two such men within six weeks after a vacancy, the master and seniors may put in a master, whom they will. He had by his wife Alice of the family of the Kingsmills at Sigmanton in Hampshire two sons and two 5 daughters, Joshua, Isaac, Deborah and Ruth, whom had he less provided for, he had left a greater name at Durham. His epitaph' containing this and other particulars of his life, and being nowhere published, that I know of, I shall put down at large. ΙΟ D. Jacobo Pilkingtono epo Dunelm. dioc. 15 20 25 30 (Cui per annos XIV. menses X. et dies XXIII maxima Fide præfuit) Lancastrensi, ex equestri Pilkingtonorum familia Rivingtoniæ oriundo, Et scholæ ibi grammaticalis, sub nomine et auspiciis Cantabrigiæ in coll. D. Johan. primum alumno, post Mariana tempestate religionis ergo inter alios Eruditione, judicio, pietate, disputatione, concione, 2 Aucklandiæ epi XXIII Januar. 1575, Eliz. reginæ XVIII. Dni Jesu servo posuit Robertus Swiftus, suus in As an encouragement to gratitude it may deserve to be remembered, that this Robert Swift's own epitaph (who has preserved the memory of his benefactor) stands yet 35 undefaced in the church of Durham, when most of the ancient monuments there are utterly demolished. 1 From the worthy Mr Jo. Rowell, regr. to the dean and chapter of Durham. [Whitaker, u. s., p. 119.] Ja. Pilkingtonus Dunelm. epus. obiit 23 die mensis Januar. an. Dni. 1576, Aucklandiæ conditus, post Dunelmi 24° die Maii resepultus. Ita notatur ad calcem statutorum scholæ de Rivington inter archiva. LEONARD PILKINTON' ELEVENTH MASTER, ADMITTED OCTOв. 19, 1561. THE bishop of Durham being settled in his preferment, and a sure interest formed to bring in his brother, resigned his mastership about the beginning of October, and his brother Leonard Pilkinton succeeded him Octob. 19, 15612. He could not be master sooner, for he was not bachelor of 5 divinity when his brother was consecrated bishop of Durham; taking his degree this years, he had then all the qualifications required by statute, and it was probably for this reason that the bishop held his mastership so long, and in point of decency some time longer than perhaps was 10 necessary. This Leonard Pilkinton who now succeeded master had been twice fellow of the college; for he was first admitted fellow' March 24th an. 36 Hen. 8. and afterwards being ejected under queen Mary and having married 15 a wife in exile, he subscribes thus the second time': Ego Leonardus Pilkingtonus a morte uxoris meæ restitutus eram socius senior et concionator hujus collegii per regios visitatores Dec. 27 an. 1559. His brother could have chose him fellow, but he made use of the visitor's power to entitle him to his standing and other privileges which could not otherwise be had. These, it seems, were that of senior fellow and college preacher, to which being restored, he had before enjoyed them; as appears otherwise from the books, where, though a very young man, yet he is admitted 25 1 So he writes himself at his admission, and Pilkington at his restitution. 2 Regr. coll. 3 Regr. acad. 4 Ex archivis coll. 20 1 senior fellow in 1551, and college preacher the year following, being then only deacon, as his brother the bishop had been when admitted to that trust or charge in college. But that which was most unreasonable in the thing 5 was this, that he and his brother were senior fellows at the same time, and that he continued senior whilst his brother was master, a thing liable to such inconveniences as might probably occasion it to be otherwise provided for in the new statutes. For it was at this time that the college 10 favour run too much towards one quarter, when we had a set of Lancashire masters, four of them (the two intruders being excepted) immediately succeeding one another, when Ralph Leaver the master's countryman had the lease2 of Basingburn, though he were then fellow of the college, and 15 when Lancashire stuff was so much in fashion, that for some years after some of the college utensils were brought from Lancashire. These were little things; the principal care of these two brothers was employed in rooting out the superstition of 20 the last reign3: the altar in the chapel was pulled down, as were those in the other private chapels; particularly bishop Fisher's and Mr Ashton's chapels were reformed, which was so far well, but then Mr Ashton's chapel should not have been converted to profane uses', nor should the 25 upper part of bishop Fisher's chapel have been turned into a room or apartment for the advantage of the master: nor should the chapel of the old house have been turned into a stable for the master's horses, nor the east part of it into a store-house for the college. For though bishop Fisher in 30 his statutes had allowed the 1 Regr. coll. 2 Octob. 3. an. 4to. Eliz. 3 Archiv. coll. lib. thesaur. 