III. 66 CHAP. "following so notable a man with such testimony of honour, as the child ought to do to his father, and the Anno 1550, "lower to his superior. And though he doubted not, but "the King's Majesty would provide some grave, learned "man to maintain God's true learning in his University, 66 yet he thought, that of all learned men, in all points, 66 they should not receive Mr. Bucer's like; whether his "deepness of knowledge were considered, or his earnest"ness in religion, his fatherliness in life, or his authority "in knowledge. He wished that what was wanting "now by Mr. Bucer's death, they would, by diligence and "wisdom, fulfil in themselves; and what they praised in Cheke de- "others, would labour to obtain themselves." Then he papers for prayed Dr. Parker, that Bucer's books and scrolls unwritthe King's ten might be sent up, and saved for the King, that he, choosing such as should like him best, might return the other without delay; except Mrs. Bucer thought some other better thing to be done with them, or that she should have loss by them, if they should not be in her ordering. He was tender of being in the least prejudicial to the benefit of her whose husband he so much valued, however desirous he was to furnish the young King's library with the books and MSS. that once belonged to a man of such worth and note as Bucer was. sires Bucer's library. Cheke's letter to SECT. IX. Cheke piously writes unto Dr. Haddon, being sick. MENTION was made of Dr. Haddon. He was Doctor consolatory of Laws, of King's college, and one of the topping men of Haddon. the University for piety, good learning, and especially for a cleanly Ciceronian style, and was one of Cheke's chief friends. At this very time he laboured under a dangerous lingering sickness, that had brought him very low. And yet, in the midst of it, however indisposed he was, his respects' to Bucer put him upon pronouncing an oration at his funerals, as was shewed before, when he seemed in all outward appearance to be the very next man to follow him. Cheke IX. was now at Court, but was not unmindful of Haddon's SECT. declining condition, and did the part of a true spiritual friend, by sending him his counsel and comfort in a wise Anno 1550. and compassionate letter; which, having such a mixture of piety and eloquence, and to preserve the small remainders we have of this great man's composures, I shall translate for the English reader's benefit, though falling far short of the writer's elegant Latin. It began, Ærumnæ et miseriæ nostræ, quibus non modo quotidie jactamur, sed fluctuamus etiam, &c. 66 "Our afflictions and miseries, wherewith we are not "only daily tossed, but also are fluctuating up and down, "do administer great ease to your ailments, and comforts "in your sickness. I suppose, now you do not only look "upon death, which is the end of life, but also upon "Christ, who is the end of death, whose servants we are, "whether we live or die; you have the example of a good ❝ and religious man, whose departure you lately most eloquently bewailed, [in his funeral oration upon Bucer,] "who hath prepared you an entrance to Christ. That if "any must leave this light, the enjoyment whereof is wont "to be dear to us all, he cannot be furnished with so many 66 nor more noble exhortations, if he would turn over all "the monuments of antiquity, than you have now placed "before your eyes; viz. the length of the distemper, which by much premeditation mitigates all grief; the frequent " and necessary thoughts of death, which take away the "delights of this world, and diminish the childish appre"hensions of life and ease; the great and heavy assaults "of a disease, which break strength, and draw you nẹces66 sarily into the meditation of death; the death of Bucer, "the worth of whose life, if it could not deliver him from "the jaws of death, what hope may we have of others, "whose praise, although great, yet of him there could not "be greater and worthier; but as children, so you perhaps, when they see their parents going out, they lament, they take on, they pray they may go abroad with "them. Servants, who are employed upon ordinary and "domestic work within doors, do not ask for that which 66 66 HI. CHAP. "they cannot obtain; nor do they know what they should "do abroad, being not accustomed to the business that Anno 1550." lieth without, nor skilful how to manage it. You see "Bucer going before you. In his departure, you, half dead, 66 cry [after him ;] your friend doth not hear; you go not "where fain you would: but there is one perhaps that "hears, and leads you after your parent; and in the mean "time increaseth the anguish of your disease, which press"eth you with grief, to make you weary of your body "as a prison; that your mind, free and at large, might "take her flight to heaven, as your dwelling-house, and ❝ deliver it from these common and daily afflictions, which "set so hard upon