II.

THE IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OP WORCESTER, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF IN AFTER LIFE.

(MS. Harl. 425, f. 69.)

In the preceding paper, archdeacon Louthe has related the sufferings en- dured, for conscience sake, by a blind boy of Gloucester. The present is the history of the persecutions, for alleged heresy, of an offender of the same period of life, in the city of Worcester. John Davis was a lad of good parent- age, a pupil in the grammar school, and likely to be the heir to his uncle Thomas Johnson, an apothecary : but the jealousy of Alice Johnson, his aunt, together with his early predilection for reading the new testament in his mother tongue, and his presumption in composing a ballad on the " shaven crowns," prema- turely raised him a host of enemies. After a long and painful imprisonment! he would have incurred like the boy at Gloucester the last cruel penalty of cremation, under the merciless act of the Six Articles, had not the death of king Henry delivered him from his perilous position, together with so many more of the destined victims of the priesthood. Foxe made use of this narrative, but condensed it into much shorter compass. His abridgment will be found in his edition of 1596, at p. 1879. No subse- quent notice has been hitherto taken of the manuscript. It was written whilst doctor Nicholas Bullingham was bishop of Lincoln, that is, within the period 1560—1570 (see p. 65) ; and it appears to have proceeded from the pen of John Davis himself, as Foxe says, when mentioning the trial with a candle, " yet (as the party himself"e to me assureth) felt no burning thereof." At the close Foxe adds of Davis,—" who is yet alive, and a profitable minister this day in the Church of England: blessed be the Lord, qui facit mirabilia solus." The yere of our Lorde 1546, and in the last yere of kinge Henrye the eight, in the citie of Worcester, was there a childe caled John Davis, of the age of twelve yeres and under, who dwelled with one rim Johnson a pothicary, his ownckle, with whome allso dwelled JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 61

one Peter Goffe, prentice, whiche in the tyme of the vi. Articles woulde reade the testament in Inglish, and such godlye bookes as he then coulde gett. His mistris manye tymes hering hym so reade would moste sharplie revile him, for she was then and is still to this daye an obstinate papist. At length she disclosed the same to one of her secte and affinite, a jolye stowte champion, indewed with more riches then wisdom e or godlie zeale; and thus consulting together theye invented, with their adherents the canons of the cathederall churche, with the chauncelour that tyme being, whose name was Johnson,a chauncelor to docter Heath then bishopp of Woorcetour, to intrap and snare the sayde Peter, yf theye might by anye meanes heare hym or see hym with having anye testament or other godly booke; but he, perceyving their purpose, kept him sellf owt of their danger; notwithstanding, to urge hym, this worthie wise man Thomas Parton would reade openlie in the streat, sytting at his dore or ells lening at his shopp window, that all men passing by might hear, a booke b named The hunting of the hare with curves and bandoges, a trym tragedie dowbtles, and more estemed with the pope's champions then the bible or booke of the Lorde. But when he perceived he coulde not apprehend the saide Peter to hurte hym, he woulde sometyme thretin hym that, yf he caught him reding suche bookes as he harde saye he did reade by the confession of his mistres, that he would make him twine or untwine; but his threat- ninges prevailed him not, for he was sircomspecte, and kept him owt of their bloody fingers.

a Robert Johnson. b This book or pamphlet has not been traced, but it seems to have been a parody or reply to doctor William Turner's Hunting of the Romish Fox, published in 1543, under the pseudonym of William Wraughton : the popularity of which appears not only from Turner's subsequent publications of The Resaiyng of the Romish Fox, 1545; The huntyng of the Romyshe Wolfe (after 1553); and The hunting of the Fox and Wolfe, because they did make havoc of the sheep of Jesus Christ (see Athens Oxon. edit. Bliss, i. 363, and the memoir of Turner in Hodgson's Northumberland, II. ii. 456); but also from bishop Bale's Yet a course of the Romish Foxe, 1543, published under the name of Johan Harrison (see Herbert's Ames, iii. 1554). 62 NARRATIVES OP THE REFORMATION.

