Mitchell on Adams 02

This is the next section from W Fraser Mitchell

In 1615 Adams preached, on Trinity Sunday, at St Giles Without Cripplegate, and later published his sermon with the title The Spirituall Navigator Bound for the Holy Land. Milton’s father was at this period resident in St. Giles parish, and it is therefore possible that the future poet, then seven years of age, may have been present and heard Adams preach. The sermon was from a text from the Apocalypse - Before the throne was a sea of glass like unto crystal (Rev. 4:6). After treating of the various allegorical significances of “the glassy and crystal-like sea,” as expounded by Ambrose, Augustine, Brightman (a contemporary Puritan d 1607), Emmanuel Sa (celebrated Jesuit commentator), Bullinger, and others - the authorities quoted provide a good specimen of the catholicity of Adams’ reading ‘- the preacher proceeded, as Donne in his sermon at The Hague’ four years later, to enumerate the various ways in which the world resembled a sea. Some of the parallels are extremely well drawn, and the whole sermon is not unworthy of comparison with that of Donne, who must have been familiar with it, and may have avoided borrowing or repetition of ideas by a careful reading of the earlier discourse. After the parallels had been exhausted, Adams concluded with a description of the varied activities and innumerable follies of mankind which God, seated on His throne, beholds reflected in the mirror of the glassy sea, and so introduced his first company of characters.
“There runne honour and pride aeqvis ceruicibus. There walkes fraud cheeke by iowle with a Trades-man. There stalkes pride, with the face of a Souldier, but habit of a Courtier; striuing to adde to her owne stature fetherd on the crowne, cork’d at the heeles, light all ouer: stretching her legges, and spreading her wings like the Ostrich, with ostentation of great flight: but nil penna, sed usus; not an inch higher or better. There slugs Idlenesse: both hands are in the bosome, while one foote should be in the stirrop.
“Here halts Opinion lame not with the shortnesse, but length of his legges: one foote too long, that marres the verse. There runnes Policie, and moues more with an Engine, then many men can doe with their hands:
“There slides by the meagre ghost of malice. ... There flye a crew of Oathes, like a flight of dismall Ravens, croking the Plague to the House, where the Swearer is …”
The Heavenly camera obscura continues, presenting still fresh types of human folly, until the Divine Spectator is obviously forgotten, and the original intention of showing men their deformities and so disgusting them with their sins. Each fresh sinner is introduced out of pure love for witty description. The moral descriptio has become the character.
The publication, in the year previous (1614) to The Spirituall Navigator, of the collection of characters which came from the pen of Overbury and his friends had given fresh impetus to what was obviously a current fashion, and probably Adams’ characters as depicted in his sermon were received with applause, or he may have discovered his gift for this kind of description. Certain it is, that before the close of the year he issued a complete set of characters in the manner of Hall and Overbury, under the title of Mysticall Bedlam: Or The World of Mad-Men, dedicated to no less a person than Sir Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere. After a kind of preliminary discourse based upon a piece of restrained wit drawn from grammar and logic, and reminiscent of Donne, with the remark, “Stultorum plena sunt omnia,” Adams proceeds to introduce his madmen or characters, presenting one and another before us that they may make us sport, just as the keepers of Bedlam in his day were accustomed to lead in their charges to provide amusement for visitors. The Epicure is chosen to “leade the ring, as the foote man of this mad Morisco,” and accordingly, in the printed version is introduced, as is each character in turn, under a separate heading.

Works by Thomas Adams

Adams produced around 20 works in his life time. Here is a list of their publication. The Works contain some 66 different pieces.

1. The Gallants Burden 1612 (And 1614, 1616)
2. Heaven and earth reconcil'd 1613
3. The White Devil or The hypocrite uncased 1613 (Twice and 1614, 1615)
4. The Devils Banquet 1614 (Twice)
5. The Black Devil or the apostate (with the wolf worrying the lamb and the spiritual navigator bound for the Holy Land) 1615
6. Englands sickness 1615
7. Mystical bedlam or the vvorld of mad-men 1615
8. A divine herbal together with a forest of thorns 1616
9. Diseases of the soul 1616
10. The sacrifice of thankfulnesse 1616
11. The soldiers honour 1617
12. The happiness of the Church 1618 (And 1619)
13. The White Devil with The Two Sons and The Leaven 1621
14. Eirenopolis: the city of peace 1622
15. The Barren Tree 1623
16. The Temple 1624
17. Three Sermons 1625
18. Five Sermons (The previous 3 plus The Barren Tree and The Temple)
19. The Works 1630
20. Commentary on 2 Peter 1633
21. God's Anger, Man's Comfort 1653

Other Theses

Other theses discovered through Proquest (besides those by Moira Baker and Chares Ernst) are:

1. FLANAGAN, Vincent Cabell
A Survey of the Life and Works of Thomas Adams
(Diss. University of Pennsylvania, 1954)

2. HARRALSON, David Mills
The Sermons of Thomas Adams
(Diss. Kent State University, 1969)

3. HEDGES, James Laurence
Thomas Adams and the Ministry of Moderation

(Diss. University of California, Riverside, 1974)

