I. Elizabeth; and Magdalen, first married to Eresby, then SECT. to John Purefoy of Leicestershire. And besides these daughters, he had, by the same Agnes, John his son and Anno 1514. heir. the name of the Chekes. If one were minded to seek further after this family, we Others of might be told of one Margaret Cheke, who obtained a licence from King Richard III. to found a chauntry for one Priest, in the parish church of Long Ashton, nigh Bristol; book of that which bespake her a person of quality and wealth. We King. might be told, that some of this name were dispersed in Suffolk, where, in the parish church of Debnam, anno 1440, Weev. Mon. was buried John Cheke, gentleman. There also lay buried' Robert Cheke, and Rose his wife, as appears by a monumental inscription there. The name also flourished in the city of London in Queen Elizabeth's time: where was also one John Cheke, a wealthy citizen of the Company of Mercers; who, upon a loan from the city, anno 1588, that memorable year, (when the richest sort of all the companies lent their proportions to the Queen,) for his share lent her 1007. To which I add another Cheke, named also John, ordained Deacon anno 1560, by Grindal, Bishop of London; which John is charactered in the Book of Ordinations to be liberæ conditionis, et laudabilis commendatio- Regist. Bp. nis, i. e. of genteel extract, as well as laudable life and conversation.. Lond. dicated. thies. These I the rather mention, to extinguish that ill report Cheke's Sir John Hayward had suggested to the world of our family vinCheke's mean birth; whom Dr. Fuller also hath taken notice of with some just indignation, leaving him this character for his pains, that "he was a learned pen, but too Full. Wor"free in dealing disgraceful characters on the subjects "thereof:" adding this further account of Cheke's family, that the paternal estate was 3007. per annum, never increased nor diminished till twenty years ago, [that is, so many years before the time of Fuller's writing this,] when it was sold outright; and that one of those Chekes in Richard the II.'s days married a daughter of the Lord Mountague's; though it may be inquired, whether that CHAP. family were advanced to the honour of barons so anciently as that King's time. I. Ann. 1514, et seq. In what Acts and The gentleman of whom we are to write was born in the year 1514, as I collect from his age, when he was year born. called in for a witness to answer certain interrogatories Mon. first concerning Bishop Gardiner, in December or January, anno edit. p. 807. 1550, being then set down to be thirty-six years of age: A MS. of and more certainly from his nativity, calculated by his dear friend Sir Thomas Smith, that he was born the same year, on the 16th day of June, at two of the clock five minutes afternoon. And perhaps it may not be unacceptable to some to exhibit this scheme of his nativity, drawn up by so notable a man. Dr. Sloan's. character. His parents' His parents bore a repute in Cambridge for their honesty and integrity: and that character Gardiner Bishop of Winchester himself gave of them; who, while he lived II. in Cambridge, and resided in Trinity hall there, main- SECT. tained a good acquaintance and friendship with them, as in one of his controversial letters to Cheke he hints; tell- Ann. 1514, ing him, that he had his a education under honest parents, and such as were among the number of the best. SECT. II. His education, proficiency; usefulness at St. John's College. et seq. in St. HE was bred up to learning, and from the grammar Admitted school was admitted into St. John's college in Cambridge. John's. Which, as it communicated good literature and sound religion to him, so he afterwards proved a singular ornament to it. For here he seemed not only to receive the grounds of learning, but also the principles of true religion, and the knowledge and love of the Gospel, which he so closely adhered to, and so heartily professed, and endured so much for afterwards. For this was one of the colleges in that University, which in Cardinal Wolsey's days was noted for reading privately the holy Scriptures and Luther's books, and for their discovering thereby the abuses of religion. In this college, in the middle and latter times of King Henry VIII. many excellently learned persons sprang up, who unveiled and exposed the gross errors and corruptions wherewith the Popes of Rome and their party had imposed upon the Church of Christ. Here were the Levers and the Pilkintons, afterwards exceeding useful preachers under King Edward, and exiles under Queen Mary. Here was Taylor, afterward Bishop of Lincoln, turned out of the House of Lords in Queen Mary's first Parliament, for no reason, whatsoever was pretended, unless for his religion. Here were Roger Ascham, Hutchinson, Raven, Grindal, (tutor to the Lady Elizabeth,) and divers others, who disputed at home, and offered to do so more publicly in the Schools, against the Mass. a Educatus ex parentibus probis atque adeo optimis. Ep. D. Winton. Checo, de Pronunt. СНАР. I. et seq. Made the Cheke so closely plied his studies, that he soon became a scholar of note, and, though but young, arrived to excelAnn. 