Notwithstanding, their thirst coulde not be quenched withowt blood; by meane whereof they shortly invented a newe interprise, and, bycawes the spite that Alice Johnson bare to John Davis her husband's next kinsman, to whorne shee supposed the saide Thomas Johnson her housband woulde leave some porcion of his goodes, having no child as it was like, for God had made her barren, and he had no other kinsman (as he would often saye) in all the wourld, whiche increased the more the deadly hate of his wyf; for she never loved him, bicawes her housband so tendered him, and that appered at the death of the sayd Thomas Johnson, for she cawsed her hous- band to revoke that hee did give him by will, either being past me- morye or ells specheles,—a good note of her love. But shortlie after these papestes attempted to bringe their longe- loked purpose to passe, by one Alice wife to Nicholas Organmaker alias Brooke, and Oliver their sonne, that the said Oliver should fawne freendshipp of the saide John Davis, as thowghe hee weare verye desirous and joyfull of his company; manye tymes saieng, " I woulde wee had some good Inglish bookes to reade; for my mother cannot abide this pilde pristes nor their popish service; but had I good bookes I coulde please her well to reade everye night." Then said John Davis, " I will bringe a booke with me;" and so he did bringe a testament, and reade unto them. Then they requested him to leve the booke behinde hym; but he said the booke was not his, neyther could he so doe. Then thei requested him to tell them what abuses weare in the Churche, and howe hee did like the vj. Articles; and he breeflie toulde them what he thowght; "but I cannot now tarye (saide hee) least I be shent." Then thei sayd, " Bicawes ye shoulde avoyd blame for comyng hether, wright your mynde." But hee sayd, " I have no suche leisour, nor place; yet would I gladly do yt to doe you good; but to-morow I shall to Peryewood feeldes to gather eyebrighta to still, and yf Oliver and you will gather for me, I will wright all my mynde." And they agreed so to doe. " Eyebright does not appear to be noticed in doctor William Turner's Herball. In that by John Gerarde, chapter 216 treats " OF EYE-BRIGHT. Euphrasia, or Eyebright, is a small JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 63

And on the morow every one of them, according to ther pro- myse made, mett in the fieldes, and the sayd John Davis did wright his hoole mynde uppon the Sixe Articles, and made them allso a ballet caled, Come downe, for all your shaven crowne. But at lengthe this longe-hiddin conspiracie burst owte, for in- continent this woman within one half howre she browght this wrighting to the sayd Parton; and the sayd Thomas Parton dis- clozed the same to the chauncelour and regester and other pristes; which laide their heads together, and towlde them howe they might bringe their pourpose to pass; and cawsed the sayd Thomas Johnson his ownckle to be their instrument to trye whether y t were his hand or no; and he, under the coulour of friendshipp, came to the sayd childe saieng, " I have kept the at the gramer skoole a great while, and am minded to have you to keepe the shopp, for your aunte is not in quiet with Peter bicawes of his bookes, wherefore I must putt hym awaye; but before I soe doe let me see how you can wright." So he tooke penn and paper, and wrote these verses folowing— Of all treasur cunning is the flower. Loke uppon Diogenes whiche was both wyse and sad, To obtayne this treasur Cunninge what labour that he had. lowherbenot above twohandfuls high, full of branches, covered with little blackish leaves, dented or snipt about the edges like a saw: the flowers are small and white, sprinkled and powderd on the inner side, with yellow and purple specks mixed therewith. The root is small and hairie. This plant grows in dry medows, in green and grassie wayes and pas- tures standing against the snnne. Eye-bright beginnith to floure in August and con- tinueth unto September, and must be gathered while it flowreth forphysick's use It is very much commended for the eyes. Being taken it selfe alone, or any way else, it preserves the sight, and being feeble and lost it restores the same." Then several pre- scriptions are given, concluding thus : " Three parts of the powder of eye-bright and one part of maces mixed therewith, taketh away all hurts from the eyes, comforteth the me- morie, and cleareth the sight, if halfe a spoonfull be taken every morning fasting with a cup of white wine." (Gerarde's Herball, 1633, p. 663.) Drayton describes the gather- ing of eyebright: " And in some open place, that to the sun doth lye, He fumitorie gets, and eyebright for the eye."—Polyolbion, Song 13. And Milton alludes to it under its more learned name— —— " Then purg'd with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see.1'—Paradise Lost, xi, 415. 64 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION.

So hee (the uncle) toke this wrighting, and went to these papists. But whether he (John Davis) knewe/ but the first newes that he harde was earlye in the morning his ownkle bid him make cleane the stable in the Leche street,6 and hee asked leve to gather herbes, but hee sayd, " Naye, there are inowghe to still this two daies ofyester- daies gathering; wherefore get you to the stable." And he obeyed hym, knowing his facte was browght to light, and that no good was ment to him, but trouble. But he no sooner entered the stable but the boye Oliver cam after hym saieng, " John Davis, I praye you reade this same wrighting once or twice over, that I maye learne to reade it to my mother perfectlie." But he, perceiving his Judas- like trick, sayde, " Get the hence! I must doe my busynes." But he was so importune in requesting that he could not bee ridd of him. Then stept he into a litle howse, and there he spied Thomas Parton and his ownckle Johnson standing under a wall harkening, thinking to have taken them reding the foresayd wrighting; but when he perceyved their trechery, " Have thie mother and thou dealt thus Judasly with me ? Take this for thie paynes ;" and lent him two or thre blowes with a brome; and he cryed. Then came theye in running, saying, "What is the matter?" Then sayd Oliver, " Mr. Johnson, I woulde have had your boye to have reade this wrighting whiche he made yesterday, and hee woulde not." Then sayd Parton, " What wrighting is that? let me see." But Parton knew yt right well; but sayd so for a cullor. Then did theye force John Davis to reade the same before them. Then sayde Parton, " Neighbour Johnson, yee have well bestowed your money to bring upp suche an herytique, so yonge as hee is.'1 Then sayd Johnson, " I loked for joye of him, having no childe of myn owne, nor kinsman that I knowe; but no we he shall have as he hathe de- served." And so Parton laide handes on him; and his ownckle