4. PRIOR, Francis Xavier (1926-2006)
Animal Analogy in the Writings of Thomas Adams
(Diss. St John's University (New York), 1969)

5. WILT, Lloyd Paul
An Edition of the Characters of Thomas Adams
(Diss. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1973)

Also note

PASSARELLA, Lee Joseph
Testimony of God: The Works of Robert Harris, 1654, A Selection and Study

(Diss. University of Pennsylvania, 1986)
This study of Puritan and Westminster Divine Robert Harris (1581-1658) looks at 15 of his sermons and sermon series. Besides a detailed commentary and complete textual notes, the edition is prefaced with a history of the English Puritan sermon, as well as a biography and a study of style and important themes in his works. The sermons are compared with those of Thomas Adams and others - concluding that, like Adams, Harris is a transitional figure in seventeenth-century prose, one who mediates between an earlier, more florid style and the plain style, in its ascendancy during Harris's creative life.

Thesis 02 Ernst

Another thesis found through Proquest is this one

ERNST, Charles Albert Scheuringer

Contextualizing the character: Generic studies of text and canon, rhetoric, style and quantitative analysis in the seventeenth century English prose character.
(Diss. University of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Abstract: The intent of the study is to contextualize the seventeenth-century English prose character as a significant object of critical inquiry through the textual, generic, canonical, rhetorical, and stylistic traditions informing it. Moreover, the first quantitative analysis of the character's structure and (prospectively) of its style aims at a generic "modeling" of the character by the enumerative inventories of descriptive statistics. Chapter One places character studies within contemporary theory and criticism.
Chapter Two considers the economy of texts in publishing records of character books by Joseph Hall, the Overburians, John Stephens, Nicholas Breton, John Earle and Richard Brathwait, and provides an updated survey of scholarship on the character.
Chapter Three clarifies, against the background of type charactery, the "universe" of characters forming the canon of the "charactering" genre by surveying texts from 319 BC (the Theophrastan sketches) to 1710-12, a terminus ad quem accommodating later criticism of the character's style.
Chapter Four shows how type charactery was preserved through rhetorical instruction from classical antiquity to the Renaissance in treatments of epideictic oratory, decorum and figures of characterization and description, culminating in the eventual transmission of character-writing into the English grammar school curriculum by the hitherto unacknowledged influence of Joshua Poole's English Parnassus (1657), along with Ralph Johnson's frequently cited Scholar's Guide (1665).
Chapter Five inscribes the character within the linguistic history and stylistic development of Renaissance England by establishing the "charactering" style as a variant of Baroque prose and, more parochially, of English Senecanism, with attention to the latter's stylistic relation to Euphuism and to the hybrid style of Thomas Adams' characters.
Chapter Six provides the first quantitative study of the character's structure by systematically analyzing six complete textual populations (by Hall, the Overburians, Stephens, Breton, Earle and Brathwait) to obtain a census of numerical data establishing a normative range of values for selected structural components.
Chapter Seven considers the character as a quantitative model of English Senecanism by theorizing the basis for a stylo-statistical profile of character-writing from a numerical census of syntactic variables in complete populations.
Chapter Eight summarizes all findings.

Thesis 01 Baker

At least 8 academic theses have been written on Thomas Adams in the last 40 or 50 years. These are written chiefly within the discipline of an English Literature approach rather than anythuing more strictly theological. I have gleaned this information from ProQuest. The first of these is

BAKER, Moira Phyllis

The Homileic Satires of Thomas Adams

(Diss. University of Notre Dame, 1982)

Abstract: The present study offers a reading of the sermons of Thomas Adams in the light of the theological, homiletic, and literary traditions familiar to him. The purpose of such a reading is to discern Adams' distinctive homiletic mode and to demonstrate how his characteristic manner enables him to work upon the mind and affections of his auditors in order to initiate in them the process of conversion. In so doing, the work advances the thesis that the most characteristic mode in Adams' sermons is satirical as he seeks to rebuke sin and initiate the process of conversion in his auditors. In arguing this thesis, the study attempts to demonstrate how Adams uses satiric structure, the satiric prose character," satiric imagery, and the range of tones available to the satirist in order to advance his auditors along the successive stages of the morphology of conversion as defined by Puritan theologians. The thesis is based on the assumption that the Puritan theology of conversion provided preachers with a psychic model which presents the movement and renewal of the psychological faculties necessary for conversion. The study then proceeds to demonstrate how Adams uses the structure, technique, and style of satire in order to enact, through the experience of the sermon, the process of conversion in the faculties of his auditors.
Chapter 1 provides biographical and bibliographical information on Adams and isolates his central concern with conversion.
Chapter 2 studies the structure of Adams' sermons in light of both the homiletic structures advanced by contemporary ecclesiastical rhetoricians and the structure present in much classical and Renaissance verse satire.
Chapter 3 analyzes Adams' use of the satiric "character," and demonstrates his development of a homiletic "character" which contributes to his preaching of conversion.
Chapter 4 focuses upon Adams' use of satiric imagery.
Chapter 5 demonstrates how Adams uses the curt and loose Senecan styles in order to support his preaching of conversion; the chapter then dwells upon the range of tones found in Adams. The study ends with a discussion of the prophetic voice in Adams as he assimilates satire into prophecy.

