Volume 1

Desiderata curiosa: or, a collection of divers ... pieces relating chiefly to matters of English history : consisting of choice tracts, memoirs, letters ... etc / Transcribed ... and illustrated with ample notes ... By Francis Peck.

Francis Peck

Date:: 1779

Credit: Desiderata curiosa: or, a collection of divers ... pieces relating chiefly to matters of English history : consisting of choice tracts, memoirs, letters ... etc / Transcribed ... and illustrated with ample notes ... By Francis Peck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$i. rr^HE * fixth of May, 33 H. 8. [1542.] being nineteen yeres old, [he] went to the * And the J[ inn’s of court, & was ftudent in Graies-Inne. Where he proffitted, as before at Cambridge.i 2. But, as his yeres and company required, he wold, many tymes, be merry amonge younge gentlem[e*]n, who weare molt defirous of his company, for his wittie mirth, and merry 4 a. MS* temper. Amonge the reft, I hard him tell thismeriment of himfelf. 3. That a mad companion [of his, whilft he was thus at Greys Inne] inticed him to plaie. Where[upon] in [a] Ihort tyme, he loft all his monye, beddinge, & bookes to his companion ; havinge never ufed plaie before. 4. And being [afterwards] amonge his other companie,. [he] told [them] howe fuch a one had milled him ; faieing, he wold prefently have a device to be evne with him. 5. And [he was as good as his word. For] with a long tronke, [he] made a hole in the wall, nere his plaiefellows beds-head, &, in a fearefull voice, fpake thus, thorough the tronke. 6. f O mortall man, repent! repent of thy horrible time [confumed in] plaie, coufenage, & ( fuch lewdnes [as thou haft committed;] or els thou art damned, and canft not be faved !' 7. Which [being fpoken] at midnight, [when he was] all alone, fo amazed him, as drove' him into a fweate for feare. 8. Moft penytent and heavie, the next daie, in prefence of the yewthes, he told, with tremblinge, what a fearfull voice fpake to him at midnight, vowing never to plaie againe. And', calling for Mr. Cecil], afked him forgivnes on his knees; & reftored all his mony, beddinge & bookes. So two gamefters weare both reclaimed with this merrie device, & never plaied more. Many other,, the like merrie jefts, I have hard him tell, to long to be here noted. 9. About the latter tyme of King Henry the eight, Mr. Cecil], comeing from Graies Inne to the court, to fee his father, it was his chance to be in the prefence chambre, where he mett two priefts, chaplaines to O Neale, who was then in court. And, talking long with them in. Lattin, he fell in[to a] deputation with the priefts. 10. Wherein he {hewed fo great lerning & witt, as he proved the poore priefts to have neither. Who weare fo put downe, as they had not a word to faie; but flung away in [a chafe:] no lefle difeontented, then afhamed,. to, be foiled in fuch a place, by fo younge a berdlefs yewth. 11. It was [prefently] told the king,, that young Mr. Cecill had confuted both ONeales chaplaines. 12. [At which] the king called for him. And, after long talk with him, [being] much, delighted with his aunfwers, willed J his father to find out a fuit for him. + the ling 13. Whereupon he became fuitor for a reverfion of the cujlos breviums office in the common willed. MS*, pleas. Which the kinge willingly granted : [it] being the firft fuit he had in his life. i..‘ Anno 154 r. Mail <vi°. veni ad Grayes-In, cum ejfemnatus annos xxid MS. Diary;., CHAP. V.. 1. He leaves Greyes Inne. 2. And marries his firft wife. 3. His ijfue by her. 4. He marries his Jecond wife. 5. Her great learning. 6. His ijfue by her. T. A FTER he had fpent fome tyme at the inns of court (where though he much proffitted; yet his quick fpirit, [being] apter to reach at a furder fortune) [he] framed another Courfe in the world; betakeing himfelf to marriage. 2. And the eight of Auguft, 33 H. 8. [1541. he] tooke to wife Mary C[h]eeke After to Sir John C[h]eeke, knight; who lived with him not above ayere, & a quarter.t io. Anno 1541. Aug. viii0,. nupfi Mar ice Chekc^ Cantahrigice*. MS... Diary.. a-B$r s$