a A syncopised phrase signifying that a person more than suspected what he did not positively know. b " So called from its having for many ages been the only accessible approach to the cemetery of the cathedral, by which the dead were brought thither for interment."— Green's History of Worcester, 1796, 4to. ii. 4. JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OF WORCESTER. 65

bownde his armes behinde hym, and browglit hym to the towle- shopp,a in the citie of Worcetour, mr. Dooding and mr. Richard Dedicote being bayliffes b till the next Mighellmas after. Then was he oommaunded to the freeman's prison; at whiche tyme one Richard Ho wbrough, brother-in-law to Richard Bullingham, which Bullinghamc is brother to the reverend father in God Nicholas bishopp of Linkcolne,d being keper of the prison, cam abowght nyne of the clock as the custum was to see their prisoners saffe, and sayd merely, " Thou hoorson, how wilt thow doe? they will burne the." And he sayd, " They can do no more than God will suffer them." " Tush ! (sayde he) prove by the candle ° how thou canst abide the fire." And he did soo, sayeing, " I am not affraide of the fire." And so he helde his finger a good space, the other holding the candle, not willing to hurt him; till at length with admyracion he sayde,

11 This was evidently the town-hall or head-quarters of the municipal government, ap- parently deriving its name from being the office for collecting toll. The more ordinary term for such places in olden times was toll-booth, and sometimes, the tolsey. * William Dodington and Richard Dabitote, bailiffs in 1545, according to the list given in Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. ii. Appx. p. cxii. But the name of the former was doubtless Dodding, as it is given ibid, under 1543, when he was lower bailiff: and there was a Thomas Dodding bailiff in 1558, 1562, and 1564. The other, whose name was probably Dabitote (after the ancient Worcestershire family of d'Abitot), was senior bailiff in 1547. A Humphrey Debitote occurs bailiff in 1518 and 1521. c Richard Bullingham was lower bailiff of Worcester in 1561, and upper bailiff in 1563. A Thomas Bullingham had filled those offices in 1528 and 1530. d Nicholas Bullingham was born in Worcester; educated at Oxford; was consecrated bishop of Lincoln 1559, and translated to the see of his native city in 1570. He died in 1576, and was buried in the cathedral, where his monument remains, with a demi-effigy, as described in Green's History of Worcester, i. 154, and engraved in Dr. Thomas's Survey, 1737, 4to. p. 41. See a memoir of bishop Nicholas Bullingham in Wood's Athens Oxon. edit. Bliss, ii. 813. There was also a John Bullingham, bishop of Gloucester 1581 1596, and previously prebendary of Worcester, whose memoir is ibid. col. 862. e This test was not unusual. One of Poxe's cuts represents Bilney burning off the forefinger of his right hand, on the day before his submission to the fire at Norwich. Another exhibits bishop Bonner burning with a candle the hand of Thomas Tomkins, whose body soon after was burned in Smithfield. In a third, Edmund Tyrrell, of Col- chester, is burning in like manner the hand of one Rose Allin; and in the same place bishop Bonner is stated to have forcibly closed the hand of a third person upon a live coal. CAMD. SOC. K 66 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION.

" Felest thow not the heate?" and he sayde, " No;" but he woulde skarse beleve him till he had loked, and sawe he was not so muche as skorched. So he locked the dores, sayeing, " God night." Shortly after there came another prisoner unto the same prisone, for what cawes he knewe not; but it fortuned, the prisone being half timbred or rather better, some of the clay of the wall was falen; so that this prisoner sayd to the keeper, " This heritique boye hath broken the wall to steall owte;" by meanes wherof he was put in an inner prison caled the peep-hole, but yet without irons, untill Mighelmas; till one Robert Yowlea was chosen lowe-baylef, a joly Catholik, whiche quicklie bestowed his charite uppon him, laieng on a payer of bolts that he coulde not lifte up his small legs, but lening on a staff slipp them forward uppon the grownde, the beneffete whereof is an extreame colde in his anckles to this daye, whiche he shall cary to his grave. Moreover he was fayne to lye on the colde grownd, in those boltes, having not so muche as a lock of strawe nor clothe to cover him withall,buttwo shippeskins. Furthermore, one Feerefilde, a waker,b coming nightlie throwgh the guilde-hall to go to the prive, as he sayd, woulde come and call this child at the hold, whether of his owne mynde or sett on by some other papest he knewe not, but these weare his woordes, " Whie doste thow not recant? thow wilt be feared one tyme or other, as I have, by robing the devill, which

