(as the godly order of the realm was in the happy days of blessed King Edward), but as the private pastors of particular flocks; among whom Laurence Saunders was one, a man of worshipful parentage. His bringing up was in learning from his youth, in places met for that purpose, as namely in the school of Eton; from whence (according to the manner there used) he was chosen to go to the King's College in Cambridge, where he continued scholar of the College three whole years, and there profited in knowledge and learning very much for that time. Shortly after that, he did forsake the university, and went to his parents, upon whose advice he minded to become a merchant, for that his mother, who was a gentlewoman of good estimation, being left a widow, and having a good portion for him among his other brethren, she thought to set him up wealthily; and so he, coming up to London, was bound apprentice with a merchant, named Sir William Chester, who afterward chanced to be sheriff of London the same year that Saunders was burned at Coventry." "Saunders

tarried not long time in the traffic of merchandise, but shortly returned to Cambridge again to his study; where he began to couple to the knowledge of the Latin, the study of the Greek tongue, wherein he profited in small time very much. Therewith, also, he joined the study of the Hebrew. Then gave he himself wholly to the study of the holy Scripture, to furnish himself to the office of a preacher."

Fox then describes Saunders' arrest, trial, and condemnation. "The next day, which was the 8th of February, he was led to the place of execution in the park without the city, going in an old gown and a shirt, bare-footed, and ofttimes fell flat on the ground, and prayed. When he was come nigh to the place, the officer appointed to see the execution done, said to master Saunders, that he was one of them which marred the Queen's realm, with false doctrine and heresy, wherefore thou hast deserved death,' quoth he; but yet, if thou wilt revoke thine heresies, the Queen hath pardoned thee: if not, yonder fire is prepared for thee.' To whom Master Saunders answered, 'It is not I, nor my fellow preachers of God's truth, that have hurt the Queen's realm, but it is yourself, and such as you are, which have always resisted God's holy word; it is you which have and do mar the Queen's realm. I do hold no heresies; but the doctrine of God, the blessed gospel of Christ, that hold I; that believe I;

that have I taught; and that will I never revoke.' With that, this tormentor cried, 'Away with him.' And away from him went Master Saunders with a merry courage towards the fire. He fell to the ground, and prayed: he rose up again, and took the stake, to which he should be chained, in his arms, and kissed it saying, 'Welcome the cross of Christ! welcome everlasting life!' and being fastened to the stake, and fire put to him, full sweetly he slept in the Lord.

"And thus have ye the full history of Laurence Saunders, whom I may well compare to St. Laurence, or any other of the old martyrs of Christ's church; both for the fervent zeal of the truth and gospel of Christ, and the most constant patience in his suffering, as also for the cruel torments that he, in his patient body, did sustain in the flame of fire. For so his cruel enemies handled him, that they burned him with green wood, and other smothering, rather than burning fuel, which put him to much more pain, but that the grace and most plentiful consolation of Christ, who never forsaketh his servants, and gave strength to St. Laurence, gave also patience to this Laurence, above all that his torments could work against; which well appeared by his quiet standing, and sweet sleeping in the fire, as is above declared."

The following are portions of Fox's record of the fiery trial and victory of Hullier :

"Concerning the story of John Hullier, martyr, partly mentioned before, for the more full declaration of the death and martyrdom of that good man, because the story is but rawly and imperfectly touched before; for the more perfecting thereof, I thought thereunto to add that which since hath come to my hand, as followeth.

"First, John Hullier was brought up at Eton College; and after, according to the foundation of that house, for that he was ripe for the university, he was elected scholar in the King's College, where also, not tarrying full three years of probation before he was Fellow of the College, he after a little season was one of the ten conducts in the King's College, which was anno 1539.

"Then at length, in process of time, he came to be a curate of Babraham, three miles from Cambridge, and so went afterward to Lynn; where he, having divers conflicts with the Papists, was from thence carried to Ely to Dr. Thirleby, then bishop there; who,

after divers examinations, sent him to Cambridge Castle, where he remained but a while. From thence he was conveyed to the townprison, commonly called the Tolbooth, lying there almost a quarter of a year, while at length he was cited to appear at Great St. Mary's on Palm Sunday eve, before divers doctors, both divines and lawyers, amongst whom was chiefest Dr. Shaxton; also Dr. Young, Dr. Segewick, Dr. Scot, Mitch, and others; where, after examination had, for that he would not recant, he was first condemned, the sentence being read by Dr. Fuller.

"On Maundy-Thursday coming to the stake, he exhorted the people to pray for him; and after holding his peace, and praying to himself, one spake to him, saying, 'The Lord strengthen thee;' whereat a sergeant, named Brisley, stayed and bade him hold his tongue, or else he should repent it. Nevertheless Hullier answered and said either thus or very like (the effect was all one), ‘Friend, I trust that as God hath hitherto begun, so also he will strengthen me, and finish his work upon me. I am bidden to a Maundy, whither I trust to go, and there to be shortly. God hath laid the foundation, as I by his aid will end it.'

"Which done, he went meekly himself to the stake, and with chains being bound, was beset with reed and wood, standing in a pitch-barrel; and the fire being set to, not marking the wind, it blew the flame to his back. Then he feeling it, began earnestly to call upon God. Nevertheless his friends, perceiving the fire to be ill kindled, caused the sergeants to turn it, and fire it to that place where the wind might blow it to his face.