Publications 19

Title: God's anger; and, Man's comfort two sermons preached and published by Tho. Adams.

Imprint: London: Printed by Tho. Maxey for Samuel Man at the signe of the Swan in Paul's Church-yard, 1653.

Date: 1653

No. pages: [4], 88 p.

Notes: Annotation on one copy: "Aprill 20".

Copy from: Union Theological Seminary (New York, N. Y.) Library. Also one in British Library. The sermons are prefaced by the poignant page reproduced here (Click for larger image). The texts are Ps 80:4 and Ps 94:19.

Publications 18

Title: A commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written by the blessed apostle St. Peter. By Thomas Adams

Imprint: London: Printed by Richard Badger [and Felix Kyngston] for Iacob Bloome, MDCXXXIII. [1633]

Date: 1633

No. pages: [8], 764, [2], 801-1634, [28] p.

Notes: The second "volume" has separate title page with imprint "London, imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Iacob Bloome, 1633"; pagination recommences at 801 and register at 4A1.; Includes index.; The first leaf and the last leaf are blank.; Running title reads: An exposition upon the second epistle generall of S. Peter.

Copy from: British Library

The commentary has a three page dedication 'To the truly noble and worthily honoured Sir Henry Marten, Knight, Judge of His Majesty's High Court of the Admiralty and Dean of the Arches Court, Canterbury'. This would be Henry Marten (1562-1641).

This large commentary was reprinted in the 19th Century and is currently back in print.

Publications 17

Title: The workes of Tho: Adams Being the summe of his sermons, meditations, and other diuine and morall discourses. Collected and published in one intire volume. VVith additions of some new, and emendations of the old. The titles whereof are placed in the beginning of the booke: and a table of the principall points, in the end.

Imprint: London: Printed by Tho. Harper [and Augustine Mathewes] for Iohn Grismand, and are to be sold at his shop in Iuie Lane, at the signe of the Gunne, 1629[-1630]

Date: 1630

No. pages: [12], 514, 529-920, [2], 921-1068, [2], 1069-1240, [12] p.

Notes: "Mathewes pr[inted]. quires Aaa-Ooooo"; "Fiue sermons preached vpon sundrie especial occasions", and "The souldiers honour" have separate dated title pages with Augustine Mathewes's name in the imprint; "Eirenopolis: the citie of peace" has separate dated title page with imprint "London, printed by Augustine Mathevves for Iohn Grismand, 1630"; pagination and register are continuous.; Includes index.; "Eirenopolis" identified as a previouosly published work.

Copy from: Folger Shakespeare Library. Also in Cambridge University Library

These collected works are the basis for the current three volume Tanski Publication, based itself on the 19th Century edition. They are prefaced by dedications to Pembroke, Manchester and the parishioners of St Benet's as well as an epistle to the candid and ingenious reader.

The Works includes Meditations on some part of the creed at the end. The main principles of Christian religion which follows the Westminster Confession is clealry the work of the later ejected minister of the same name.

Publications 16

Title: Three sermons preached 1. In Whitehall, March 29. being the first Tuesday after the departure of King Iames into blessednesse. 2. In Christs Church, at the trienniall visitation of the right Reuerend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London. 3. In the chappell by Guildhall, at the solemne election of the Right Honourable the Lord Maior of London. By Tho: Adams.

Imprint: London: Printed by Aug. Matthewes, and Iohn Norton, 1625.

Date: 1625

No. pages: [4], 79, [1] p.

Notes: "A sermon preached at the trienniall visitation of the Right Reuerend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of London, in Christ-Church" and "The holy choice" each have separate dated title page, the former on E2v; pagination and register are continuous.; "The holy choice" identified as also elsewhere.

Copy from: Folger Shakespeare Library

The works are preceded by a two page dedication 'To the right honourable and truly noble Lord, William, Earl Pembroke' (William Herbert). The texts are Job 42:6; Acts 15:36 and Acts 1:24. In 1625 the Mayor of London was Allan Cotton and the Bishop of London was George Monteigne.

These three sermons appeared the following year along with two earlier ones in a collection of 'Five sermons'.

