2'"» S. VII. Mau. 10. '60.] 



IsOTES AND QUEKIES. 



235 



In a speech recently delivered at the meeting 

 of Convocation (see report in Guardian, Feb. 

 16th), the eloquent Bishop of Oxford, whilst 

 touching on a legal question, twice described liim- 

 Bclf as a layman, meaninfj thereby that he was not 

 a lawyer. I am aware that of late this loose mode 

 of speaking has been employed by newspapers, 

 with the same intention of distinguishing those 

 who have not been trained in legal studies. You 

 will, however, probably agree with me that the 

 term sounds oddly when a bishop applies it to 

 himself. H. P. 



Spenser. — I copied the following lines from the 

 fly-leaf of a copy of Spenser's Faery Queen, in the 

 University Library, Ex dono Joannis Hacliet, 

 Lichfieldeus et Couentrjens Episcopi, 1670. The 

 book itself was published at London. Printed by 

 H. L. for Matthew Lowncs, 1609. (Qu. Who 

 •was H. L. ?) : — 



" To the sweet memorie of my countryman, England's chief 

 poet, Mr. Edmund Spenser. 



" Homer's the Captain of Apollo's race : 

 Renowned Virgil claims the second place : 

 Spenser our glorie, 'tis thy golden pen 

 Admitts thee third before all other men. 

 Sage Homer, Virgil, Spenser Laureat, 

 Make a poetical triumvirat. 



Greece, Kome, and England chaleng to your merits, 

 I' haiie nnrst the brauest Heliconian spirits. 

 Onlj' King David's IMuse, Jehoua's birth, 

 Excells, as much as Heauen excells the earth. 



So conceives the autor, J. H." 



" ApoUinaris dux Ilomerus est chori, 

 Teneas secundum Virgili ! merito locum : 

 Spenserc calamus cuius est auro rigens (?), 

 Capesse sortem tcrtiam, nostrum decus. 

 Spensere lauriger, Maro, Maconides sacer 

 Vos fama celebret Tresviros Phoebi sacros. 

 Pclasga terra, Roma, dulcis Anglia, 

 Tres nutricastis optimos vatcs gregis. 

 Solum Dauidis musa de ckIo sata 

 Superato, caslum ut superat has terras plagas. 



Sic censuit autor, J. H." 

 Libya. 



Cambridge. 



CQucn'esf. 



WILLIAM CODDINGTON, SIR HENRY VANE, EHODE 

 ISLAND, MSS. ETC. 



I have been applied to from the United States 

 for information upon many points respecting Mr. 

 Coddington and Sir Henry Vane, and connected 

 with the early history of the settlement of the Plan- 

 tation or colony, now the State, of Rhode Island. I 

 could probably find satisfactory answers to some 

 of the questions asked of me, if I were ableto 

 refer to the great sources of information which 

 the metropolis affords, but old age and infirmity 

 confine me to my house, and I am compelled to 

 be a wholesale trespasser upon the pages of " N. 

 & Q.," and to solicit the readers and correspon- 



dents of that widely circulating and highly useful 

 publication for such aid as they can afford me. 

 Any information upon the subjects referred to in 

 the following questions may be communicated to 

 me at Stoke Newington by letter, or, when not 

 loo long and of sufficient general interest, through 

 the columns of " N. & Q. : " it will in each case be 

 thankfully received by me. Any books or docu- 

 ments which may be lent to me shall be carefully 

 used, and safely and promptly returned. 



Koger Williams has for more than 200 years 

 possessed the reputation of having been the foun- 

 der of the settlement of Providence, which was 

 the origin of the successive plantation, colony, and 

 state of Rhode Island. Ills title, however, to this 

 honour is now questioned ; and William Codding- 

 ton, a native of Lincolnshire, who emigrated to 

 the western continent in 1630 with Winthrop, 

 Dudley, Johnson, and others in the ship "Ar- 

 bella," is nov/ put forward as the " principal foun- 

 der of Rhode Island." Respecting this William 

 Coddington I have to state that it has not been 

 exactly ascertained in what part of Iiincolnshire 

 he was born, or where he resided previous to his 

 emigration. It is supposed, however, that the 

 latter part of his life in England was spent at Al- 

 ford in Lincolnshire ; for we find by the New 

 England Historical Register, vol. i. p. 297., that 

 the celebrated Hutchinson family, who emigrated 

 from Alford either in 1630 or 163.3, was, whilst 

 residing at that place, "intimately acquainted there 

 with Mr. Coddington." The same authority (see 

 vol. i. p. 300.) states that a Mr, Coddington, a 

 descendant of the first settler of that name, 

 married a grand-daughter of William and Ann 

 Hutchinson. 



Of William Coddington we are farther informed 

 that he was appointed to many important offices 

 in the infant colony of IMassachuselts, and that in 

 1636 and 1637 he was the intimate friend of Sir 

 Henry Vane. In 1638 he founded a colony in 

 Narraganset Bay, Rhode Island, and of this colony 

 he was governor from 1638 to 1647. In 1643-4, 

 Rhode Island obtained a patent from the Earl of 

 Warwick, dated March 14th. Coddington and 

 his daughter came to England in January, 1648-9, 

 and obtained a patent constituting him Governor, 

 of the colony for life ; this patent was signed by 

 John Bradshaw, President. Coddington returned 

 to Rhode Island in 1651 ; whilst in England he 

 married his third wife, Ann Clayton. 



William Coddington joined the Society^ of 

 Friends towards the end of his life, and was visited 

 by George Fox, the founder of that sect, at New- 

 port, Rhode Island, in 1672, He died at New- 

 port in November, 1678, in the seventy-eighth 

 year of -his age, holding the office of Governor of 

 Rhode Island at the time of his death. John 

 Clarke was agent of the colony in England, re- 

 siding in London, from 1652 to 1662. 



