456 



NOTES AND QtJjfcRlES. 



t2»* S. VIII. W. 3. '5&. 



Life, Eng. edit. p. 278.) Perhaps Mr. Hart or 

 Mr. Hopper, in tlieir researches in the State 

 Paper Office, could inform us how far the king 

 was mindful of this petition. Wm. Dbnton. 



Allow me to suggest to some of the contributors 

 to " N. & Q." that bare assertions, on the one 

 side or the other, of disputed points likely to 

 rouse political or religious feeling are best 

 avoided. " N. & Q." is not the place to dis- 

 cuss whether Cardinal Wolsey was a " great and 

 good man," or a great and bad man ; or whether 

 Oliver Cromwell was guilty of " vindictive 

 cruelty," or was just and merciful. Let con- 

 tributors state what they believe to be facts, give 

 their authorities, and abstain from the use of un- 

 necessary adjectives. This periodical is read alike 

 by Catholics and by Protestants, by High Church- 

 men and by Puritans, and its columns should, 

 accordingly, be free from party spirit. 



The plea and demurrer exhibited by Dr. Hewett, 

 the composition of which evinces great " skill and 

 legal knowledge," were prepared by Prynne. 



Your correspondent Mr. J. F. N. Hewett 

 states that the tale he furnishes " comprehends 

 the elements of a romance." So far as it relates 

 to the death of Cromwell and his daughter I 

 quite agree with him. All that Clarendon, who 

 •was by no means an impartial witness, ventures 

 to say on this subject is : — 



" But that which chiefly broke his peace was the death 

 of his daughter Claypole, who had been always his 

 greatest joy, and who, in her sickness, wliich was of a 

 nature the physicians knew not how to deal with, had 

 several conferences witli him, which exceedingly per- 

 plexed him. Though nobody was near enotujh to hear the 

 particulars, j"et her often mentioning, in the pains she 

 endured, the blood her father had spilt, made people con- 

 clude that she had presented his worst actions to his con- 

 sideration. And though he never made the least show 

 of remorse for any of those actions, it is very certain 

 that either what she said, or her death, affected him won- 

 derfully." 



Four days after Dr. Hewett's execution, and 

 speaking of the plot in which he was concerned, 

 Lady Claypole wrote to her sister-in-law : — 



" Trulj' the Lord has been very gracious to me, in de- 

 livering my father out of the hands of his enemies, which 

 we all have reason to be sensible of in a very particular 

 manner; for certainly not only his family would have 

 been ruined, but, in all probability, the whole nation 

 would have been involved in blood." 



Judge then whether, because of Dr. Hewett's 

 execution, " Mrs. Claypole took such excessive 

 grief, that she suddenly feel sick, the increase of 

 her sickness making her rave in a most lament- 

 able manner, calling out against her father for 

 Hewit's blood, and the like." Besides, the nature 

 of Lady Claypole's illness is sufficient evidence 

 against any such supposition. 



The causes assigned for Cromwell's death are 

 legion. Cowley refers his death to the effect of 



'* grief and discontent because he coula ^oj; at, 

 tain to the honest name of a king." Mr. HirvETT 

 to Lady Claypole's reproaches. Others, to j^q 

 publication of " Killing no Murder." Shall wt 

 not rather look to the wear and tear of Crom- 

 well's position ? " A burden too heavy for man," 

 as he himself says, weighing him down to the 

 grave in his sixtieth year. J. G. Morten. 



Cheara. 



Lady Hewett, widow of a Lord Mayor of York, 

 shortly after the Restoration, occurs several times 

 in Hunter's Li/e of Olive?' Heywood, and at her 

 house in York frequent religious meetings and 

 hazardous preachings were held. (p. 323.) She 

 was a Presbyterian ; and Mr. Heywood records in 

 his Diary, that in bis visits to Lancashire, he 

 " collected Lady Hewett's rents at Rochdale." I 

 wish to ascertain her maiden name. In 1669 O. 

 Heywood visited "Alderman Hewett and his wife 

 at Wakefield." (p. 212.) AVho were they ? R. 



THE BOOK OF SPORTS. 



(2°« S. viii. 414.) 



The father of Peregrine Philips suffered for not 

 reading the Booh of iSports, commonly called the 

 White Book, (Calamy's Continuation, &c., ed. 2, 

 p. 841.) 



" The ' Pltbeyans ' of Lancashire, being incouraged and 

 heartened by some Gentlemen who were Popish liecu- 

 sants, they made ill use of the king's gracious clemency; 

 and tliereupon Bishop Morton made his humble address 

 unto His Majesty, and acquainted him with sundry par- 

 ticulars of their abuse of His well-meant gracious favour: 

 Whereupon it pleased His Majesty to command the 

 Bishop, to adde what cautions and restrictions he thought 

 fit to be inserted into His Majesties Declaration for that 

 purpose, which was accordingly done, viz. That they should 

 have no liberty for recreation till after Evening Prayer : 

 That they should have no Beare-baiting nor any such un- 

 laivfull sports : And that no Recusant, who came not to 

 Morning and Eveniny Prayers, should be capable of such 

 His Royall indulgence at all" (^Bishop 3Iorton's Life, 

 York, 1659, pp. 60—62.) 



Among those who refused to read the declara- 

 tion I find the name of Twisse. (Sam. Clarke's 

 Lives of Eminent Divines, 1683, pp. 16, 17.) 



Among the " third sort" of ministers, who hit 

 upon what Fuller calls the " strange expedient of 

 reading the declaration and then preaching against, 

 it," were Jephcot (Calamy's Account, 2d ed. p. 

 113.), and Biirtlet, by Bishop Hall's advice. (Id. 

 Contin. p. 239.) 



If ScoTus cares to pursue his investigations 

 farther, the following references respecting the 

 Declaration of 1633 are much at his service. 

 Clarke (as above), pp. 162, 170.;* Id. Lives of 



* The book has two pages numbered 170. That which 

 we are concerned with is the sermid, in the Life of Fair- 

 cloiigh. 