human life. "Considering all this, what else may you think than "this: My father is gone home; he calls me; I must fol"low: so my will, so my nature bids me; and so the wise " and the good God will have it; whose goodness I per"ceive as a son, whose wisdom I perceive as a mortal 66 man, and whose presence as a creature. You arm your"self against the rage of the flesh, which if it be not quite “buried, yet it is broken with diseases; and it teacheth 66 you, (unless the eternal Workmaster restore you,) that "an inveterate evil cannot be mended, and that we must "look for another house whither to go, when we see the "imminent and tottering ruin of this. But why do I call “it a house? A kingdom, and that hereditary, and a spa"cious territory, is prepared for you; which, when it was "once lost, Christ purchased for his people, by redeeming "them from their sins, and bestowing on them his Spi❝rit. "Here, perhaps, you will interpose, and say, Not all who "are oppressed with these pains presently ought to de"spair of health. It is not of necessity indeed; but, how"ever, it is the part of wisdom to provide against the 66 worst; and, that nothing may happen unawares, to think "of extremities, not to be afflicted for the loss of life, and "not to despair of a better state: for neither should we "live without hope, nor die with care; lest either the life "be miserable, wanting the comfort of hope, or death be 66 IX. ❝ bitter, being in a torture at the approach of it. For there SECT. "are twelve hours in the day; which being spent, the sun "sets; being not spent, the light diffuseth itself to mor- Anno 1550. "tals: nor does it set before the time prescribed by God "come; nor doth it stay longer than the appointed end of "its course. Not so much as an hair falleth to the earth "without the will of our heavenly Father, at whose com"mand they all fall, and without it they remain; giving us to understand, that life and death are governed by his authority and pleasure. And we should not be afraid of "what he provides, nor shun what he sends, nor decline "what he commands. But I have no time for further dis66 course of these things, by reason of my business; nor "have you leisure to read them, by reason of your indis"position. You will therefore excuse me, that here I make 66 a stand. Farewell in Christ, dear Haddon. March 19, anno 1551. [i. e. anno 1550 exeunte.]” This was the sum of Cheke's Christian as well as eloquent letter to the sick Haddon; wherein he shewed himself a true friend, in the spiritual comforts and counsels suggested to him. But Haddon (though at this present low ebb of health) at length recovered, and lived to be made use of both by King Edward and Queen Elizabeth. To the latter whereof, after she had employed him in embassies abroad, he became Master of her Requests. And as he not long after this was preferred by the King, so was Cheke: the one to be President of Magdalen college in Oxford, anno 1552; the other, as a special mark of the King's favour, to the honour of knighthood this ensuing year, as we shall hear by and by. F CHAP. IV. From the time of Cheke's knighthood, to his being made a SECT. I. Cheke is knighted. Honours FOR in the year 1551, and in the month of October, was conferred by the King and others. a great advancement to honour granted unto certain of the upon Cheke nobility: Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, who married a daughter of the late Duke of Suffolk, (which daughter he had by Mary of the royal blood,) was created Duke of Suffolk; John Sutton, alias Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was created Duke of Northumberland; Paulet, Earl of Wilts, was created Marquis of Winchester; Sir William Herbert was made Lord Cardiff, and soon after Earl of Pembroke; and at the same time, for the greater splendour of the day, the King knighted his Secretary Cecil, his schoolmaster Cheke, and two that were chief gentlemen of his privy chamber, Nevyl and Sidney. The King's gift to him. To which I add the King's gift to him about six months before, namely, in May, to enable him the better to maintain the port and honour that he was ere long to be invested with. It was a gift in fee simple to John Cheke, Esquire, (as it is set down in the warrant book,) in consideration of the surrendry of an hundred mark rent, granted him by letters patents, dated the 26th of August, in the second year of his reign for twenty-one years, if it should so long please the King, of all the manor of Stoke juxta Clare (as he had before given him the site of the college, and other lands belonging to it) in the counties of Suffolk and Essex, with divers other lands, tenements, &c. all to the yearly value of 1457. 19s. 3d. To hold all the premises in capite, by the fortieth part of a knight's fee, (except the Fuller Mill in Stoke, and the Guildhall house there,) the Pistery pasture, and other premises in Spalding, and the rec |