Henry Carey

Adams dedicated The Temple A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse the fifth of August. 1624 to Henry Car(e)y, first Baron Hunsdon (1526-1596). He was an English nobleman and the son of Sir William Carey, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII, and Mary Boleyn. Lady Mary Carey was mistress to Henry from around 1520. Popular legend states that Henry was an illegitimate child of the king. Some 10 years after the child was born, John Hales, vicar of Isleworth, remarked that he had met a 'young Master Carey,' whom some monks believed to be the king's bastard. The idea that Carey was Henry's secret son has spawned several Tudor legends, even becoming a central part of modern fiction. However, there is firm contemporary evidence that Henry Carey was not born until 1526 - by which time the affair is believed to have ended. Carey's father died suddenly in 1528, when Henry was only two. Some say his mother was deemed unable to raise him due to her impulsive nature and financial troubles. Consequently, he came under the guardianship of his maternal aunt Anne Boleyn, engaged to Henry at the time. The child still had active contact with his mother, who remained on good terms with her sister, until her secret elopement with a soldier, William Stafford (later Lord of Chebsey) in 1535. Anne acted as her nephew's patron and provided him with a top-quality education in a prestigious Cistercian Monastery. He was also known to be tutored at some point by French poet Nicholas Bourbon, whose life had been saved from the French Inquisition after Anne's intervention. Many historians speculate that Henry's mother, Mary, wasn't financially unstable or a bad mother, but that her sister Anne adopted Henry in order to make herself more appealing to the king. Henry's royal aunt was beheaded in 1536 on charges of treason, incest, adultery and witchcraft. His mother died 1543 on her estate in Essex. In 1545 Henry himself married Ann Morgan (d 1607), daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan, of Arkestone, Herefordshire, and Anne Whitney. They had nine sons. He served twice as an MP, representing Buckingham 1547-1552, 1554/55. He was knighted 1558 and made Baron by his first cousin Elizabeth I 1559. His sister, Catherine, was one of Elizabeth's favourite ladies-in-waiting and the Queen was very generous to her Boleyn relatives. His Baronial estate consisted of the manors of Hunsdon and Eastwick, Hertfordshire and possessions in Kent. He was also granted an annual pension of £400. In 1560 he was appointed Master of the Queen's Hawks. In 1561 he also became a Knight of the Garter. He seems to have gained some favour with his cousin as she appointed him Captain of the Gentleman Pensioners 1564; a position making him effectively her personal bodyguard. He seems to have served four years. In 1568 he was appointed Governor of Berwick-on-Tweed and Lord Warden of the Eastern March. The year 1569 was the beginning of the Northern Rebellion, a major uprising was instigated by Thomas Howard (Duke of Norfolk), Charles Neville (Earl of Westmorland) and Thomas Percy (Earl of Northumberland). The rebellion was expecting the support of Pope Pius V. Henry was appointed Lieutenant General of forces loyal to the Queen. His February victory over Sir Leonard Dacre was instrumental in crushing the rebellion. A number of the rebels crossed the borders to Scotland but were there targeted by the forces of the Scottish Regent. The victorious Henry was appointed Warden of the East Marches and represented the Queen in signing a treaty with the Regent 1571. In 1574 he became Keeper of Somerset House, the property of the Queen before ascending the throne. He was then named privy Counsellor 1577. During the 1580s Hunsdon's role at court grew steadily. In 1581 he was made Captain General of the forces responsible for the safety of English borders. He was appointed Lord Chamberlain of the household, 1585, a position he held until his death. This did not prevent Elizabeth from appointing him Lord Chamberlain Lieutenant, Principal Captain and Governor of the army for the defence and surety of our own Royal Person in 1588 at Tilbury. Henry was a blunt, plain-spoken man with little tact, which often worked to his disadvantage at Court. However, his character and reputation as a successful military leader gained him the respect - and often the affection - of the soldiers who served under him. He also served as Chief Justice in Eyre, south of the Trent from 1589. He was Joint Commissioner of the Office Earl Marshal and High Steward of Ipswich and Doncaster. He served as Chief Justice of the Royal Forces between from 1591. In 1592 he was appointed High Steward of Oxford for life. He died at Somerset house and was buried at Westminster Abbey. On his deathbed his cousin Elizabeth I offered to create him Earl of Wiltshire; however, he refused. Two sons succeeded him,. George and then John.

Publications 15

Title: The temple A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse the fifth of August. 1624. By Tho. Adams.

Imprint: London: Printed by A. Mathewes for Iohn Grismand, and are to bee sold at his shop in Pauls Alley at the signe of the Gunne, 1624.

Date: 1624

No. pages: [4], 68 p.

Notes: Also issued as part of: Five sermons preached upon sundry especiall occasions: London, 1626.

Copy from: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery

The work is preceded by a two page dedication 'To the right honorable Sir Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, Viscount Rochford'. Henry Carey lived 1526–1596. He was a courtier and administrator. The text is 2 Cor 6:16.

