Memoirs of William Noye.—Sir Hans Sloane’s MSS. see Ayscough’s Catalogue, vol. II. p. 736.
Mr. Noye also left in manuscript several collections from the Records in the Tower, especially two large volumes:—
One respecting the King’s prerogative for maintaining the Naval Power according to the practice of his Ancestors.
The other relating to the Privileges and Jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts, to which Doctor Thomas James, the learned Compiler of the Bodleian Catalogue, acknowledges his obligation in a work, entitled “A Manuduction or Introduction into Divinity,” Oxford, 1625, 4to.
Mr. Noye had the honour of receiving the public thanks of his College, under the following circumstances: Sir William Petre, son of John Petre, of Torbryan in Devonshire, well known as Secretary of State in the time of King Henry the Eighth, and successively in the reigns of his three successors, had been a Commoner of Exeter College, and from thence elected a Fellow of All Souls. He afterwards became Principal of Peckwater Hall, one of the Visitors of Religious Houses, and finally Secretary of State. Sir John Petre, by participating in the good fortune of all those who were favourites at Court in this eventful period of our history, appropriated to himself a share of the Confiscated Church Lands, most profusely distributed; and by so doing became the founder of a family still existing, with an hereditary seat in Parliament, and professing the Catholic religion. Wishing perhaps to make some restitution, Sir John Petre founded eight Fellowships at Exeter College, in the Protestant University of Oxford, to all of which, called Petrean Fellowships, he continued to nominate during his life, according to an ancient custom in similar cases; but when his successors attempted to exercise the same right or privilege, they were resisted by the College, and the cause came to be tried in the Court of Common Pleas, under the form of a replevin; they were successfully and gratuitously supported by Mr. Noye, as will appear from the passage in the College Register.
A. D. 1614. Circa idem tempus reclivimus vaccas Edmundi Lord per replevin de Walton Court, ubi hæsit paulisper negotium donec Baro Petreius illud transferri curavit ad Communia Placita, ut ibidem decernatur.
Petimus autem nos per Dominum Chamberlyne, servientem ad Legem, ut, bonâ cum judicum veniâ, in Comitiis
Oxoniensibus coram Justitiario Regis hoc transigeretur, sed obnixe obstitit Baro Petreius. Sic convenerunt Rector et Magister Chambers, ex Collegii consensu, ad causam promovendam in Communibus Placitis. Qui adeuntes Dominum Gulielmum Noye, olim hujus Collegii Baccellarium, virum in jure municipali (si quis alius per totam Angliam) perspicacissimum et profundissimum, ab eo semper acceperunt quod esset faciendum.
Perlegit ille, et diligentissime perpendit omnes evidentias nostras et statuta, expendit rationes utriusque partis, conteruit solide compendia sive brevia quibus servientes (nam tales solum audiuntur in Communibus Placitis) informabantur. Ipse (sc. Dominus Gulielmus Noye) eos, relictis propriis negotiis, una cum nobis edit et instauravit; quæ omnia sponte fecit et alacriter, sine omni expectatione præmii, quæ ideo in fastos referenda duximus, ut agnosceret talis viri in Collegium pietatem grata posteritas.
The Editor possesses a picture of Mr. Noye painted on oak, by Cornelius Jansen; and at the desire of Exeter College, he has recently presented to them a copy, which is placed in the Hall.