[27] See his defence of pluralism. [In the chapter on “The Church of England.”—W.] It was vehemently condemnd by most of his contemporaries.—F.
[28] The Vicarage of Wimbish not being a “competent maintenance,” and the adjoining vicarage of Thunderley being so small that no one would accept of it, Dr. Kemp, Bishop of London in 1425, united the two. The presentation to these incorporated vicarages was made alternate in the Rector of Wimbish (it is a sinecure rectory) and the Priory of Hatfield Regis (who had the great tithes and advowson of Thunderley). In 1547, Ed. VI. granted this Priory’s advowson or right of presenting alternately to Wimbish, to Ed. Waldgrave, Esq.; and it passed on in private hands, so that from 1567 to 1599 it belonged to Francis de la Wood, who thus, it would seem, must have been the patron who presented William Harrison. See Morant’s Hist. of Essex, pp. 560, 561. By the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Hen. VIII. the clear yearly value of Wimbish Vicarage was £8; tithes 16s. That of Radwinter Rectory £21 11s. 4d.; tithes £2 3s. 2½d. Some of the parson of Radwinter’s tithes were made up thus:—“to the parson of Radwynter forseid for the yerely tythes of the said maner [Bendish Hall, in the parish of Radwinter], one acre of whete in harvest price x s, one acre of otes price v s iiij d, a lambe price viij d, a pigg, price iiij d, and in money iij s iiij d.”—Valor Eccl., Vol. I. p. 85, col. 2.—F.
[29] I assume that Harrison had once more children, whom he floggd occasionally. When speaking of mastiffs in Bk. 3, chap. 7, p. 231, col. 1, l. 60, ed. 1587, he says, “I had one my selfe once, which would not suffer anie man to bring in his weapon further than my gate, neither those that were of my house, to be touched in his presence. Or if I had beaten anie of my children, he would gentlie haue assaied to catch the rod in his teeth, and take it out of my hand, or else pluck downe their clothes to saue them from the stripes: which in my opinion is not vnworthie to be noted. And thus much of our mastiffes, creatures of no lesse faith and loue towards their maisters than horses.” Still, girls were floggd in Elizabeth’s days, no doubt (compare Lady Jane Grey’s case, in Ascham), as well as a hundred years before. See how Agnes Paston beat her daughter Elizabeth in 1449, Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, vol. i., Introd., p. cxvi.—F. [See Chapter XVI., “Of our English Dogs and their Qualities.”—W.]
[30] Gerard had above a thousand—
“Gerard’s Catalogue of his Garden.—A reprint of ‘the first professedly complete catalogue of any one garden, either public or private, ever published’ certainly deserves putting on record here. Gerard’s Herball is by no means a rare book; but the Catalogus arborum fruticum ac plantarum tam indigenarum quam exoticarum in horto Johannis Gerardi civis et chirurgi Londinensis nascentium is exceedingly rare. This reprint, therefore, which we owe to the liberality of Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, will be extremely welcome to all interested in the early introduction of exotic plants. The reprint consists of a limited number of copies for private circulation only. Without being an absolute fac-simile it is almost an exact reproduction of the original, the first edition of which was published in 1596. A second edition appeared in 1599, which Mr. Jackson also reprints, together with some of his own remarks and notes on the Herball, and a Life of Gerard. But what will be found especially useful is the list of modern names affixed to the old ones. Gerard’s physic garden was in Holborn, and included upwards of a thousand different kinds of plants.... There are several other lists of this kind we should be glad to see reprinted—Tradescant’s, among others, as the younger Tradescant made a voyage to Virginia and introduced many American trees.”—(Academy, July 1876.)—F.
[31] (Note by the late Dr. Goodall): Erat quidem Gulielmus Harrison Socius Etonensis Mar. 3, 1592, Vice præpositus Collegii et Rector de Everdon in Comitatu Northampt. Ut ille mortuus est Etonæ, et ibidem Sepultus Dec. 27, 1611.—F.
[32] Mr. J. Higgs, of Sheet Street, Windsor, has kindly searcht the Parish Register of Burials, which dates from 1564, but he finds no entry of Canon Harrison’s burial.—F. [At Radwinter. See Appendix.—W.]
[33] See his defence of priests leaving “their substances to their wives and children,” in his Description.—F. [In “Church” chapter.—W.]
[34] Compare the smart red dress with blue hood and long blue liripipe from it, of the Nun’s Priest, in the colourd illumination of the Ellesmere MS. given in my Six-Text Canterbury Tales.—F.