John Donne

John Donne (1572-1631) is remembered as a Jacobean poet and preacher, representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works, notable for their realistic and sensual style, include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and immediacy of metaphor, compared with that of his contemporaries. Donne came from a loyal Romanist family, and so experienced persecution until his converison to Anglicanism. Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in poverty several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican priest and in 1621 Dean of St Paul's. Some scholars believe his literary works reflect these trends, with love poetry adn satires from his youth, and religious sermons from his later years. Other scholars, such as Helen Gardner, question the validity of dating when most of his poems were published posthumously (1633). The exception to these is his Anniversaries (published 1612) and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1623). His sermons are also dated, sometimes quite specifically, by year and date. He was born in London, the third of six children. His father, of Welsh descent, was a warden of the ironmonger's Company in the City of London and a respected Romanist who avoided unwelcome government attention, out of fear of being persecuted. John Donne Sr. died in 1576, leaving his wife, Elizabeth Heywood, the responsibility of raising their children. She was also from a noted Catholic family and was daughter to John Heywood, the playwright; sister of Jasper, translator and Jesuit; a great-niece of Thomas More. Despite obvious dangers, Donne was educated by Jesuits. Donne's mother remarried to a wealthy widower, shortly after her first husband's death. In 1577 his sister Elizabeth died, followed by two more sisters, Mary and Katherine, in 1581. Before he was 10 then he had experienced the deaths of four immediate family members. he went on to study at Hart Hall (Hertford College), Oxford, when 11. After three years at Oxford he went to Cambridge, where he studied another three years. He was unable to obtain a degree from either institution because he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy. In 1591, he was accepted as a student at Thaives Inn. In 1592 he went on to Lincoln's Inn. His brother Henry was also a university student prior to his arrest (1591) for harbouring a priest. Henry died in prison of bubonic plague, leading John to begin questioning his Catholic faith. During and after his education, he spent much of his considerable inheritance on women, literature, pastimes and travel. Although there is no record detailing precisely where he travelled, it is known that he visited the Continent and later fought with the Earl of Essex adn Raleigh at Cadiz (1596) and in the Azores (1597). He witnessed the loss of the Spanish flagship and her crew. According to Izaak Walton's biography (1640) he spent time in Italy then Spain learning their languages and culture. By the age of 25 he was well prepared for the diplomatic career he appeared to be seeking. He was appointed chief secretary to Egerton, and was established at the latter's London home, near Whitehall. During the next four years he fell in love with Egerton's 17 (or younger) year old niece, Anne More, and they were secretly married (1601) against the wishes of both Egerton and her father, George More, Lieutenant of the Tower. This ruined his career and earned him a short stay in the Fleet. Walton tells us that when he wrote to his wife to tell her about losing his post, he wrote after his name: John Donne, Anne Donne, Un-done. It was not until 1609 that Donne was reconciled with his father-in-law and received his wife's dowry. Following his release, Donne had to accept a retired country life in Pyrford, Surrey. Over the next few years he scraped a meagre living as a lawyer, depending on his wife’s cousin Sir Francis Wolly to house him and his family. Since Anne had a baby almost every year, this was a very generous gesture. Though he practiced law and worked as an assistant pamphleteer to Thomas Morton, he was in a state of constant financial insecurity, with a growing family to provide for. Before her death, Anne bore him 11 children (including still births). The nine living were named Constance, John, George, Francis, Lucy (after Donne's patroness Lucy, Countess of Bedford, her godmother), Bridget, Mary, Nicholas and Margaret. Francis and Mary died before they were 10. In a state of despair, Donne noted that the death of a child would mean one less mouth to feed, but he could not afford the burial expenses. During this time Donne wrote, but did not publish, Biathanatos, his daring defence of suicide. Because love-poetry was very fashionable at that time, there are different opinions about whether the passionate love poems Donne wrote are addressed to his wife Anne, but it seems likely. She spent most of her married life either pregnant or nursing, so they evidently had a strong physical relationship. In 1617 she died five days after giving birth to a still-born baby, their eleventh child in 16 years. Donne mourned her deeply and never remarried. This was quite unusual for the time, especially as he had a large family to bring up. He became MP for Brackley, 1602. He struggled to provide for his family, relying heavily upon rich friends. The fashion for coterie poetry of the period gave him a means to seek patronage and many of his poems were written for wealthy friends or patrons, especially Sir Robert Drury, who came to be Donne's chief patron 1610. It was for Sir Robert that Donne wrote the two Anniversaries, An Anatomy of the World (1611) and Of the Progress of the Soul (1612). While historians are not certain as to the precise reasons for which Donne left Romanism he was certainly in communication with King James and in 1610 and 1611 he wrote two anti-Catholic polemics: Pseudo-Martyr and Ignatius his Conclave. Although James was pleased with Donne's work, he refused to reinstate him at court and instead urged him to take holy orders. Although at first reluctant due to feeling unworthy of a clerical career, he finally acceded and was ordained into the Anglican Church in 1615. He soon became a Royal Chaplain, Reader of Divinty at Lincoln's Inn (1616) and received a DD from Cambridge (1618). Later that year he became the chaplain for the Viscount of Doncaster, who was on an embassy to the princes of Germany. He did not return until 1620. In 1621 he was made Dean of St Paul's, a leading (and well-paid) position, one he held until his death. During his period as Dean his daughter Lucy died, aged 18. In 1624 he became vicar of St Dunstan's in the West and (1625) a Royal Chaplain to Charles. He earned a reputation as an impressive, eloquent preacher and 160 of his sermons have survived, including the famous Death’s Duel sermon delivered at the Palace of Whitehall before Charles (1631). He died in 1631 having never published a poem in his lifetime but having left a body of work that fiercely engaged with the emotional and intellectual conflicts of his age. He is buried in St Paul's, where a memorial statue of him was erected (carved from a drawing of him in his shroud), with a Latin epigraph probably composed by himself.

