In June following he was appointed by archbishop Parker, one of his commissioners to visit the diocese of Norwich; and that primate having established a benefaction for a sermon on Rogation Sunday at Thetford in Norfolk and other places, the dean, while engaged in this commission, preached the first sermon of that foundation, on Sunday morning July 20, 1567, in the Green-yard adjoining to the bishop's palace at Norwich. In 1573 he quitted his prebend of Milton-ecclesia, on being presented by Cooper, then bishop of Lincoln, to that of Leighton-Bosard, the endowment of which is considered the best in the church of Lincoln. In 1576 he was one of the ecclesiastical commissioners, empowered by the queen to take cognizance of all offences against the peace and good order of the church, and to frame such statutes as might conduce to its prosperity.

To

The see of Bath and Wells had in 1584 been vacant since the death of Dr. Gilbert Berkley in Nov. 1581. To this bishopric the queen now nominated dean Godwin, who accordingly was consecrated Sept. 13, 1584. He immediately resigned the deanery of Canterbury; and as he arrived at the episcopal dignity "as well qualified," says his contemporary, sir John Harrington, "for a bishop as might be, unreproveable, without simony, given to good hospitality, quiet, kind, and affable," it is to be lamented that he was unjustly opposed in the enjoyment of what he deserved. At the time of his promotion there prevailed among the courtiers no small dislike to the bishops; prompted by a desire to spoil them of their revenues. cover their unjust proceedings, they did not want plausible pretences, the effects of which Godwin too severely experienced. He was a widower, drawing towards seventy, and much enfeebled by the gout, when he came to the see; but in order to the management of his family, and that he might devote his whole time to the discharge of his high office, he married a second wife, a widow, of years suitable to his own. An illiberal misrepresentation, however, of this affair was but too readily believed by the queen, who had a rooted aversion to the marriages of the clergy, and the crafty slanderers gratified their aim in the disgrace of the aged prelate, and in obtaining part of his property. This unfortunate affair, which affected his

* A part of their slanders was that the old bishop had married a young

girl of twenty. The earl of Bedford happened to be at court when this

public character as well as his private happiness, contributed not a little to increase his infirmities. He continued, however, attentive to the duties of his function, and frequently gave proof that neither his diligence nor his observation were inconsiderable. During the two last years of his life, his health more rapidly declined, and he was also attacked with a quartan ague. He was now recommended by his physicians to try the benefit of his native air. Accordingly he came to Oakingham with this intention, but breathed his last there, Nov. 19, 1590. buried in the chancel of Oakingham church, where is a modest inscription to his memory, written by his son, the subject of the next article.

He was

The memory of bishop Godwin will ever be respected. His own merit brought him into public notice, and when he rose in the church he adorned it by his amiable qualities. Though he was a distinguished scholar, yet he did not publish any of his labours. Among the Parker MSS. in Bene't college, Cambridge, is a sermon which he preached before the queen at Greenwich in 1566, concerning the authority of the councils and fathers. 1

GODWIN (FRANCIS), son of the preceding, was born at Havington in Northamptonshire, 1561; and, after a good foundation of grammar-learning, was sent to Christ Church college, Oxford, where he was elected a student in 1678, while his father was dean. He proceeded B. A. in 1580, and M. A. in 1583; about which time he wrote an entertaining piece upon a philosophical subject, where imagination, judgment, and knowledge, keep an equal pace; but this, as it contradicted certain received notions of his times, he never published. It came out about five years after his death, under the title of "The Man in the Moon; or, a discourse of a voyage thither;" by Domingo Gonsales, 1638, 8vo. It has been several times printed, and shews that he had a creative genius. Domingo Gonsales, a little Spaniard, is supposed to be shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, where he taught several ganzas, or wild geese, to fly with a light machine, and to fetch and carry things for his conveniency. He, after some time,

story was told, and said to the queen,

"Madam, I know not how much the

woman is above twenty, but I know a son of hers is but little under forty."

1 Godwin de Præsulibus.-Ath. Ox. vol. I.-Biog. Brit.—Todd's Deans of Canterbury. Strype's Life of Parker, p. 285, 244, and of Whitgift, p. 215.Harrington's Brief View.-Fuller's Worthies.

ventured to put himself into the machine, and they carried him with great ease. He happened to be in this aërial chariot at the time of the year when these ganzas, which were birds of passage, took their flight to the moon, and was directly carried to that planet. He has given a very ingenious description of what occurred to him on his way, and the wonderful things which he saw there. Dr. Swift seems to have borrowed several hints from this novel, in his Voyage to Laputa; but it is more to Dr. Godwin's praise that he appears to have been well acquainted with the Copernican system. He suppressed also another of his inventions at that time, which he called "Nuncius inanimatus," or the "Inanimate Messenger." The design was to communicate various methods of conveying intelligence secretly, speedily, and safely; but although he asserts that by an agreement settled between two parties, a message may be conveyed from the one to the other, at the distance many miles, with an incredible swiftness, yet he does not reveal the secret. It appears, however, to have given rise to bishop Wilkins's "Mercury, or secret and swift Messenger." It is said that he afterwards communicated the secret to his majesty, but why it was not acted upon is not mentioned by his biographers. The pamphlet was published in 1629, and afterwards, in 1657, was translated by the learned Dr. Thomas Smith, and published with "The Man in the Moon."