1534, lent skill in the learned languages. So that the commendation of him, and of his parts and abilities, came to the King, chiefly by the means of Dr. Butts, the King's Physician, who was Cheke's great friend, counsellor, and the encourager of his studies, and whom he called his patron ; and to whom he once wrote a pious letter from Hartford, (where he was with Prince Edward,) upon a fit of sickness. For Cheke being once at Court with Butts, he took occasion to recommend him to the King for a singular scholar, and particularly for his study and proficiency in the Greek tongue. And being thus known to the King, he soon after advanced him to the honour to be his Scholar, together with one b Smith of Queen's college, afterwards sufficiently known, being Secretary of State, and employed in embassies abroad. To both whom the King exhibited for the encouragement of their studies, and for the bearing of their expenses of travel into foreign countries. A very good practice formerly used by our Princes, to fit and train up young scholars for the service of the King and Court, to be Ambassadors, Secretaries, Privy Counsellors, Bishops, Tutors to the nobility, and the like; having learned the languages of other countries, acquainted themselves with their customs, and visited the Courts of Princes. This qualified Cheke to be sent for to the Court, and to have the young Prince Edward committed to his care and charge, as we shall see by and by. Smith and Cheke great And as he and Smith were partners and consorts in the King's favour, so were they constant companions, being both of like age, conditions, studiousness, and pursuing the same methods of good learning. And though there was an emulation between them, who should outdo the other, yet so generous were the tempers of these young men, that it was so far from begetting envy between them, that, on the contrary, it knit them together in the most intimate friendship and endearments, like natural brethren. b Sir Thomas. II. et seq. But this distinguishing favour of the King, and that start SECT. they got in their studies beyond others, kindled a secret hatred and malice against them in the minds of many of Ann. 1540, the rest of the University, and which they more manifestly shewed in that opposition they made to them afterwards, when they attempted the bringing in a more correct way of reading the Greek tongue. college of Cheke in While Mr. Cheke was in the college, what with his St. John's exemplary industry in his own studies, what with his dili- Bourishes gent instruction of the youth under him, St. John's flou- bythe means rished. He directed to a better method of study, and to learning. more substantial and useful learning: so that he was said by one that knew him very well, ❝cto have laid the very "foundations of learning in that college." Under whom, or with whom, were bred Denny, Redman, Bil, Lever, Pilkington, Tong, Ayre, Ascham, Cecil, and others, spread abroad afterwards in Court, and in places of trust and honour both in Church and State. The two last mentioned were his scholars of such a size and magnitude, that they deserve to be mentioned again. Sir William Cecil was one, Cecil, his whom Leland in one of his epigrams to him takes notice pupil. of for this: Candidus erudiit noster te CHECUS amicus, CHECUS Cecropii gloria prima gregis. And one Dixon, a good poet in those times, in certain verses dedicated to him, when he came to speak of his education at Cambridge, thus expressed it: Atque frequentabas tunc numina docta sororum, Sub CHECO humano, doctiloquoque viro. And what an honour must the education of such a man as Cecil derive upon his tutor; that proved afterwards one of the wisest, justest, and most fortunate Statesmen in Europe; and to whose counsels and deliberations, the wonderful and long successes of Queen Elizabeth must, under God, be ⚫ Literarum fundamenta, te authore, in nostro collegio jacta sunt. Ascham. Epist. ii. 45. |