[157] It was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, a great supporter of the Puritans.
In Bishop Corbet’s poem, The Distracted Puritan, the hero says:—
‘In the house of pure Emmanuel
I had my education,
Where my friends surmise
I dazel’d my eyes
With the sight of Revelation.’
Evelyn, who visited it in September 1655, says: ‘That zealous house ... the Chapel (it was but a room) is reformed ab origine, built N. and S. as is the Librarie.’
[158] Vide infra, [p. 331–3].
[159] Evelyn’s Diary, September 17, 1657, and July 23, 1678.