; but by opposing the excise he gained the esteem of the Prince of Wales, and by assailing the South Sea Company he obtained the sympathy of the people. ”

“ Cobb’s court, Black Friars.†
Cobb’s yard, 1. Blackman’s street.† 2. Petticoat lane.†
Cobham, a town in Surry, situated on the river Mole, six miles from Epsom, in the road from London to Guilford.
Near Cobham are several fine seats, particularly one belonging to the Lord Ligonier, and another, the seat of Mr. Bridges, which is built in a very singular taste, tho’ very plain on the outside, somewhat after the manner of an Italian villa. The principal rooms are richly ornamented; the ceilings are gilt ”

“ He always did, Wrayford reflected, when the small fry from Highfield came to dine. He, Cobham Stilling, who had to find his bearings and keep to his level in the big heedless ironic world of New York, dilated and grew vast in the congenial medium of Highfield. The Red House was the biggest house of the Highfield summer colony, and Cobham Stilling was its biggest man. No one else within a radius of a hundred miles (on a conservative estimate) had as many horses, as many greenhouses, as many servants, and assuredly no one else had three motors and a motor-boat for the lake. ”