"That done, there was a company of books which were cast into the fire; and by chance a communion-book fell between his hands, who receiving it, joyfully opened it, and read so long as the force of the flame and smoke caused him that he could see no more. And then he fell again to prayer, holding his hands up to heaven, and the book betwixt his arms next his heart, thanking God for sending him it. And at that time, the day being a very fair day and a hot, yet the wind was somewhat up, and it caused the fire to be the fiercer; and when all the people thought he had been dead he suddenly uttered these words, 'Lord Jesus! receive my spirit,' dying very meckly.

"The place where he was burned is called Jesus Green, not far from Jesus College. Seager gave him certain gunpowder, but little to the purpose; for he was dead before it took fire. All the

PROVOSTS LUPTON, DAY, AND BISHOP ALLEY.

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people prayed for him, and many a tear was shed for him." (Fox's Martyrs, vol. viii. pp. 378-381.)

One Eton Provost of this century signalised himself among the persecutors of those whose tenets he had once professed to hold. This was Dr. Henry Cole, who was made Provost of Eton in 1554. The brief record of this man's disgraceful career, in the "Registrum Regale," is as follows:-" Henry Cole, Fellow of New College, Oxford, in 1523; Warden of New College, Oct. 4, 1542, which he quitted in 1551. Having advocated the Reformation, he became in Queen Mary's reign a rigid Romanist, and was appointed by her to preach, before the execution of Cranmer, in St. Mary's Church at Oxford. Dean of St. Paul's, in 1556. Vicar-General under Cardinal Pole, in 1557. Soon after the accession of Elizabeth he was deprived of his Deanery, fined 500 marks, and imprisoned. Whether he was formally deprived of the Provostship, or withdrew silently, does not appear. He died in the Fleet in 1561."

There are several names and notices of Etonians in the lists of Eton Provosts and Fellows and Alumni Etonenses between 1500 and 1600, to which I have not yet adverted, but which must not be wholly omitted from this Chapter.

ROGER LUPTON was elected Provost in 1503; he was made Fellow of Eton, Feb. 16, 1503, the day before he was elected Provost; Canon of Windsor, 1504; resigned the Provostship in March, 1535; died in 1540; buried in Lupton's Chapel, which he built; he also built the great tower and gateway leading to the cloisters.

WILLIAM DAY was made Provost in 1561. He had been admitted into King's College from Eton, 1545. He was appointed Fellow of Eton, in 1560; Canon of Windsor, in 1564; Dean of Windsor, in 1572; Bishop of Winchester, in 1595. Sept. 20, 1596.

Died

WILLIAM ALLEY, went from Eton to King's in 1528. He left Cambridge when a Bachelor of Arts, and then studied for some time at Oxford. He afterwards entered the Church, and distinguished himself among the Reformers. On Queen Mary's accession, he left a benefice which he had been holding, and fled into the North of England, where he was unknown. He there travelled from place to place, and obtained a subsistence for himself and his wife by teaching youth and practising physic—which he had studied at the University. On Queen Elizabeth's coming to

the throne, Alley was made Divinity Lecturer at St. Paul's Cathedral, and in 1660 he was raised to the Bishoprick of Exeter. He is said to have been eminent for the variety as well as the depth of his knowledge: and he was also honourably conspicuous for his faithful and earnest attention to his Episcopal duties. He died in 1570.

JOHN LONG, who became a Scholar of King's in 1533; became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland.

EDMUND GHEAST (Kingsman in 1536) was made, in 1559, Bishop of Rochester, and in 1571, Bishop of Salisbury.

GILES FLETCHER (King's in 1565), father of the two Etonian poets of that name, was employed on many state affairs by Queen Elizabeth. When that Queen, in her desire to encourage the trade with Russia, which was opened by the English ships that in her reign first effected a passage to Archangel, resolved on sending an Ambassador to Muscovy, she selected Dr. Fletcher for that mission. He resided for some time in that country, and on his return published a curious account of the condition of the Russian people, their government, army, &c., which may be seen in Hakluyt's collection of Voyages. Dr. Fletcher died in 1610.

JOHN COWELL, who left Eton for King's in 1570, was an eminent student of the Roman law, and was also a grand common lawyer. He and Coke were constant rivals and opponents. Coke, with his customary coarseness, always called Cowell "Dr. Cowheel." Cowell compiled and published a Law dictionary, which gave great offence to the House of Commons by some of the high prerogative doctrines which its author had asserted in it. Cowell's "Interpreter, or Signification of Law Terms," is still the basis of our Law dictionaries, as Jacobs and Tomline did, in fact, little more than re-edit him with additions; nor are the bulky quartos, which now figure with a new editor's name on the shelves of the law-student, anything more than amplified and interpolated Cowell.

RICHARD MOUNTAGUE, born in 1576, at Dorny, Bucks, was educated on the foundation at Eton, and in 1594 went to King's. In 1613 he obtained the rectory of Stamford Rivers, in Essex, with a Fellowship at Eton, and three years subsequently the deanery of Hereford. His next piece of preferment was a stall at Windsor, where he read the divinity lecture from 1720, the date of his appointment, till 1728. In the mean time he commenced an attack on the first part of the learned Selden's "History of