Publications 14

Title: The barren tree a sermon preached at Pauls crosse October 26. 1623 by Tho. Adams. Imprint: London: Printed by Aug. Matheuues for Iohn Grismand, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Alley, at the signe of the Gunne, 1623. Date: 1623 Pages: [6], 56 p. Notes: Signatures: A4(-A1) B-H4. Reissued as pt. 2 of Five Sermons in 1526.

Copy from: Union Theological Seminary Library (New York, N.Y.) and Cambridge University Library. The work is preceded by a short dedication 'To the reverend and learned Doctor Donne, Dean of St Paul's, together with the Prebend-residentiaires of the same church, my very good patrons' also two pages 'To the reader'. John Donne (1572-1631) is known to as one of the greatest of the metaphysical poets.

The text is Luke 13:7.

Godly Fear

I found this extract from Adams over on Puritanism Today here. It is taken from Day by day with the English Puritans (p 266) edited by Randall Pederson. See here.

“We must not only love our good God; we must fear our great Lord. It is objected to this, that “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). It is answered that fear brings in perfect love, as the needle draws the thread. And it is not possible that true love should be without good fear; that is, a filial reverence. For slavish fear, be it as far from your hearts, as it shall be from my discourse. Now this fear is a most due and proper affection, and (I may say) the fittest of all to be towards God. Indeed God requires our love. But we must think that then God stoops low, and bows down to be loved by us. For there is such an infinite inequality between God and us, that without his sweet descending to us, there could be no fitness of this affection. But if we look up to that infinite glory of our great Lord, and we look down on the vileness of ourselves, sinful dust, and we will say that by reason of the disproportion between us, there is nothing so suitable to give so high a God, as fear.”

Publications 13

Title: Eirenopolis: the citie of peace Surueyed and commended to all Christians. By Tho. Adams.

Imprint: London: Printed by Aug. Matthewes for Iohn Grismand, and are to bee sold at his shop in Pauls Alley at the signe of the Gunne, 1622.

Date: 1622

No. pages: [6], 184 p.

Notes: Running title reads: The citie of peace.

Copy from: Bodleian Library

The brief introduction is to all who love peace and truth.

St Benet Sherehog

From 1619 Adams was responsible not only for St Benet, Paul's Wharf but also another small church, St Benet Sherehog, a medieval church built before 1111. It was situated at 1 Poultry in Cordwainer Ward (Bucklesbury EC4) in the then wool-dealing district of the City of London (a shere hog is a castrated ram after first-shearing). It was one of the 86 churches destroyed in the Great Fire and was not rebuilt. The parish was united to St Stephen Walbrook in 1670 but continued to be represented by its own churchwarden. Some of its parish records survive and have been collated. Known as the “Lost Church of St Benet” it was excavated 1994-1996 before the current office block was erected.

St Gregory's

From 1618-1623 Adams was preacher or lecturer at St Gregory's, known as St Gregory By [St] Paul's. It was situated near St Paul's EC4. First mentioned in 1010, it stood at the south-west corner of the cathedral. Repaired and beautified 1631-2, it was partly demolished by Inigo Jones in 1641 to make way for new portico but restored by him by order of the House of Lords. It was destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt.

(The parish was united with St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street in 1670, St Martin Ludgate in 1890 and St Sepulchre, Holborn in 1954). See here.