of

He had probably been sometime master of arts, when he entered into orders, and became in a short time rector of Samford Orcais, in Somersetshire, a prebendary in the church of Wilts, canon residentiary there, and vicar of Weston in Zoyland, in the same county; he was also collated to the sub-deanery of Exeter, in 1587. In the mean time, turning his studies to the subject of the antiquities of his own country, he became acquainted with Camden; and accompanied him in his travels to Wales, in 1590, in the search of curiosities. He took great delight in these inquiries, in which he spent his leisure hours for several years; but at length he confined himself to ecclesiastical antiquities and history. After some time, finding, with regard to these, that he could add little or nothing to Fox's work on that subject, he restrained his inquiries to persons; and here he spared no pains, so that he had enough to make a considerable volume in 1594.

He became B. D. in 1593, and D. D. in 1595; in which

year, resigning the vicarage of Weston, he was appointed rector of Bishop's Liddiard, in the same county. He still continued assiduous in pursuing ecclesiastical biography; and, having made an handsome addition to his former collections, published the whole in 1601, 4to, under the title, "A Catalogue of the Bishops of England, since the first planting of the Christian religion in this island; together with a brief history of their lives and memorable actions, so near as can be gathered of antiquity." It appears, by the dedication to lord Buckhurst, that our author was at this time chaplain to this nobleman, who, being in high credit with queen Elizabeth, immediately procured him the bishopric of Llandaff. This was said to be a royal reward for his Catalogue, and this success of it encouraged him to proceed. The design was so much approved, that afterwards he found a patron in James I.; and sir John Harrington, a favourite of prince Henry, wrote a treatise by way of supplement to it, for that prince's use. This was drawn purely for that purpose, without any intention to publish it; but it appeared afterwards with the title of "A brief view of the state of the Church of England." It is carried on only to the year 1608 (when it was written) from the close of our author's works. Our author therefore devoted all the time he could spare from the duties of his function towards completing and perfecting this Catalogue; and published another edition in 1615, with great additions and alterations. But, this being very erroneously printed, by reason of his dis tance from the press, he resolved to turn that misfortune into an advantage; and accordingly sent it abroad the year after, in a new elegant Latin dress; partly for the use of foreigners, but more perhaps to please the king, to whom it was dedicated, and who in return gave him the bishopric of Hereford, to which he was translated in 1617. His work has since been reprinted, with a continuation to the time of publication, 1743, by Dr. Richardson, in an elegant folio volume, with a fine portrait of Godwin, and other embellishments.

In 1616 he published in Latin, "Rerum Anglicarum Henrico VIII. &c." which was translated and published by his son, Morgan Godwin, under the title of "Annales of England, containing the reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI. and queen Mary," fol. These, as well as his lives of the bishops, are written in elegant Latin, and with much im

partiality. In 1630, he published a small treatise, entitled "A computation of the value of the Roman Sesterce and Attic Talent." After this he fell into a low and languishing disorder, and died in April 1633. He married, when a young man, the daughter of Wollton, bishop of Exeter, by whom he had many children. He appears to have been a man of great learning and personal worth, and a zealous champion for the church of England. His son, Dr. Morgan Godwin, was archdeacon of Shropshire, and translated, as we have noticed, his father's Annales." He was ejected by the parliamentary commissioners, and his family reduced to distress: he died in 1645, leaving a son of his own names, who was educated at Oxford, and afterwards became a minister in Virginia, under the government of sir William Berkeley, but was at last beneficed near London. When he died is not mentioned. He wrote some pamphlets, while in Virginia, on the state of religion there, and the education of the negroes. The late rev. Charles Godwin, an antiquary, and benefactor to Baliol college, Oxford, who died in 1770, appears to have been a son of Charles Godwin, of Monmouth, another son of bishop Francis Godwin. '

GODWIN (Dr. THOMAS), a learned English writer, and an excellent schoolmaster, was born in Somersetshire, in 1587; and, after a suitable education in grammar-learning, was sent to Oxford. He was entered of Magdalenhall in 1602; and took the two degrees in arts 1606 and 1609. This last year he removed to Abingdon in Berkshire, having obtained the place of chief master of the freeschool there; and in this employ distinguished himself by his industry and abilities so much, that he brought the school into a very flourishing condition; and bred up many youths who proved ornaments to their country, both in church and state. To attain this commendable end he wrote his "Romanæ Historiæ Anthologia," an English exposition of the Roman antiquities, &c. and printed it at Oxford in 1613, 4to. The second edition was published in 1623, with considerable additions. He also printed for the use of his school, a "Florilegium Phrasicon, or a survey of the Latin Tongue." However, his inclinations leading him to divinity, he entered into orders, and became chaplain to Montague bishop of Bath and Wells,

1 Gen. Dict. Biog. Brit.-Harrington's Brief View.-Ath. Ox. vol. I.