L ATI 
LAT'IMER,_/i Ufed by fir Edward Coke for an inter¬ 
preter. 2 lnjl. 515. It feems that the word is miftaken, 
and fhould be Ladner, becaufe heretofore he that under- 
ftood Latin, which in the time of the Romans was the pre¬ 
vailing language, might be a good interpreter. Camden 
agrees, that it lignifies a Frenchman, or interpreter ; and fays 
the word is ufed in an old inquifition. Britan, foi. 598. 
It may be derived or corrupted from the Fr. latinier, q. d. 
latiner. Cowell. 
LAT'IMER (Hugh), an excellent Englilh prelate in 
the fixteenth century, and one of the leaders of that glo¬ 
rious army of martyrs who introduced the reformation 
into this country, was the fon of a refpeftable yeoman at 
Thirkelfen, or Thurcafton, in Leicefterlhire, where he 
was born about the year 1470. He was brought up with 
his parents in his younger years; and, as he difeovered 
promifing talents, and was their only fon, they determined 
to make a fcholar of him. Accordingly, after being ini¬ 
tiated in the elements of learning in country fchools, 
■when he was fourteen years of age they fent him to 
Chrift’s-college, in Cambridge. Here he applied himfelf 
clofely to his ftudies ; acquitted himfelf with reputation 
in his academical exercifes ; took his degrees in arts, and 
that of bachelor of divinity; and entered into holy orders. 
The divinity which he had ftudied was that of the times. 
He had been taught to read the feriptures and the fchool- 
men with the fame reverence; to hold Thomas a Becket 
and the apoltles in equal honour ; in a word, he was a 
zealous papift. In common with the reft of the clergy, 
he had taken the alarm at the progrefs of Lutheranifm, 
and inveighed publicly and privately againft the refor¬ 
mers. If any perfon, fufpeCted of holding their tenets, 
read leftures in the fchools, Latimer was fure to be there, 
to drive out the fcholars; and, when he commenced ba¬ 
chelor of divinity, he delivered an oration againft Me- 
lanifthon, whom he treated with great feverity for what 
he called his impious innovations in religion. In lliort, 
his zeal was fo much taken notice of in the univerfity, 
that he was elected crofs-bearer in all public proceflions; 
an employment which he accepted with reverence, and 
difeharged with great folemnity. 
Our good divine was a papift from convi&ion, and had 
a mind open to arguments on all fides of the queftion. He 
fortunately met with a Mr. Thomas Bilney, a clergyman of 
great piety, and who, by the perufal of Luther’s works, 
had become a fecret favourer of the reformation. By de¬ 
grees heinfufed into the mind of Latimer all thofe doubts 
which he had formerly felt refpefting the dilcordance of 
popery with pure Chriftianity. Latimer heard the argu¬ 
ments of his friend, and was prepared at firft to difpute 
the ground inch by inch. At length he found the ground 
on which he ftood abfolutely untenable; and acknow¬ 
ledged the errors in which he had been educated. But 
the temper of the fcholar was not like that of the mafter; 
he could not be a proteftant in fecret; he muft come forth 
boldly, and declare the convictions of his heart; he had 
fought truth as the pearl of great price, and, having, as 
he believed, found it, was determined not to conceal its 
beauty from his friends and the world. He became an 
adtive apoftle in the caufe of proteftantifm; he preached 
in public, he exhorted in private, and every-where en¬ 
forced the neceflity of a holy life, in oppofition to the fu- 
perltitious ceremonies and obfervances inculcated by the 
Romifh religion. He foon became obnoxious to the ge¬ 
nerality of the clergy; but, being contented to go through 
evil as well as good report, he continued on his courfe 
with more ardour in proportion to the outcry made againft 
him. He inveighed againft the ceremonies which encum¬ 
bered true religion, and expofed the pride and ulurpation 
of the Romifh hierarchy; but what he molt infilled on 
was the right of the people to read the feriptures in their 
native tongue. Dr. Buckenham, one of the black friars, 
was felefted to anfwer, from the pulpit, the arguments of 
.Latimer; he performed the talk with great pomp, but not 
4o the complete fatisfadtion even of his own party; and 
VOL. XII. No. 828. 
