at night, with a promise to return early the day following; which he did, and then found him better in appearance, deep in contemplation, and not inclinable to discourse; which gave the Doctor occasion to inquire his present thoughts; to which he replied, "That he was meditating the number and nature of angels, and their blessed obedience and order, without which, peace could not be in heaven; and oh! that it might be so on earth! " After which words, he said, "I have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations, and I have been long preparing to leave it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God, which I now apprehend to be near: And though I have by his grace loved him in my youth, and feared him in mine age, and labored to have a conscience void of offence to him, and to all men; yet if thou, O Lord, be extreme to mark what I have done amiss, who can abide it? And, therefore, where I have failed, Lord, show mercy to me; for I plead not my righteousness, but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness, for his merits who died to purchase a pardon for penitent sinners. And since I owe thee a death, Lord, let it not be terrible, and then take thine own time; I submit to it. Let not mine, O Lord, but let thy will be done." With which expression he fell into a dangerous slumber; dangerous as to his recovery; yet recover he did, but

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THE LIFE OF RICHARD HOOKER.

it was to speak only these few words; "Good Doctor, God hath heard my daily petitions; for I am at peace with all men, and he is at peace with me; and from which blessed assurance, I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take from me." More he would have spoken, but his spirits failed him; and, after a short conflict betwixt nature and death, a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath, and so he fell asleep.

And here I draw his curtain, till with the most glorious company of the patriarchs and apostles, the most noble army of martyrs and confessors, this most learned, most humble, holy man, shall also awake to receive an eternal tranquillity, and with it a greater degree of glory than common Christians shall be made partakers of. In the mean time, bless, O Lord! Lord, bless his brethren, the clergy of this nation, with ardent desires, and effectual endeavours to attain, if not to his great learning, yet to his remarkable meekness, his godly simplicity, and his Christian moderation, for these are praiseworthy; these bring peace at the last! And let the labors of his life, his most excellent writings, be blessed with what he designed when he undertook them: which was glory to thee, O God on high, peace in thy church, and good will to mankind. Amen, Amen.

APPENDIX

TO THE

LIFE OF RICHARD HOOKER.

AND now having by a long and laborious search satisfied myself, and, I hope, my reader, by imparting to him the true relation of Mr. Hooker's life; I am desirous also to acquaint him with some observations that relate to it, and which could not properly fall to be spoken till after his death, of which my reader may expect a brief and true account in the following Appendix.

And first, it is not to be doubted but that he died in the forty-seventh, if not in the forty-sixth year of his age; which I mention, because many have believed him to be more aged; but I have so examined it, as to be confident I mistake not; and for the year of his death, Mr. Camden, who in his "Annals of Queen Elizabeth," 1599, mentions him with a high commendation of his life and learning, declares him to die in the year 1599; and yet in that inscription of his monument, set up at the charge of Sir William Coop

er in Bourne Church, where Mr. Hooker was buried, his death is said to be Anno 1603, but doubtless both are mistaken; for I have it attested under the hand of William Somner, the Archbishop's register for the province of Canterbury, that Richard Hooker's will bears date October the 26th in Anno 1600, and that it was proved the third of December following. And this attested also, that at his death he left four daughters, Alice, Cicily, Jane, and Margaret; that he gave to each of them a hundred pounds; that he left Joan his wife his sole executrix; and that by his inventory his estate (a great part of it being in books) came to £1092 9s. 2d. which was much more than he thought himself worth; and which was not got by his care, much less by the good housewifery of his wife, but saved by his trusty servant Thomas Lane, that was wiser than his master in getting money for him, and more frugal than his mistress in keeping it: of which will I shall say no more, but that his dear friend Thomas, the father of George Cranmer, of whom I have spoken, and shall have occasion to say more, was one of the witnesses to it.

One of his elder daughters was married to one Chalinor, sometime a schoolmaster in Chichester, and both dead long since. Margaret, his youngest daughter, was married unto Ezekiel Clark, bachelor in divinity, and rector of St. Nicholas in Harbledown near Canterbury, who died about sixteen years past, and had a son Ezekiel, now living and in sacred orders, being at this time rector of Waldron in Sussex; she left also a daughter, with both whom I have spoken not many months past, and find her to be a widow

in a condition that wants not, but far from abounding; and these two attested unto me, that Richard Hooker, their grandfather, had a sister, by name Elizabeth Harvey, that lived to the age of one hundred and twenty-one years, and died in the month of September, 1663.

For his other two daughters I can learn little certainty, but have heard they both died before they were marriageable: and for his wife she was so unlike Jephtha's daughter, that she stayed not a comely time to bewail her widowhood, nor lived long enough to repent her second marriage; for which doubtless she would have found cause, if there had been but four months betwixt Mr. Hooker's and her death. But she is dead, and let her other infirmities be buried with her.

Thus much briefly for his age, the year of his death, his estate, his wife, and his children. I am next to speak of his books, concerning which I shall have a necessity of being longer, or shall neither do right to myself or my reader, which is chiefly intended in this Appendix.

I have declared in his Life, that he proposed eight books, and that his first four were printed Anno 1594, and his fifth book first printed, and alone, Anno 1597, and that he lived to finish the remaining three of the proposed eight; but whether we have the last three as finished by himself, is a just and material question; concerning which I do declare, that I have been told almost forty years past, by one that very well knew Mr. Hooker, and the affairs of his family, that about a month after the death of Mr. Hooker, Bishop Whit