Henry Montagu

Henry Montagu, (c 1564–1642) was the first earl of Manchester, a judge and government official, born
in Boughton, Northamptonshire, and third surviving son of Sir Edward Montagu (c.1532–1602) . His grandfather Sir Edward Montagu was chief justice of king's bench and a governor to Edward VI. Henry was intended for the law, and after matriculating at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1583 entered the Middle Temple in 1585. He was called to the bar in 1592, and was elected autumn reader at the Middle Temple, 1606. He was elected recorder of London and knighted (1603). His relations with the new king were usually sound, though James received ‘less satisfaction than wee expected’ from the firmly Calvinist Montagu's response to an urgent request to tighten regulation in London against recusants (1605). In 1616 was made Chief Justice of the King’s Bench (following Coke) in which office it fell to him to pass sentence on Sir Walter Raleigh (1618). He was appointed Lord High Treasurer (1620), being raised to the peerage as Baron Montagu of Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, and Viscount Mandeville. He became President of the Council (1621), in which office he was continued by Charles I, who created him first Earl of Manchester (1626). In 1628 he became Lord Privy Seal and in 1635 a commissioner of the treasury. Although from the beginning of his public life (1601), when he first entered parliament, Manchester had inclined to the popular side in politics, be managed to retain to the end the favour of the king. He was a judge of the Star Chamber, and one of the most trusted councillors of Charles I. His loyalty, ability and honesty were warmly praised by Clarendon. In conjunction with Coventry, the lord keeper, he pronounced an opinion in favour of the legality of ship-money (1634). At heart Manchester was always an administrator, more concerned with dispensing justice, enforcing statute law and quickening the machinery of government than with the play of court politics. In his unspectacular way, he became a pillar of the privy council. Remarkably, between 1620 and 1641 he attended four in every five of its routine meetings as well as others concerned with policy, served on the bench in Star Chamber and attended its standing committees for trade and plantations and, briefly, for Ireland (1623-5). Like other councillors of firmly protestant inclinations he welcomed the final collapse in 1634 of any prospect of a Spanish subsidy for Charles's growing English fleet, and helped Coventry and Coke in managing the preliminaries to levying ship money each year during the remainder of the personal rule. Always a moderate, he had little time for factious activity. Unlike Coventry and Laud he did not encourage the use of the forest courts to harass Lord Treasurer Portland (1634) and had earlier viewed the revival of the forest laws as being entirely in the interests of law and order, whereas his country brother Edward sensed a money-making exercise. His son Wat's conversion to Rome (1635) hit him hard, particularly when he realised that before Wat's letter reached him several copies were not only in circulation but, to his embarrassment, already in use as Catholic propaganda. Even so, he was determined to receive the news in silence, hurt as he was that Wat had failed to consult. Seven months later he felt impelled to respond 'lest those of your new profession should think, as some of them say, that a new lapsarian was more able by a few day's discipline to oppose our religion than an old father and a long professor was able to defend it'. He set out in detail the fundamentals of his protestant faith, grounded in Christ and renouncing ‘all men alike as inventors of our religion’, among them Luther, to whom Wat had particularly objected, and maintaining ‘only the apostolical doctrine of the ancient primitive and catholic Church’. He would not abandon Wat, but wanted him to return to the Church of England of his own accord. Before the end of 1636, however, he had become so depressed that the Countess of Leicester reported him ‘drunke everie Meall’. One of his rare absences from the council table was in 1637 when, in the king's presence, Laud bluntly attacked Catholic influence at court, evident in the recent wave of conversions among courtiers around the queen and exemplified by the pernicious influence of, among others, Wat Montagu. He was married three times. First (1601) to Catherine, daughter of Sir William Spencer of Yarnton, Oxfordshire (d 1612). They had four sons (Edward, Walter, James and Henry) and two daughters. He married (c 1613) next Anne, daughter of William Wincot of Langham, Suffolk, widow of Sir Leonard Haliday, Lord Mayor of London 1605–6. She died childless (c 1618) his nthrid wife (1620) was Margaret (d 1653), daughter of John Crouch, Corneybury in Layston, Hertfordshire, widow of Allen Elvine, a London bookseller and John Hare, clerk of the court of wards. They had two sons (George and Sidney) and at least one daughter. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward, Viscount Mandeville. He had spent heavily in establishing his station in life, without entirely realising the promise of earlier years, and died a man of respectable, rather than abundant, means. After disposing of his landed estate in Huntingdonshire and London among his older children, he was able to provide almost £5K pa for his widow and younger sons, with gifts of £2K to each of his two granddaughters. He fretted that it was not more. As his will shows, he never forgot what he regarded as his underprivileged beginnings as a younger brother, and seemed determined his children should not do so either. As late as 1616 his nose had reportedly been set ‘somewhat awrie’ by news that eldest brother, Edward, had at last got a male heir; and, in Clarendon's opinion, he came to care too much about advancing his fortune ‘by all ways which offered themselves’. Nevertheless, with ‘a faire portion of God's blessing’ on his labours, and ‘never gain[ing] anything by corruption, cavillation or oppression’, Montagu had prospered sufficiently by 1642 to show those of his posterity who cared to heed his words what might be achieved by conscientious service to king and country.

Publications 12

Title: The happines of the Church. Or, a description of those spirituall prerogatiues vvherewith Christ hath endowed her Considered in some contemplations upon part of the 12. chapter to the Hebrewes. Together with certain other meditations and discourses ... Being the summe of diuerse sermons preached in S. Gregories London: by Thomas Adams, preacher there. 2 Cor 12:15 I will gladly, etc.
Imprint: London: Printed by G. P[urslowe] for Iohn Grismand, and are to be sold at his shop neere vnto the little north dore of Saint Pauls, at the signe of the Gun, 1618.
Date: 1618
Pages: [10], 326, 329-443, [3], 35, 35-51, 51-237, 239-375 p.
Notes: Gathering M wrongly imposed. Another state has imprint date 1619 and gathering M correctly imposed (though itself with some errors in paging). "The saints meeting, or progresse to glory" begins with new pagination.
Copy from: Cambridge University Library
The work was preceded by a two page dedication, again 'To the right honorable Sir Henrie Mountague, the Lord Chief Justice of England' and a three page dedication 'To the worthy citizens of Saint Gregory's Parish, sincere lovers of the gospel' and a contents page listing some 26 sermons with texts.