M E R. 269 
in a lliort time afterwards the whole univerfity met to 
hear what the reformer had to fay in his defence. Mr. 
Latimer at firft recapitulated Dr. Buckenham’s arguments; 
placed them in the ftrongeft light, and gave them much 
greater importance than the friar had been able to do; he 
then attacked them with fo much force of reafoning, and 
fuch abundance of wit, as to render the learned doCtor 
truly ridiculous ; he next appealed to his hearers, urg¬ 
ing them to refpedt their own underftandings, and not to 
fubmit to be led by the priefts, who had ever been accuf- 
tomed to treat the people at large with contempt; and he 
concluded with ardently hoping, that his honeft coun¬ 
trymen might be permitted to have the ufe of the ferip¬ 
tures, till they lhowed themfelves to be as abfurd inter¬ 
preters of them as the learned friar. Latimer, by this ex¬ 
ertion, and by an anfwer to Venetus, greatly increafed the 
credit of the proteftant party at Cambridge. Bilney and 
Latimer were regarded as the heads of the party, and to 
them the ftudents looked with refpeff, attachment, and 
even veneration. The heads of the colleges, and the fe- 
nior members of the univerfity, were alarmed, and deter¬ 
mined to withftand the progreis of herefy. Frequent con¬ 
vocations were held, and the ftribtelt injunctions were laid 
on all the tutors to be watchful of the opinions of their 
pupils ; but thefe efforts were in vain, and the bifiiop of 
Ely was applied to, and entreated to crulh, by his autho¬ 
rity, the new opinions. The prelate, though a papift, 
was not a friend to perfecution ; he was willing to judge 
for himfelf; and, though he went to Cambridge and 
preached againft the heretics, yet he did not fcruple to 
attend himfelf the fermons of Latimer; and with much 
candour declared, that the reformer was the belt preacher 
he had ever heard. Latimer’s enemies next appealed to 
the court, and tranfinitted very heavy complaints refpect- 
ing the increafe of herefy; and Wolfev, contrary, it is 
thought, to his own inclination, inllituted a court, con- 
filling of hilltops and other divines, to put the laws in ex¬ 
ecution againft herefy. Bilney and Latimer were called 
to anfwer for their conduft ; and, as the former was re¬ 
garded as the moft guilty, by being the firft promulgator 
of the new doctrines, his examination was the moft fevere, 
and he was pronounced guilty ; but, not having a mind 
formed for the fufferings prepared for him, he recanted, 
and after fonte ignominious treatment was diftnilTed. La¬ 
timer, and others who were involved in the charge, were, 
by the management of the cardinal, and the merciful dif- 
pofition of Tunftal bilhop of London, difmiffed probably 
without a reproach ; the cardinal even granted Latiiner 
his licence to preach throughout England. 
The friends of our reformers, upon their return to 
Cambridge, received them with open arms. But Bilney, 
ftruck with remorfe for his recantation, (hunned the fight 
of his acquaintance, and received their congratulations 
with confufion and blufiies. Reflection on what he had 
done in a lliort time difturbed his reafon ; and he was 
obliged to be clofely attended, to prevent horrid effeCts 
from his defpair. By degrees, his palfion gave place to a 
profound melancholy ; in which ftate he continued about 
three years, reading much, avoiding company, and ob= 
ferving the feverity of an afcetic. Having fully deter¬ 
mined to expiate his abjuration by his death, he unex¬ 
pectedly broke from his attachments at Cambridge, and 
let- out for Norfolk, of which he was a native. When lie 
arrived there, he w'ent about the country, confeffmg his 
guilt in abjuring a faith in which he was now determined 
to die, and preaching to the people againft popery with 
the utmoft zeal and animation. Being apprehended, by 
order of the bilhop of Norwich, he was committed to the 
county gaol, and in a lliort time afterwards executed in 
that city, having afforded at his death an admirable ex¬ 
ample of compofure, fimmefs, and Chriftian courage. In 
the mean time, Mr. Latimer began to exert himfelf more 
than ever, not confining his labours to Cambridge, but 
fometimes preaching in other parts of the country; and once 
or twice he had the honour to preach before the king at 
3 Z Windfor. 
