BISHOP AYLMER. 5 



&quot;fortunate in such a master: all joy to you both; you CHAP. 

 &quot; the learner of such a master, and him the teacher of such 

 &quot; a scholar.*&quot; 



Of Aylmer s residence with the beforesaid nobleman we Ayimer s 

 have some account in an old book, entitled, The Jewel of ^}* c e 



Joy, written by Thomas Becon, in King Edward s reign, young. 

 That author being an old friend and professor of the Gos 

 pel, and on that account in danger of his life under King 

 Henry VIII. resolved, for his safety in the latter end of 

 that King s reign, to conceal himself, by travelling from 

 these parts northwards : and coming into Leicestershire, 

 where the Marquis of Dorset s seat was, he met with Mr. 

 Aylmer, then a young man, that nobleman s domestic, of 

 whom he was kindly received ; and in the said book gave 

 him this character, &quot; that he was excellently well learned Jewel of 

 &quot; both in Latin and Greek;&quot; and added, &quot; that with him joy- 

 &quot; alone in that county he had familiarity.&quot; There being, 

 it is probable, not one else that he dared to trust, for fear 

 lest he might be betrayed by them. Becon called him his 

 countryman ; and Becon was of Norfolk. 



Aylmer now in his younger days plied his studies, read- Reckoned 

 ing Greek, and other polite authors; $o that he was reckoned J 1 ^ 

 amongst the number of the best scholars and finest wits of pettiest 

 those times, such as Cheke, Haddon, Smith, Ascham, and^ 

 others. Whereof Ascham and Aylmer, being both often at 

 the Court, and in the same way employed, and equally ad 

 dicted to good literature, contracted a great acquaintance. 

 And in a letter the former wrote from Ausburgh, in the 

 forementioned embassy, he took affectionate notice of his 

 friend Aylmer; and among other matters he begged two 

 things of him: the one was, that by his persuasion the Lady 

 Jane would write him a Greek letter, as soon as she could, 

 which was no more than she had promised him ; and so he 

 had told Johannes Sturmius, the learned Professor, his 

 friend at Strasburgh. He prayed Aylmer also to move her 

 to write another Greek epistle to that excellent person ; and 

 that it would not repent her of her pains [being likely to 

 receive back again from him some learned answer]. The 



