Ridlejus.

tractando, summis laudibus evexerint. Verum ex tenuioribus non pauci de magnitudine pretii libri conquesti sunt. Qui ut, juxta Christi verbum, jure quodam suo ex promisso scripturæ evangelium sibi vendicant, ita præ inopia non suppetentibus sumptibus, non possunt libros evangelicos sibi comparare; quum divites plerique ad ostentationem, quo evangelici videri possint, sibi comparent. Quare mihi et nonnullis aliis eodem spiritu afflatis magis ex re vera Christianorum esse visum est ut, papistarum nominibus et historiis deletis, (quorsum enim in libris tuis eorum fieret mentio, qui nullum habent locum in libro vitæ ?) et ea sola in libro tuo commemorentur, quæ ad vere martyres pertinerent, superfluis et multis Latine recitatis, quæ per te Anglicè redduntur, resectis. Aquilam volare doceret, qui tibi ostenderet quænam ut minus lectu necessaria expungenda essent. Typographus fere quisque mavult libros suos esse magnos ob magnum suum quæstum, quam misello et parvo gregi Christi utiles et facile parabiles. Utinam tam lautus tibi victus suppeteret, ut non cogaris miseris, avaris, gloriosis et amusis librariis servire! Audio enim te maligne a tuo domino, ne quid durius dicam, tractatum esse. Si res secus habeat, abs te discere cupio.

De Ridleio plura dicere possum et certiora quam tu in libro tuo commemorasti, ut qui in eadem provincia, qua ille, primos ediderim vagitus, et illi in collegio Pembrochiano ad multos annos fui collega et in theologicis exercitamentis antagonista. Is erat in Northumbria mea natus, et e nobili Ridleiorum prosapia prognatus.

Alter patruorum armatæ militiæ eques auratus fuit, alter erat theologiæ doctor, Roberti Ridleii nomine, non solum Cantabrigiæ, sed et Parisiis ubi diu studuerat, et scriptis Polydori Vergilii per totam Europam notissimus. Hujus doctoris sumptibus est Nicolaus noster diu Cantabrigiæ, postea Parisiis, postremo Lavanii sustentatus: post reditum ejus a gymnasiis ultramarinis ad multos annos nobiscum in collegio Pembrochiano vixit; sed tandem ad Cantuariensem episcopum a nobis avocatus est, cui fideliter servivit, et tandem ad episcopalis dignitatis fastigium evectus est. Vicus in quo natus erat Wilowmontiswik appellatur: porro Willowmont Northumbriensium linguâ anatem rupestrem significat; wik vero sig

nificat vicum aut pagum, ut in Anwico et Berwico videre licet et in Crowyke. De ejus memoria, multiplici linguarum et artium cognitione, quanquam ipse testis esse possum locupletissimus (nam me primus Græcæ linguæ pleniori cognitione instruebat), citra meum testimonium plerique omnes Cantabrigienses, quibus satis erat notus, testari volunt et possunt. Quam fuerit in quavis materia confutanda aut expugnanda fortis, sine tamen ulla jactantia aut armorum strepitu, non solum ego, sed omnes quibuscum congressus est, (modo gloriæ quam par erat sitientiores intellexerit, hos enim fortius opprimebat) facile senserunt. Moribus erat longe placidissimis et citra hypocrisim aut monasticam austeritatem sanctissimis. Arcu enim et pila palmaria sæpissime sese mecum exercuit. Beneficentiæ ejus in pauperes si nullus alius [testis] existat, ego hoc omnibus testatum volo, illum antequam ad ullam ecclesiasticam dignitatem evectus esset, me secum comitem ad proximum nosodochium duxisse; et quum mihi quod pauperibus erogarem non suppeteret, præterea quæ ipse largiter pro facultatum suarum modo distribuerat, mihi quod pauperibus conferrem sæpe suppeditavit. Quantum subsidii in carcere adhuc agens, nobis in Germania exulantibus, ex Anglia emiserit, doctissimus vir, ejus veluti fidus Achates, Doctor Edmundus Grendalus, nunc Londinensis episcopus, testari potest, et alii multi qui ipsius liberalitate fuere sublevati. Qualis ergo vir quum fuerit, doctissimus nimirum, castissimus, et omnibus modis sanctissimus, quam inclementes, feros et crudeles habuit tum Anglia tam reges quam episcopos, qui conjunctis consiliis in mortem ejus conspiraverunt, et tortoribus vivum exurendum tradiderunt, ob nullum aliud flagitium, quam quod Christo vero homini in cœlo firmam sedem et non vagam, et in terris supremum gubernaculum illi contra Romanum Antichristum asseruerit. O gravia scelera, ob quæ tam illustris Christi propheta et episcopus tam gravi supplicio afficeretur! Vos qui in mortem ejus conspirastis, dum adhuc vivitis, resipiscite, et tyrannidem vestram coram omnibus agnoscite et confitemini, et veniam a Deo omnipotente multis precibus efflagitate, ne propter vestrum horrendum scelus universum hoc regnum pœnas luat gravissimas.