4 "It is popishe to beleue that which the bishops do teach that place to be more holy then the rest, whyche they haue halowed as they say, wyth washyng it wyth their coniured water, crossinges, &c." Bp. Pilkington upon Aggeus, chap. 1, vv. 7, 8. [fol. I. iiii.] "Where the Gospel is preached, they knowyng master room for his stable that god is not pleased, but oneli with a pure hart, they are content wyth an honest place appoynted, to resorte together in, though it were neuer halowed by byshop at all, but haue only a pulpit, a preacher to the people, a Deacon for the poore, a table for the communion, wyth bare walles or els wrytten wyth scriptures." Ibid. chap. 2, vv. 2, 3. [fol. S. iii.] within the precincts of the college, yet he did not mean that the old chapel should be the place, there being then room enough where the hospital stables had stood, in the old buildings near the river. It was likewise very well that the missals and brevia- 5 ries were turned out of chapel, but then so many Geneva psalters should not have been brought in their stead, as stand yet charged in great numbers upon the college books: we had an excellent liturgy of our own, nor was there any need, when we left Rome, of running to Geneva. In one 10 word, though the copes and some other ornaments might have been sold, yet the chapel plate should have been reserved for sacred uses, especially the gilt plate, that gave the best price, would have been of most honour to God Almighty. And yet I do not question the sincerity of these 15 men's intentions; it is some argument of their sincerity that they have avowed what they did, by leaving lasting monuments upon the books. Particularly our Leonard Pilkington was a zealous good man, and so learned as to be thought fit to bear the charac- 20 ter of regius professor in the university, a character he did not sustain long, being either weary of the charge, or not so equal to the business, or rather for another reason. For if he surrendered that post, as has been generally supposed, the same year' that Mr Beaumont master of Trinity quitted 25 the lady Margaret's chair, we may imagine there was somewhat of the same reason at the bottom: Mr Beaumont, who had been in exile in queen Mary's time, was noted for his disaffection and the disorders and divisions he had occasioned in that college, which could hardly be remedied 30 by his successor Dr Whitgift. But Mr Hutton, fellow of the same college', having succeeded Mr Beaumont as Margaret professor this year, can hardly be supposed to succeed Mr Pilkington as regius professor the same year, for he succeeded both of them, and 35 therefore I should rather place Pilkington's recess somewhat later. And were a man left to reason upon it, he would suppose him not to have parted with his professor ship whilst he held his mastership, for the same reasons will generally hold for both. He parted with his mastership at a very remarkable juncture, some short time before the queen's coming to Cambridge; for the queen came 5 hither in the beginning of August, and he quitted his mastership in the beginning of May. Her progress1 had been fixed and notified here by our chancellor on the 12th of July, who mentions it as a thing much known and spoke of; so that, allowing it to be known some time sooner (as 10 such things are usually spoke of long before they happen), we need not be at a loss to find the true reason of his going off, which I leave to every one to gather from what has been said. It is well known how the queen treated Dr Humphreys at Oxford, and the laying aside two such pro15 fessors here as Pilkington and Beaumont, and bringing in two such others as Hutton and Whitgift (for Whitgift2 was Margaret professor this year), looks as if it were intended to pave the way to her coming hither. However, Pilkington had the degree of doctor conferred 20 on him this year, but it was done some time before, for he was admitted with the vice-chancellor Dr Hawford, and in a public instrument dated March the 4th he is styled D.D. This may be said to his honour, that as he was a collegepreacher, so he was likewise preacher for the university, 25 and was the first man that received 3 licence from the uni 30 versity in this reign. And indeed preaching seems to have been his chief talent, and if a character were to be given of him, he seems rather to have been a good preacher than a great divine. A certain person is much at a loss to know what became of him after he left his mastership, and whether he went off by death or cession. But had he consulted his own books (for he was a bursar), he might have resolved this doubt; or he might have done it from the registers of 35 Durham, where the master's brother being bishop, we may very reasonably expect to find him. He was collated to a prebend of Durham August 1 an. 1567, where there can 1 MS. Jo. Cosin epi Dunelm. MS. D. Gale. 2 Comp. acad. an. 1564. 3 Jun. 6 an. 1561. 4 MS. D. M. 5 Regr. Dunelm. |