Ttheletters Dorothy Wadham
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TT HE L E T T E RS DOROT HY W A DHAM 1 6 0 9— 1 6 1 8 E D T E D W T H NOT E S AND AP E ND CE S I , I P I RE BE T BA A V . RO R RL OW G RDIN E R ’ MA T E OF T A SU R S R S . P U L S SCH OOL F ORME R L Y SCHOL AR OF W ADHAMCOL L E GE LON DON : HE N RY F ROW DE W AR SE ME N CORNE R E OXFORD E HOU , A , .C. OXF ORD : 1 1 6 H IGH ST RE E T 1 9 0 4 W ADHAM N OME N L AO E T D O R O T H E A E HOG PI E T AT I S OF F I CI UM GRAT O ANI MO PRAE ST I T I T R . B. G . ’ - MAMPRAE DI AVE U FI I I I , E I U S E T BE AT I SSI C R NT P RE F AC E IS TH work was prepared for publication some years ago, ' and was intended as an offering of gratitude to the memory ‘ of the Wadhams . It was designed as a companion volume ’ Mr . Wadfiam Colle e to Graham Jackson s g , and was to have appeared in quarto with all the beauties of margins and . first fi nall illustrations Circumstances interrupted , and y prohibited the fulfilmen t of the plan and the limited nature of the public to which the work appeals forbade the hope that its cost could be defrayed if it were published as the editor had designed. The authorities of the college, however, were unwilling that f the matter should be dropped , and kindly o fered a sub scription towards the expenses . The work therefore appears in its present form ; and though shorn of the luxuries with w it hich the gratitude of the editor had hoped to surround , yet he trusts that its contents will fulfil the purpose for which it was undertaken, and will augment the praise and honour m of Dorothy Wadha . Offered as this work is by a Wadham man to the University of Oxford, and especially to Wadham College, the editor asks to be forgiven if some words occur which, though familiar fi o wn in enough in their place, seem to be overlooked or adequately explained in the notes . The editor’s thanks are due to the Warden and Fellows for the assistance and encouragement which they have given h im fr m o time to time , and especially for the generosity which has now enabled him to send the work to press . j uly 1 90 4. CON T E N T S INT RODU CT I ON L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the E arl of Salisbury S n W rd chedule, desig ation of a a en S u v r m ched le in fa our of M. S ith Schedule nominating a Scholar L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden and Fellows L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Sub- Warden an d Fellows L etter of Dorothy Wadham nominating a Scholar L etter of Dorothy Wadham nominating the Officers L etter of John Ar nold to the Warden L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Whole Society L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden L r D r a m t e r e &c . ette of o othy W dha to h Wa d n, L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden nominating the Officers Schedule nominating Scholars L D a m r e &c . etter of orothy W dha to the Wa d n, L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden nominatin g the Ofli cers XV L e D r d m ar III . tter of o othy Wa ha to the W den L r D r d m rd &c . no min at ette of o othy Wa ha to the Wa en, , ing the Ofli cers W Sm ard Schedule appointing . ith W en L etter of Doroth y Wadham to the Fellows an d Scholars Schedule nominating Scholars L etter of John Arnold to th e Warden CONTENTS ad m W &c . L etter of Dorothy W ha to the arden, L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden nominating the Ofii c ers D m W &c. L etter of orothy Wadha to the arden, L etter of John Arnold to the Warden L etter of Dorothy Wadham to the Warden Schedule nominating Fellows Schedule extending a leave of absence Schedule concerning disputations Schedule nominating Scholar s L etter of John Arnold to the Warden L etter of Dorothy Wadham to th e Warden Schedule n ominating Fellows L etter of John Arnold to th e Warden concerning the funeral solemnity L Ar W XXXV II . etter of John nold to the arden on the same subject V L r b k XXX III. ist of pe sons put into lac s on the death of the Foundress I B m mb APPE NDI X . iographies of so e Me ers of the Foundation L r m APPE NDI X II . ist of the pe sons no inated as Scholars by the Foundr ess T h A APPE NDI X III . e career of lexander Gill I 1 f m NDE X . O atters f m I NDE X 11 . O na es I N T RODU CT I ON OF the letters and other documents here presented, some forty in number, it must be at once stated that none are in : the handwriting of Dorothy Wadham, the foundress they ‘ ’ were written mainly by her servant, John Arnold, and she only appends her sign ature . Several are purely formal deeds transcribed by clerks, and six are from John Arnold himself, either describing his mistress’ wishes or giving particulars of her death and burial . In about two out of three cases the original papers still exist, and these (which are carefully noted) have been accurately reproduced ; of the remainder only e r ified copies more or less solemnly c t by notaries remain , and it is impossible in their case to be sure that the spelling of the transcriber has not varied from the original . However , : such as it is , it is carefully given the only case in which the spelling is partly modernized being number XX . As a rule wk r contractions have been respected, but (which), y (your) , t w e Statuts y (when it stands for that) , (ever), and (Statutes) have , for convenience of reading , been printed at full length . There are very few words or phrases which cannot be recog nixed , and if any do occur they are explained in the note p re fixed to each document . The author of these letters was Dorothy, widow of Nicholas Me rifield Wadham , Esquire, of in the county of Somerset , and daughter of Sir William Petre of Writtle in the county m of Essex . She was al ost exactly a contemporary of Eliza fifte en beth Tudor, but she survived the great queen years and although her letters will show that she was fit to be placed in a niche not far below Her Majesty, it is to be observed that the whole of her work was undertaken after the n . death of the quee Indeed, Nicholas Wadham and Dorothy his wife are remarkable examples of vigorous old age : for the B 2 INTRODUCTION ff founder seems to have had no part in public a airs, and takes his first step towards a place in the history of his country - a almost on his death bed , while the lady undert kes at the age of seventy- fiv e a task from which even the vigour of "ueen — to u Victoria might have shrunk found , build , constitute , reg late and govern, down to the smallest details, a college in the University of Oxford . Nicholas Wadham was himself an Oxford man , and had probably (for all the evidence tends that way) been a Gentle man Commoner of Corpus Christi College but he did not graduate, and after a brief experience of Court life spent the d remainder of his ays on his estates, which he cultivated to e v ery good purpose , since his college (which he hoped in plac of children would carry on his name from generation to generation) was entirely endowed out of his accumulations without impairing his patrimonial inheritance . I - In 555 , at the age of twenty three, he married Dorothy e Petre . She was the daughter of Sir William Petr of Writtle f by his irst wife Gertrude, daughter of Sir John Tirrell , and was - h aIf first L . sister of Sir John , afterwards the ord Petre She 1 c was born in 534, so that she was a hild under Henry MVII I, a maiden under Edward VI , a bride under Philip and ary, and a matron throughout the reign of Elizabeth— yet of this f h woman, whose orce of character t ese letters are to display, nothing appears to be known except her share in the splendid ‘ hospitality of Me rifield until she steps forward as a widow in I - five the reign of James , being then seventy years of age, to carry out the designs of her husband . But we may infer something as to the happiness of their long years of married life from the words in which Nicholas commits to her care the : for execution of his plans in his will , without specially men tio n in g the proposed college, he leaves her residuary legatee of all his personalty ‘ upon special trust reposed in her that ’ she will bestow and employ such sums as come to her ‘ to such uses and purposes as I have requested her, and she hath ’ assented thereunto .