One more instance will suffice. The will of Thanks Tilden was proved in 1698. No wonder the name was sufficiently familiar to be embodied in one of the political skits of the Commonwealth period:
“‘O, very well said,’ quoth Con;
‘And so will I do,’ says Frank;
And Mercy cries ‘Aye,’ and Mat, ‘Really,’
‘And I’m o’ that mind,’ quoth Thank.”
Possibly the sentence “unfeignedly thankful” suggested the other word also; any way, it existed:
“1586, April 1. Baptized Unfeigned, sonne of Roger Elliard.”—Warbleton.
The estate of Unfeigned Panckhurst was administered upon in 1656.
From every side we see traces of the popularity of Thankful. During the restoration of Hawkhurst Church, a small tombstone was discovered below the floor, with an inscription to the “memory of Elizabeth, daughter of Thankful Bishop, of Hawkhurst, gent., who died January 2, 1680” (“Arch. Cant.,” iv. 108). In the churchwarden’s book of the same place occurs this curious item:
“1675. Received by Thankfull Thorpe, churchwarden in the year 1675, of Richard Sharpe of Bennenden, the summe of one pound for shouting of a hare.”—“Arch. Cant.,” v. 75.
Several names seem to breathe assurance and trust in imminent peril. Perhaps both mother and child were in danger. Preserved is distinctly of this class:
“Here lieth the body of Preserved, the daughter of Thomas Preserved Emms, who departed this life in the 18th year of her age, on the 17th of November, MDCCXII.”—St. Nicholas, Yarmouth.
“1588, Aug. 1. Baptized Preserved, sonne of Thomas Holman.