a Richard Gtowle in Nash's list (Hist, of Wore. Appx. p. cxii), but no doubt in error, for under the name of Robert Youle he occurs as higher bailiff two years later, for 1548; and again in 1552 and 1559* b It must not be supposed that this was a watchman, or a particularly wakeful gentle- man, who took nightly walks instead of lying in bed; but the writer means the occupation which is commonly written walker, that is, a fuller, or dresser and finisher of cloth. Wor- cester was at this period a great clothing town. Leland says, " The wealth of the towne cf Worcester standeth most part by drapering, and no towne in England, at this present tyme, maketh so many clothes yearly as this towne doth." (Itin.) In 1590 queen Eliza- beth, " at the humble petition of our wellbeloved of the misteryes or faculties of weavers, walkers, and clothiers of our cittie of Worcester," granted them a charter of incorpora- tion, of which Rowland Berkeley, citizen' and weaver, was nominated the first master, and two weavers and two walkers the first wardens : see it printed in Green's History of the city, vol. ii. Appendix, No. xvi. JOHN DAVIS, A BOY OP WOKCESTER. 67 is like a rage'dcolte, whiche hath ledd me abowght this hall all night or now, and at length lawgh me to skorne, and sayd howgh hoo."* Others would come and say, " Thow shalt be burned, thow here- tique, this weke," and " that weke," " this daye " and

a " R. C. a writer in Camden's Remaines (sir Robert Cotton) says that we use walut- howe in hallooing as an interjection. (Rem. p. 33.) I have been curious to find an example of it, but have not succeeded." Archdeacon Nares, in Glossary, 1842, 4to. The above appears to be the same " interjection," differently written. b Henry Joliffe, B.D., appointed prebendary of the fourth stall by the foundation charter of the cathedral 24 Jan. 1541-2. He was one of the proctors of the university of Cambridge in 1536, rector of Bishampton, co. Wore, and in 1554 dean of Bristol. c Richard Euer, B.D., appointed to the third stall by the same charter. G So the MS., perhaps for by. 68 NARRATIVES OF THE REFORMATION. that there might be no delay, but spedye execution; for the whiche cawes sake he was sent to the common jayle," and there did lye amonge theves and murtherers; but God prevented their poorpos, and toke awaye kinge Henrye the eight owt of the troble- som woorlde. Yet notwithstanding he was araigned, being holden upp in a man's armes at the barr; the judges being Portmanb and Marven,c which when they perceived that they coulde not burne him, woulde have had him presently whipped. Then stept upp John Bourne then esquire,d and sayd, " And please you, my Lordes, he hathe bene sore inowghe whipped allredy." Thus had he no farther troble; saving he laye in pryson a weke after. Many woulde have had him awaye from the barr, and especially a priste; but the sayd John Bourne toke him whome (home), and the gentlewoman his wyf did anoynte his legges her owne selfe with oyntment, which leges were styf and numbde by reson of the irons, for he laye in prison from the 14. of August till within 7 daies of Ester. And the said mr. Bourne travailed to bringe him to beleve in the sacrament, sayeing it was Christes verye flesh and blood in fourme of bread; for, yf Christ sayd he should have given us his bodye rawe in fleshe and blood, we shoulde have abhorde yt. But at lengthe sayd his wyf, " Let us put awaye this herytique, least he mare my sonne Anthony." Moreover, in the dayes of queene Marye he was accused by six protestantes; and so constrayned to depart the contry, traveling painfully unknown to any; and solde his patrimony, which God had sent him by his parentes, to releve him in that tyme of necessite; to the which provident God be all honour and glory for ever! Muche more myght be spoken of his last troble but for breve- ties sake.

» This was in the Foregate, at Worcester : his former prison at the toll-shop or guildhall. •> Sir William Portman,a judge of the King's bench 1547, afterwards chief justice. c Sir Edward Mervyn, a judge of the King's bench 1541. d Afterwards sir John Bourne, secretary of state : who will figure more conspicuously in Underhill's Autobiography hereafter. He resided at Battenhall near Worcester.