222 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d S, Till. Sept. 17. '59. 



Of the Ninth Edition, 1684, it is unnecessary to 

 mention the copies, as they are not uncommon. 



Many of the readers of " N. & Q." will re- 

 member to have seen the assertion, which has been 

 often repeated, that in the reign of Elizabeth the 

 Book of Martyrs was ordered to be set up in all 

 parish churches. If that were the fact, the al- 

 most entire disappearance of the book would be 

 marvellous. The statement rests upon the au- 

 thority of Strype {Annals of the Reformation, iii. 

 503.) ; but I do not find that it is well-founded. 

 It appears that by the Convocation of the Pro- 

 vince of Canterbury, held in 1571, it was in- 

 joined that every archbishop and bishop should 

 have the Monuments of the Martyrs in his house ; 

 that every dean should place the book in his 

 cathedral church ; that every dean or residentiary 

 dignitary should have it in his house ; and the 

 same with every archdeacon. I find nothing as 

 to parish churches. Still, there must have been 

 some thousands of copies printed in the sixteenth 

 century, — the edition of 1596 is recorded to have 

 consisted of 1200, — and what has become of them 

 all ? The fate of those exposed to public reading 

 is obvious: by constant handling, by damp and 

 decay, they became imperfect, and their remains 

 have been either destroyed for waste paper, or 

 cut up for the sake of the woodcuts. I have 

 seen several such imperfect copies, and two or 

 three have come into my own hands. But where 

 are the copies that usually rested on the library 

 shelves ? I shall be glad to hear of any of them. 



It is not unknown that Foxe at first wrote the 

 work in Latin ; but it is remarkable that the 

 bibliographers are confused upon this publication 

 also. Watt mentions four editions : — 1554, 

 8vo.; 1554, folio; 1559, folio; 1563, folio; and 

 Lowndes speaks also of an edition, 1556, 8vo. 

 There were in fact but two jgditions ; one printed 

 at Strasburgh in 1554, and the other at Basle in 

 1559. The book was called Commentarii Reriim 

 in Ecclesia Gestarum. Argentorati, 1554, Svo. 

 This title appears to have been reprinted with 

 the date 1556: and the same book was cer- 

 tainly reissued in 1564 with the fresh title of 

 dhronicon Ecclesia, &c., as given in full in " N. 

 & Q," 2'"* S. vii. 83,, from a copy in the possession 

 of the Rev. Dr. Maitland. This was done to sell 

 off the remaining copies of the small Strasburgh 

 book, after the author had inlarged the book into 

 ii folio volume, which was printed at Basle in 

 1559. The date 1563 belongs to the Second Part 

 of the Commentarii, which was compiled, not by 

 Foxe, but by Henrico Pantaleone, a physician of 

 Basle. This related to the continental reformers, 

 and was not translated for the English work. I 

 should be glad to be told of any copies of Foxe's 

 Commentarii dated 1556. Otherwise, the history 

 of this work is tolerably clear. With regard to 

 The Actes and Momiments, the progress of which 



I am nov/ endeavouring to trace, any suggestions 

 will obli";e me. John Gough Nichols. 



THE DUKE OF BUCKIKGHAM, A GHOST STOKT. 



Gervase Holies would appear to have been fond 

 of the supernatural, and to have delighted in a 

 good ghost story. Scattered among his various 

 genealogical and topographical collections, we find 

 noted down several as related to him by persons 

 of credit, and among others the following, as com- 

 municated to hira by letter, the introduction to 

 which let him tell in his own words : — 



" Since William Lilly the Eebell's Jagler and JMounta- 

 banke hath in his malitious and blasphemous discourse 

 concerning our late martired soueraigne of ever blessed 

 memory imprinted (amongst other his lies and false- 

 hoodes) a relation concerning an apparition vv<^i> foretolde 

 severall events w"^'> should happen to }••= late Duke of 

 Buckingham, wherein he falsefies both the person to whom 

 it appeared and y" circumstances, I thought it not 

 amisse to enter here (that it may be preserved) the true 

 account of that apparition, as I have receaved it from the 

 hand and under the hand of M"^ Edmund VVyndham of 

 Kellesford in y" county of Somerset. 



" I shall set it downe (Jpsissimis veibis) as he delivered 

 it to me at my request, written with his owne hand. 



" ' S'', according to y"* desire and my promise, 1 have 

 written downe Avhat I remember (divers things being 

 slipt oat of mj- memor}') of yo relation made me b}- M'' 

 Nicholas Towse concerning y« apparition w^'' visited 

 him. About the yeare 1G27 I and m_v wife (upon an oc- 

 casion being in London) lay at my brother Pyne's house 

 w"'out Bishopsgate, ^\•'^^ was y® next house unto M'' Ni- 

 cholas Towse's, who was his kinsman and familiar ac- 

 quaintance, in consideration of whose society and freind- 

 ship he tooke a house in y* place. The sayd Towse being 

 a verj' fine Musitian, and very good companj', and for 

 ought I ever saw or heard a virtuous, religious, and well 

 disposed gentleman. 



" ' About y' time y^ said M' Towse tolde me y* one 

 night being in bed and perfectly waking, and a candle 

 burning by him (as he usually had), there came into his 

 chamber, and stood by his bedside, an olde gentleman in 

 such an habit as was in fashion in Q. Elizabeth's time, at 

 whose iirst appearance M'' Towse was verj- much troubled ; 

 but after a little time, recollecting himselfe, be demanded 

 of him, in y^ name of God, what he was ? whether he were 

 a man ? and y" apparition replied No ! Then he asked 

 him if he were a devill, and y^ answer was No ! Then 

 M"" Towse said, In y« name of God, what art thou then ? 

 and, as I remember, M"^ Towse told me y* y" apparition 

 answered him y' he was y" ghost of S' George Villers, 

 father to y" then Duke of Buckingham, whome he might 

 very well remember, since he went to schoole at such a 

 place in Leicestershire (naming y place w<='' I have for- 

 gotten). And M'' Towse told me y' y" apparition had 

 perfectly the resemblance of 5"= s<i S'' George Villers in 

 all respectes, and in y same habit y' he had often scene 

 him weai-e in his lifetime. The sayd apparition then 

 told Mr Towse y' he could not but remember ye much 

 kindness that he,'ye said S'' George Villers, had expressed 

 to him whilst he was a schoUer in Leicestershire as 

 aforesaid, and y* out of y* consideration he beleived y' he 

 loved him, and that therefore he had made choyse of 

 him, y<= said M'' Towse, to deliver a message to his sonne 

 y« Duke of Buckingham, thereby to praevent such Mis- 



