CHAP. II. 66 ness, if not to take away your disease by coming to you, 66 at least to lessen my sorrow which I have from my Anno 1545. "forced absence. The Lord Jesus, who hath all power, "according to his good pleasure, preserve your wife, chil“dren, and family, and restore you from this sickness. "At Hartford the xiii of Octob. tron's death "Your Son in heart, "JOHN CHEKE.” This pious letter was the more seasonable, since this gentleman must now have been very ill, this disease proving mortal, and within little less than a month after ending his life; as appears by his monument in Fulham church, against the wall in the chancel, which I will here set down, and the rather, he having been Cheke's chief patron and dear friend, and that the memory of so worthy a man might be preserved : Cheke's pa- Epitaphium D. Guil. Buttii Eq. Aurati, et Medici Regis Henrici VIII. qui obiit anno Dom. 1545, 17 Novembr. and epitaph. Quid medicina valet, quid honos, quid gratia regum, And what if I should think that this was the issue of SECT. III. His private studies. NOW also, some of the spare hours Cheke could re III. tion's con deem to himself, he employed in reading of Chrysostom in SECT. Greek. With whom he was so conversant, that one of his friends, speaking to him of that author, called him, Anno 1547. Tuus Chrysostomus, i. e. your own Chrysostom. And Sets forth Chrysoto make his studies useful to others as well as to himself, stom's orahe translated the six orations of that eloquent and pious cerning Father, De Fato, that is, Of Providence, out of Greek Fate. into Latin, and published them about the year 1547, (as he had translated some before,) where Cheke lively expressed his own style, language, and affection. Insomuch that his contemporary at the University, and his good friend told him in a letter, "bThat his book conveyed with it an ear"nest desire to enjoy his voice, his conversation, his wit: "all which that writing as a certain picture of his mind "did admirably represent. So that the voice in this dis"putation seemed not to be so much Chrysostom's, as "Cheke's own. So plentiful was this whole volume of "most noble sentences concerning God, so handsome the "placing them, words so well suited to the matter, such 66 elegant translations, so familiar and delightful narra"tions, so great a contexture of arguments, such agree"ment of the whole oration with the cause. Which were "all properly Cheke's own virtues, partly natural, and partly obtained by study and knowledge." And as Haddon had a poetical vein, so on a sudden in some heat of fancy, when he had read this translation of Cheke's, he wrote this tetrastich upon it: 66 Divus Joannes Chrysostomus aurea Græca, And besides the royal youth, Cheke seems to have the Takes care care of his sister, the Lady Elizabeth's studies, at least b Maximum iste liber mihi desiderium attulit tuæ vocis, tuæ consuetudinis, tui ingenii, quæ sane omnia hoc scriptum tanquam effigies quædam animi tui, repræsentavit, &c. G. Haddonus Joan. Checo. of the Lady Elizabeth's studies. II. CHAP. Sometimes. When the Prince was once at his honour of Ampthil in Bedfordshire, (as at other times, for changing Anno 1547. of air, he was at Hartford, and at Hatfield,) his said sister was with him. And she was then under Cheke's instruction, as may be gathered from a copy of verses made by Leland to that lady, to this import; that once going to Ampthil to see Prince Edward, and Cheke, his tutor; Cheke brought him also to the Lady Elizabeth, to have a sight of her, when Cheke also prays her to salute that learned man, and speak to him in Latin, which she did. Which honour done him, Leland expresses in these verses: Cheke's condition Edward's reign. Tempore quo Checus, musarum cura, politus SECT. IV. Cheke's interest under King Edward. Applied to. WHEN Cheke's royal charge and care came to reign, under King our learned man began to move in an ampler sphere: preferments and favours began to be accumulated upon him by his loving and grateful scholar, now his Sovereign; and applications began to be made to him by men of desert. And he ever readily used his interest with his Prince, (to whom he was very dear,) to promote and further all worthy and commendable both men and enterprises. And the University of Cambridge, knowing what a careful friend he was already, and would be to it on any occasion they might have of application to the Court, now