743 



WILLODGHBY, SIR HUGH?. 



WILLUGHBY, FRANCIS. 



741 



Hugh Willoughby, 'admiral of the fleet, captain, with a master and 

 mate, and 36 seamen; the Edward Bonaventura, Richsxrd Chancellor, 

 pilot-major of the fleet, captain, of 160 tons, with a master and mate, 

 minister, surgeon, and 50 seamen ; and the Bona Confldentia, of 90 

 tons, under a master and mate, with 22 seamen. The vessels were 

 victualled for fifteen months. Six merchants embarked in the admiral's 

 ship, nine in the pilot- major's, and three in the third vessel. The 

 entire direction of the adventure was vested iii a council of twelve. 

 The council consisted of the admiral and pilot-major, the master of 

 the three vessels, the minister, three merchants, and the three masters' 

 mates. 



The expedition sailed from Deptford on the 10th of May 1553, but 

 was detained in the river and off the coast by baffling winds till the 

 23rd June. It fell in with the Norwegian coast some way south of 

 the Rost Islands, on the 14th of July. On the 30th of July, while 

 bearing up for Wardhus, east of the North Cape, and the most easterly 

 station of the Danes in Finmark, the vessels were separated by a 

 storm. Next day the Bona Speranza and the Boua Confidentia once 

 rnor-j joined company, but Chancellor's vessel did not again fall iu 

 with them. Clement Adams's account of their separation, derived 

 from some mariners of the Edward Bonaventura, is as follows : 

 " The very same day in the afternoon, about four of the clock, so great 

 a tempest suddenly arose, and the seas were so outrageous, that the 

 ships could not keep their intended course, but some were perforce 

 driven one way and some another, to their great peril and hazard. 

 The general with his loudest voice cried out to Richard Chancellor, 

 and earnestly requested him, not to go far from him ; but he neither 

 could nor would keep company with him if he sailed still BO fast, 

 for the admiral was of better sail than his ship. But the said admiral 

 (I know not by what means) bearing all his sails, was earned away 

 with so great force and swiftness, that not long after he was quite out 

 of sight; and the third ship also, with the same storm and like rage, 

 was dispersed and lost us. The ship-boat of the admiral (striking 

 ngainst the ship) was overwhelmed in the sight and view of the 

 mariners of the Bonaventura ; and as for them that are already 

 returned and arrived, they know nothing of the rest of the ships 

 what has become of them." The narrative in the diary attributed 

 to Sir Hugh Willoughby corresponds with this account in all 

 essentials. 



It appears from the journal just referred to, that the Bona Speranza 

 and Bona Confidentia were tossed about in the North Sea from the 

 30th of July to the 18th of September, vainly attempting to make 

 Wardhus. On that day they entered a harbour which we learn from 

 Jeukinson was the mouth of the river Arziua, six days' sail east of 

 Wardhus, and one day's sail west of the Swiatoi Nos, the western 

 headland of the White Sea. "This haven," says the journal, "runneth 

 into the main about two leagues, and is in breadth half a league, 

 wherein are very many seal-fishes and other great fishes ; and upon 

 the main we saw bears, great deer, foxes, with divers strange beasts, as 

 ellans and such others, which were to us unknown and also wonderful. 

 There remaining in this haven the space of a sevennight, seeing the 

 year far spent, and also very evil weather, as frost, snow, and hail, as 

 though it had been in the depth of winter, we thought it best to 

 winter there. Wherefore we sent out three men south-south-west to 

 search if they could find people, who went three days' journey, but 

 could find none. After that we sent other three westward four days' 

 journey, which also returned without finding any people. Then sent 

 we three men south-east three days' journey, who in like sort returned 

 without finding of people or any similitude of habitation." They 

 entered 'the harbour of death' (as it is called in the margin of the 

 Cotton manuscript, Otho, E., viii., p. 15) on the 18th of September: 

 they remained a week before resolving to winter there ; and they sent 

 out three exploring parties, two of which appear to have been at least 

 six and one eight days absent. This brings us to the latter part of 

 October. The date of Gabriel Willoughby 's will, which Purchas says 

 was in his possession, shows that some of the party must have been 

 alive in January 1554. Nothing more is known of their fate. In 

 1557 Stephen Burrough was despatched from Colniogro to search for 

 the Bona Speranza, the Bona Confideutia, and the Philip and Mary, 

 another vessel belonging to the merchants adventurers, which was also 

 missing. At Kegor he learned from a Drontheim skipper that the 

 Philip and Mary had returned to England, and that the Bona Confi- 

 dentia was lost, and that he had bought her sails for his ship. Of 

 the fate of the Bona Speranza he does not appear to have obtained 

 any intelligence. Anthony Jenkinson, in his account of his voyage to 

 Russia, written apparently between January and April 1558, speaks 

 with certainty of Sir Hugh Willoughby having perished with all his 

 company. Purchas mentions that the Bona Speranza was discovered 

 in the spring of 1554 by Russians, who found all the crew dead. We 

 are left to infer from these vague statements that the journal of the 

 voyage published by Haklujt, and the will which came into Purohas's 

 possession, were obtained from the Russians. The pilot-major, Richard 

 Chancellor, to whom we owe the earliest English accounts of Russia, 

 reached Colmogro on the Dwina in safety ; but his ship was wrecked on 

 his return in Pitsligo Bay (Scotland), on the 10th of November 1556, 

 and himself, along with several of his seamen, drowned. Of the three 

 vessels which composed the expedition to which England owed the 

 commencement of its trade to Archangel, uot one returned to this 



country, and of their crews only a few of the common seamen of the 

 Edward Bonaventura. 



