THE LIFE OF RICHARD HOOKER.

Ir is not to be doubted, but that RICHARD HOOKER was born within the precincts, or in the city of Exeter; a city which may justly boast, that it was the birthplace of him and Sir THOMAS BODLEY ; as indeed the county may, in which it stands, that it hath furnished this nation with Bishop JEWEL, Sir FRANCIS DRAKE, Sir WALTER RALEIGH, and many others memorable for their

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"On the east of Exeter is a parish church, called Heavy-Tree, memorable for the birth of Mr. Hooker, the judicious author of the Ecclesiastical Polity."-CAMDEN's Britannia.

Sir T. BODLEY was the founder, or rather the restorer of the public library at Oxford, which was originally begun by Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. and collected together, and considerably enlarged two libraries, one founded by Richard of Bury, from his great love of books usually called Philo-biblos, Bishop of Durham in the reign of Edward III., and another by Thomas Cobham, Bishop of Worcester.

h Dr. JOHN JEWEL, Bishop of Salisbury, one of the brightest ornaments of the reformed religion, the celebrated author of The Apology of the Church of England; a work ever to be commended for the classic elegance of its language, and the nervous strength of its argumentation. It attracted the notice of the Council of Trent, who passed a very severe censure upon it, and though a refutation of it was undertaken by a Spanish and Italian Bishop, it remains yet unanswered. Originally written in Latin, it was translated into the Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch languages. To PETER MARTYR, BULLINGER, and many other foreign Protestants, it gave infinite satisfaction. An English version by a lady, ANNE the second daughter of Sir ANTHONY COOK, and the wife of the Lord Keeper, Sir NICHOLAS BACON, was published for the use of the common people in 1564, and ordered to be kept in every parish-church throughout England and Wales. This great and good prelate, having impaired his constitution, as well by the fatigues he underwent when abroad, as by an incessant application to his studies, died Sept. 23, 1571, in the fiftieth of his age. year [See Standard Works, Vol. III; which contains his Apology,' and Treatise of the Holy Scriptures, with a memoir of the author.]

i Sir FRANCIS DRAKE, the first captain who achieved the circumnavigation of the globe, was the son of a private clergyman in Devonshire. See PRINCE'S Worthies of Devon, p. 239, and the Life of Drake in Dr. JOHNSON'S Works, Vol. XII. p. 63.

"Who hath not known or read of this prodigy of wit and fortune, Sir Walter Raleigh, a man unfortunate in nothing but in the greatness of his wit and advancement, whose eminent worth was such both in

valor and learning. He was born about the year of our redemption, one thousand five hundred fifty and three; and of parents that were not so remarkable for their extraction or riches, as for their virtue and industry, and God's blessing upon both; by which they were enabled to educate their children in some degree of learning, of which our Richard Hooker may appear to be one fair testimony, and that nature is not so partial as always to give the great blessings of wisdom and learning, and with them the greater blessings of virtue and government, to those only that are of a more high and honorable birth.

His complexion (if we may guess by him at the age of forty) was sanguine, with a mixture of choler; and yet his motion was slow, even in his youth, and so was his speech, never expressing an earnestness in either of them, but a gravity suitable to the aged. And it is observed (so far as inquiry is able to look back at this distance of time) that at his being a schoolboy, he was an early questionist, quietly inquisitive, Why this was, and that was not, to be remembered? Why this was granted, and that denied? This being mixed with a remarkable modesty, and a sweet serene quietness of nature, and with them a quick apprehension of many perplexed parts of learning, imposed then upon him as a scholar, made his master and others to believe him to have an inward blessed divine light, and therefore to consider him to be a little wonder. For in that, children were less pregnant, less confident, and more malleable, than in this wiser, but not better age.'

This meekness, and conjuncture of knowledge with modesty in his conversation, being observed by his schoolmaster, caused him to persuade his parents (who intended him for an apprentice) to continue him at

domestic policy, foreign expeditions, and discoveries in art and literature, both practick and contemplative, that it might seem at once to conquer example and imitation."-HoWELL'S Familiar Letters, p. 387. This great man fell a victim to the jealousy of Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador. No one encountered danger with more intrepidity and firmness: yet his character never shone with greater lustre, than when he patiently sustained the injurious and indecent language of the Attorney-General, Coke, at his trial. [He was the first settler of Virginia.] i The age was, perhaps, not wiser, though it might be more knowing in some respects.

school till he could find out some means, by persuading his rich uncle, or some other charitable person, to ease them of a part of their care and charge; assuring them, that their son was so enriched with the blessings of nature and grace, that God seemed to single him out as a special instrument of his glory. And the good man told them also, that he would double his diligence in instructing him, and would neither expect nor receive any other reward, than the content of so hopeful and happy an employment.

