JOHN PRINCE. 343 
argument, he considered, that they originally came out of that 
country. He also brings as a further proof, that ‘‘one of this 
house was wont to be free in his raillery with a certain gentleman 
who boasted much that his ancestors came into England with 
William the Conqueror, saying, ‘It was not much for his honour 
to be descended from those who came hither only to rob and plunder 
him and others of their lands and fortune.’”? And of course the 
old rhyme must not be forgotten : 
‘Crocker, Cruwys, and Copplestone, 
When the Conqueror came, were found at home.” 
If any further evidence were needed of the high position of 
Prince’s mother’s family, I would only remark that when Prince 
wrote (1699) his relative, Courtenay Crocker, Esq., of Lyneham, 
was J.P. for Devon and M.P. for Plympton, and was connected by 
marriage with the well-known Devonshire families of Pollard, 
Strode, Elford, Champernowne, Pole, Hillersden, and Bulteel. 
Of his father, Bernard Prince, I can glean nothing; not even his 
occupation or profession. I take him to have been a man of good 
position, and I find that his youngest brother Leonard Prince, 
uncle to my hero, was rector of Instow. In speaking of him, 
Prince says, ‘‘ He was born at Nower, in the parish of Kilmington, 
in this county; descended from a knightly family of his name still 
flourishing [when he wrote] in Shropshire; bred at Oxford and at 
London; beneficed first at Ilfracombe, then at St. Johns in the 
city of Exon, and lately here [Instow], where he was buried 
about the year of our Lord 1695. He was a pious, powerful, 
practical preacher; much desired in his life, and much lamented at 
his death, which happened about the sixty-eighth year of his age.” 
I have, I think, shown that Prince was of very worthy descent. 
Of his early life nothing is now known; but when only seventeen 
years of age he was admitted a student of Brazenose College, 
Oxford, this being in 1660, and in 1664 he took his B.A. degree 
and entered into holy orders. 
Born in Devon, and closely allied to Devonshire families, to 
Devon he returns, and commences the active duties of his profession 
at Bideford as curate to Mr. Arthur Giffard. Bideford, with its 
famous bridge and stately quay, and its beautiful surroundings, were 
ever firmly imprinted on his mind; and when years after he sat 
down to write of the Worthies of that neighbourhood, he could not 
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