(Hakluyt, vol. L (edition of 1599); Purchas, Pilyrimaye, vol. iii.; 

 MS3. in the Cottonian Collection, British Museum, Otho, E., viii., 23, 

 c. ; Faustina, C., ii., 27, f.) 



* WILLS, WILLIAM HENRY. There is a rule of a well-known 

 society that no one shall be considered as a man of letters who has 

 not written a book. The limitation of authorship belongs to another 

 period; for a great deal of the best writing of the present day appears 

 in newspapers and other periodical works, and is, for the most part, 

 anonymous. Mr. Wills, though one of the most industrious and in- 

 fluential of journalists, has not written a book ; and yet he is entitled 

 to an honourable mention here as the representative of a most im- 

 portant class. He was for several years the chief editorial labourer in 

 ' Chambers' Journal ; ' and is now in the same position in connection 

 with ' Household Words.' Such works especially belong to our age ; 

 and upon their judicious conduct depend some of the best results of 

 the general diffusion of a desire for amusing reading. We may 

 mention as an exception to Mr. Wills' anonymous labours, his very 

 beautiful edition of ' Sir Roger de Coverley, by the Spectator ; ' the 

 notes and illustrations of which favourably exhibit his taste and 

 knowledge. Mr. Wills was born at Plymouth, January 13, 1810. 



WILLUGHBY, FRANCIS, was the only son of Sir Francis Wil- 

 lughby, Knight, and was born in 1635. His father, who was in easy 

 circumstances, paid great attention to the education of his son, who 

 was so diligent iu his studies that it was feared he would injure his 

 health. He early acquired great knowledge both of the classics and 

 mathematics, and in the various branches of natural science. He was 

 admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge, and took his degree of 

 Bachelor of Arts in 1656, and of Master of Arts in 1659. It was here 

 that he became a pupil of John Ray, and a lasting friendship was soon 

 formed between the master and pupil. Willughby had a mind con- 

 stituted very similarly to that of Ray, and both of them took great 

 interest in the progress of natural science. Ray had at this time 

 made great progress in the study of botany, and had already begun to 

 reduce to harmony the confused facts which had been heaped together 

 in that department of science, and this seems to have inspired Wil- 

 lughby to do the same for zoology. The Pandects of Gessner and 

 Aldrovandus had been published, but the question that occurred to 

 his mind was, How much of all this is true, and how much is false ? 

 To answer this question for the science of zoology as it then existed, 

 he set to work. For this purpose he went to Oxford in 1660, in order 

 that he might consult the works on natural history iu the libraries 

 there. Shortly after the return of Willughby from Oxford, Ray 

 refused to sign the Act of Uniformity, and was obliged to resign his 

 Fellowship and leave Cambridge. The consequence was that the two 

 friends made a tour on the continent, visiting France, Spain, Italy, 

 Germany, and the Low Countries, with the object of gaining all 

 possible information on natural history : Ray examined plants, whilst 

 Willughby attended to the animals. They returned laden with trea- 

 sures, which Willughby immediately commenced working at, for the 

 purpose of publishing a large work on the animal kingdom. Before 

 doing this he contemplated a voyage to America, in order to add to 

 his knowledge. But he died in the midst of all his labours and in the 

 prime of life, on the 3rd of July 1672. He had published little, and 

 thought his labours too imperfect to justify their publication. Ray 

 however urged upon him, as he says in one of his works, for three 

 reasons, that he should allow him to publish his works : first, the glory 

 of God ; secondly, the assistance of others in the same studies ; and 

 thirdly, the honour of their native land. Upon these grounds he per- 

 mitted his works to be published, and Ray became their editor. He 

 also left Ray one of his executors, and committed to him the charge of 

 educating his two sons Francis and Thomas. Francis, the elder, who 

 was then only four years old, died young ; and Thomas subsequently 

 became Lord Middleton. For this office, which Ray sacredly fulfilled, 

 Willughby left him 601. a year, which constituted the chief part of 

 this great man's income throughout his life. 



The first work edited by Ray after Willughby's death was his 

 Ornithology, with the title ' Ornithologise Libri Trea : in quibus Avea 

 omnes hactenus coguifce, in methodum uaturis suis conveuientem 

 redactae, accurate clescribuntur. Descriptiones iconibus elegantissi- 

 mis et vivarum avium simillimis ccri incisis illustrantur. Totum 

 opus recognovit, digessit, supplevit Johannes Raius,' folio, London, 

 1676. This work was translated into English by Ray, and the plates 

 republished, in 1678. It contains a vast amount of original observa- 

 tion, and gives a very full and exact account of the habits of the birds 

 described, as well as of their diseases, and the mode of keeping them. 

 There are frequently also good accounts of dissections of various birds. 

 Cuvier says that all subsequent writers have followed Willughby, and 

 that his observations are wonderfully correct. The English work con- 

 cludes with a treatise on Falconry. Although Ray seems to have taken 

 great trouble with the plates, they are too inaccurate to be of use at 

 present. But the letterpress is a perennial source of correct observa- 

 tion on the habits and structure of birds. In 1686 Ray edited a 

 second work on the same plan, embracing the fishes. This was pub- 

 lished at London, in folio, with the title ' Historian Piscium Libri 

 Quatuor.' The descriptions in this work are good, and Cuvier states 

 that it contained many observations oil the Mediterranean, fishes that 