This was not unwelcome news, and especially to his mother, to whom he was a dutiful and dear child; and all parties were so pleased with this proposal, that it was resolved so it should be. And in the mean time his parents and master laid a foundation for his future happiness, by instilling into his soul the seeds of piety, those conscientious principles of loving and fearing GOD; of an early belief, that he knows the very secrets of our souls; that he punisheth our vices, and rewards our innocence; that we should be free from hypocrisy, and appear to man, what we are to GoD, because first or last the crafty man is catched in his own snare. These seeds of piety were so seasonably planted, and so continually watered with the daily dew of God's blessed Spirit, that his infant virtues grew into such holy habits, as did make him grow daily into more and more favor, both with GoD and man; which, with the great learning that he did attain to, hath made Richard Hooker honored in this, and will continue him to be so to suc ceeding generations.

This good schoolmaster, whose name I am not able to recover, (and am sorry, for that I would have given him a better memorial in this humble monument, dedicated to the memory of his scholar) was very solicitous with John Hooker, then Chamberlain of Exeter, and

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m JOHN HOOKER, alias VOWELL, was born at Exeter, in 1524, of a very creditable family, being the second son of Robert Hooker, Mayor of that city. Having received his education at Oxford, where he studied the Civil Law, he travelled into Germany, and at Cologne kept his exercises in law, and took his degree there. Next he went to Strasbourg, and sojourned with Peter Martyr, by whom he was instructed in divinity. Returning home after a short stay, he travelled into France, and was prevented from proceeding into Italy and Spain by the French declaration of war against England. Hence he retired to his native

uncle to our Richard, to take his nephew into his care, and to maintain him for one year in the University, and in the mean time to use his endeavors to procure an admission for him into some college; still urging and assuring him that his charge would not continue long; for the lad's learning and manners were both so remarkable, that they must of necessity be taken notice of; and that God would provide him some second patron, that would free him and his parents from their future care and charge.

These reasons, with the affectionate rhetorie of his good master, and God's blessing upon both, procured from his uncle a faithful promise that he would take him into his care and charge before the expiration of the year following, which was performed.

This promise was made about the fourth year of the reign of Queen Mary; and the learned JOHN Jewel (after Bishop of Salisbury) having been in the first of this Queen's reign expelled out of Corpus Christi College in Oxford (of which he was a fellow,) for adhering to the truth of those principles of religion to which he had assented in the days of her brother and predecessor Edward VI., and he having now a just cause to fear a more heavy punishment than expulsion, was forced, by forsaking this, to seek safety in another nation, and, with that safety, the enjoyment of that doctrine and worship. for which he suffered.

But the cloud of that persecution and fear ending with the life of Queen Mary, the affairs of the Church and state did then look more clear and comfortable; so that he, and many others of the same judgment, made a

town, whereof he became the first Chamberlain in 1554, and was chosen one of the Citizens for the same in the Parliament, holden at Westminster in 1571. He died in 1601, at the age of near eighty years. He assisted HOLLINGSHED in his Chronicles, and is mentioned by several writers with singular respect as an antiquary, and a historian of great accuracy and fidelity.

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This good man was one of the first victims to Popish resentment after the accession of Queen Mary, being expelled by seven of the fellows of his college, for attending PETER MARTYR's lectures in divinity; for preaching doctrines contrary to Popery; for receiving ordination by the new form, and refusing to be present at mass. [For a view of the life and character of this pillar of the Church of England, see the me moir prefixed to the third Volume of Standard Works.]

happy return into England about the first of Queen Elizabeth; in which year this John Jewel was sent a commissioner or visiter of the churches of the western parts of this kingdom, and especially of those in Devonshire, in which county he was born; and then and there he contracted a friendship with John Hooker, the uncle of our Richard.

In the third year of her reign, this John Jewel was made Bishop of Salisbury; and there being always observed in him a willingness to do good and oblige his friends, and now a power added to it, John Hooker gave him a visit at Salisbury, and besought him 'for charity's sake, to look favorably upon a poor nephew of his, whom nature had fitted for a scholar; but the estate of his parents was so narrow, that they were unable to give him the advantage of learning; and that the bishop would, therefore, become his patron, and prevent him from being a tradesman; for he was a boy of remarkable hopes.' And though the bishop knew men do not usually look with an indifferent eye upon their own children and relations, yet he assented so far to John Hooker, that he appointed the boy and his schoolmaster should attend him, about Easter next following, at that place; which was done accordingly; and then, after some questions and observations of the boy's learning, and gravity, and behavior, the bishop gave the schoolmaster a reward, and took order for an annual pension for the boy's parents, promising also to take him into his care for a future preferment; which was performed. For, about the fourteenth year of his age, which was anno 1567, he was, by the bishop, appointed to remove to Oxford, and there to attend Dr. Cole, then president of Corpus Christi college; which he did; and Dr. Cole had (according to his promise made to the bishop) provided for him both a tutor (which was said to be the learned Dr. John Reynolds) and a clerk's place in that

•Dr. WILLIAM COLE, in 1599, exchanged with Dr. John Reynolds the Presidentship of Corpus Christi College for the Deanery of Lincoln, which he did not long enjoy. He fled into Germany in the time of Queen Mary.

The great prodigy of learning in his time, CRAKANTHORP, under whom he was educated, applied to him what was said of ATHANASIUS. "To name Reynolds is to commend virtue itself." "He alone," says