near the beginning of King Edward's reign, addressed a letter to him of high respect, full of his deserved praises, and expressive of the assurance they had in his assistance at all times which, because it will serve to give a light to our history, and shew in part our learned man, I cannot omit IV. setting it down in the English for the benefit of the SECT. reader, though written originally in elegant Latin; which cannot be reached in a translation. Anno 1547. to him. In Ex universo illo numero, &c. "Of all that number of The University's very eminent men, most eminent Cheke, that ever went congratula"forth from this University into the commonwealth, you tory letter "alone are the man, whom she, above all others, loved be- ter Asch. ❝ing present, and being absent admired: which you also Epist. II.55. " in recompense had adorned more than all the rest, when 66 you were present, and now being absent afford your help "unto. For being present, you delivered such rules of "learning for all instruction, and propounded such ex 66 66 amples of ingenuity to all imitation, as when every one "followed for their greatest benefit, none perfectly and "completely attained. There is none indeed among us "all, either so ignorant as knows not, or so envious as to 66 deny it, that these most fortunate fountains of our stu“dies, which many with great industry, pains, and hope, "have drunk at, have flown from your wit, tuition, example, and counsel. And the perpetual preservation of "your memory, is consecrated to those monuments of your humanity, parts, and learning. But being gone, 66 you have heaped upon us greater assistance, and surer "defence, than either the rest of our friends could ever "think, or we ourselves expect. For whilst a King, in"structed by your precepts, becomes such a patron of "learning by your counsel, we are not ignorant what the "rest either will, or at least ought to contribute to our "University. We have drawn this our hope, and this dis 66 66 cipline out of your Plato, to Dionysius, a very bad king; "yet we have had experience lately of the fruit and use of "it, by your aid in our best Prince Edward. Therefore, "since so many mutual offices, so many pious closenesses "and ties are between you and the University, that in fetching back the remembrance of it from your very "cradle, to the honour in which you now are, there is no "benefit of nature, or fruit of industry, or praise of wit, or "defence of fortune, or ornament of honour to be found in D 1 II. СНАР. 6 you, whereunto our University either hath not contri"buted for your use, or whereof it hath not partaken to Anno 1547.❝ her glory: we do not doubt, but the University may "hope and receive from you this fruit of the ornaments "she hath conferred on you; that whatever interest and power your honourable place and station may hereafter put into your hands, you will employ it all in preserving "the dignity of the University. We do not commend any 66 one, but all our causes to you, wherein we hope you will "take such pains, as either you ought to bestow upon us, "or we to expect from you." Marries. Mrs. ther. 66 In this year I place Mr. Cheke's marriage, being confirmed by a passage in his eldest son's letter to Cecil, that he was nine years old when his father died, which was in the year 1557. She whom he chose for his consort was Mary, a young gentlewoman, daughter and heiress of Richard Hill, by Elizabeth, daughter of Ilsley, Esq. Cheke's fa- This Hill lived, as it seems, in the Vintry, London, and was a wine merchant, and died young; yet not before he had ten or eleven children by his wife. He had also a place of credit at Court, being master or sergeant of the wine cellar to King Henry VIII. as appears by his monumental inscription in the church of St. Michael, Queenhithe, London, where he was buried: which was to this Weev. Mon. tenor: RICHARDO HILL potentiss. Regis HENRICI Octavi p. 405. cellæ vinaria prefecto, Elizabetha conjux mœstissima, facta jam undecimorum liberorum mater, marito optimo, immatura tandem morte sublato, (quod solum potuit) posteritati commendaturum cupiens hoc monumentum, posuit. Obiit, an. Dom. 1539, die mensis Maii 12. As for this young lady, (daughter to this good widow Mrs. Hill,) we shall meet with a passage concerning her hereafter. SECT. V. His preferments and benefits obtained from King Edward. THE first benefit I find bestowed on Cheke by the |