Doctor Taylerus, qui Hadlei exustus est, in Northumbria Taylerus. etiam natus est in oppido Rothberry, non procul a Riddis

dalia. Cum hoc homine ad multos annos vixi familiarissime, et ut evangelicam doctrinam amplecteretur, hortator eram minime segnis; et ut facilius nobiscum sentiret, “Unionem Dissidentium" clanculum illi paravi, quo et Latimeri concionibus inescatus, in doctrinam nostram pedibus ivit facillime. Latimerus. Si de Latimero plura scire cupias quam in libro tuo scripta sunt, archiepiscopus Cantuariensis et doctor Lancelotus Ridleius te satis possunt instruere. Hoc me valde male habet, quod sanctissimi martyris domini Thorpii liber non sit ea lingua Anglice conscriptus, qua eo tempore quo ipse vixit tunc tota Anglia est usa. Nam talis antiquitatis sum admirator, ut ægerrime feram talis antiquitatis thesauros nobis perire; quo nomine haud magnam apud me gratiam inierunt qui Petrum Aratorem, Gowerum et Chaucerum, et similis farinæ homines, in hanc turpiter mixtam linguam, neque vero Anglicam neque pure Gallicam, transtulerunt. Recte igitur, me judice, facturus es si alicunde Thorpii autographum nancisci possis, ea lingua edas qua ille conscripserit. Expendes quæso in quorum potissimum gratiam librum conscripseris. Quo facto non dubito, licet typographus insaniat, quin librum ad veræ ecclesiæ utilitatem majorem sis editurus. Nam, tum inutilibus et superfluis resectis, libri pretium non ultra X excrescet.

Vale, frater charissime.

Tuus Gulielmus

Turnerus.

To his welbelovyd brother

Master Fox precher of

Goddis word be this

delyvered in

Welliæ, Novem. 26.

London.

HARL. MS. 416, fol. 132.

E Cod. Mus. Brit.

491

My most dear brother in Christ, I greet you well. Though I am not ignorant that you are in no mean degree endowed with the Spirit of God; yet as, since that time when any intimacy arose between us, I have always understood you to be one, who would not unwillingly listen to the admonitions of your brethren; and as, in my long wanderings through many provinces, the opinions of many concerning the book which you have written of our martyrs, have been ascertained by me, you will not, I think, take it ill, if I openly state to you what I have heard. Among all those whom I have heard speaking of your book, I have nowhere found any one who did not with the greatest praises commend, not the subject only, but also your felicity and dexterity in treating it. But of the poorer sort not a few have complained of the greatness of the price of the book, who, though according to the saying of Christ they have a sort of special right to the Gospel in virtue of a certain scripture promise, Isaiah Ixi. yet on account of poverty, not having the means, cannot procure for themselves evangelical books, while rich men, for the most part, out of ostentation do procure them, that they may seem evangelical. On which account it has seemed to me, and to some others influenced by the same spirit, that it would be more to the advantage of Christians, if, the names and histories of papists being erased (for why should mention be made in your book of those who have no place in the book of life?) and many things superfluous and related in Latin, which by you are translated in English, being cut out, those things alone should be commemorated in your book which regard those truly martyrs. It would be like teaching the eagle to fly, to shew you what things might be expunged, as less necessary to be read. Almost every printer would rather have his books large for the sake of his own profit, than useful to, and easily attainable by, the small and

"Matth. xi. 5.

poor flock of Christ. I would that you had so competent a provision, that you might not be compelled to serve mean, avaricious, vain, and illiterate booksellers; for I hear that you have been malignantly treated by your master, to call him by no harsher name. If the case be otherwise, I desire to hear it from you.

Of Ridley I can give more and more certain intelligence than you have preserved in your book. For I first drew my breath in the same province with him, and in Pembroke college was for many years his companion, and in our theological exercises his opponent.

He was born in my own county of Northumberland, and descended from the noble stock of the Ridleys. One of his uncles was a knight; the other, Robert Ridley by name, a doctor in divinity, not only of Cambridge but also of Paris, where he long studied, and became known, through the writings of Polydore Vergil, throughout all Europe.

At the expense of this doctor was our Ridley maintained first at Cambridge, then at Paris, and afterwards at Louvain. After his return from the foreign universities he lived with us many years in Pembroke college; but at length he was called away from us to the archbishop of Canterbury, whom he faithfully served, and was at last elevated to the height of the episcopal dignity.

The village in which he was born is called Willowmontswick. Now Willowmont, in the Northrumbrian language, signifies a wild duck', or duck of the rocks; and wick signifies village or hamlet, as may be seen in Aln-wick, and Ber-wick, and in Cro-wick. As to his memory and manifold knowledge of arts and languages, though I might myself be an abundant witness (for he first instructed me in a fuller knowledge of the Greek language), yet beyond my testimony almost all Cambridge men, to whom he was well enough known, will and can bear witness to it. How strong he was in confuting or overthrowing any [false] argument, yet without any vain glory or parade of his learning, not

୯ "Colymbus Troile. This bird is called Guillem by the Welsh, Guillemot or Sea Hen in Northumberland and Durham, in the Southern parts Willocks." Donovan's British Birds, vol. ii. plate xxviii. He further describes it as frequenting the coasts and the rocks. ED.]