Publications 11

Title: The souldiers honour Wherein by diuers inferences and gradations it is euinced, that the profession is iust, necessarie, and honourable: to be practised of some men, praised of all men. Together with a short admonition concerning munition, to this honour'd citie. Preached to the worthy companie of gentlemen, that exercise in the artillerie garden: and now on their second request, published to further vse. By Tho. Adams. Ex 15:3 The Lord is a man of war. Imprint: London: Printed by Adam Islip and Edward Blount, and are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the blacke Beare, 1617. Date: 1617 Pages: [12], 33, [1] p. Notes: With an initial blank.

Copy from: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery

The work is preceded by a seven page introduction dedicated to 'To the well deserving Captain Edward Panton, the captains and truly generous gentlemen, citizens of London, of the society of arms practicing in the artillery garden.' Panton was the first captain of the Honourable Artillery Company given a royal charter in 1537 but going back as far as 1296. Based on the Old Artillery Ground in Spitalfields until 1538-1658, it then moved to a place just south of Bunhill Fields. Still in existence today it is the British Army's oldest regiment.

Publications 10

Title: The sacrifice of thankefulnesse A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, the third of December, being the first Aduentuall Sunday, anno 1615. By Tho. Adams. Latin quote from Bernard on Canticles (Song of Solomon). Whereunto are annexed fiue other of his sermons preached in London, and else-where; neuer before printed.

Imprint: London: Printed by Thomas Purfoot, for Clement Knight, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard, at the signe of the Holy Lambe, 1616.

Date: 1616
No. pages: [4], 94, 93-103, [1]; [2], 25, [1]; [2], 45, [1] p.

Notes: "Politicke hunting, or, a discouerie of the cunning Esauites of our times" and "Christ his starre: or, the wise-mens oblation" have caption titles; "Plaine-dealing, or, a precedent of honestie" and "The three diuine sisters" each have separate dated title page and begin new pagination and register; "The taming of the tongue" has separate dated title page but pagination and register are continuous.

Copy from: Cambridge University Library

The work is preceded by a brief dedication 'to the right worshipful, Sir Henry Mountague Knight, the King's majesty's serjeant for the law and recorder of the honourable City of London'. Montagu lived c1563-1642 and was the first Earl of Manchester. The first sermon is on Psalm 118:27. Despite the illustration from early in the book, the sermon on Gen 25:27 comes before that on Mt 2:11.

Publications 09

Title: Diseases of the soule a discourse diuine, morall, and physicall. By Tho. Adams. Quote from Seneca. Imprint: London: Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge, and are to be sold at the great south-dore of Paules, and at Brittaines Bursse, 1616. Date: 1616 No. pages: [8], 74 p. Copy from: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery The work is preceded by a two page dedication (appropriately) 'to the truly judicious, and worthily eminent in his profession, Mr William Randolph, Doctor of physic. There is a also a one page epistle 'to the reader'. Some 19 diseases are identified in the work.

Publications 08

Title: A divine herball together with a forrest of thornes In five sermons By Tho. Adams. Isa 55:11 My word, etc and a quote from Augustine on the blessing of Isaac and Jacob. Imprint: London: Printed by George Purslowe, for Iohn Budge, and are to be solde at his shop, at the great south-dore of Pauls, and at Brittaines Burse, 1616. Date: 1616 No. pages: [8], 157, [3] p. Notes: The first leaf and last leaf are blank; "A divine herball, or, the prayse of fertility. The second sermon"; "The garden or, a contemplation of the herbes. The third sermon"; "The forrest of thornes. The fourth sermon"; "The end of thornes. The fift sermon" each has separately dated title page; pagination and register are continuous. Copy from: Emmanuel College (University of Cambridge) Library The work is preceded by a two page dedication 'to the right honorable, William Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain of his majesty's household and one of his majesty's most honorable privy council and knight of the most noble order of the garter' plus five brief poetic encomiums by WB, RS, W[illiam] R[andolph] (Dr of Physic), I Stokes and Cecinit The Parny. Pembroke is William Herbert who lived 1580-1630. He founded Pembroke College and was a patron of Shakespeare.

Thomas Egerton 02

Continued

Politics etc
Even during Elizabeth's reign, he was as much statesman as judge - a confidential adviser on domestic and foreign policy, close to the Cecils but with an independence the Queen valued, and one employed on diplomatic negotiations. He was one of few privy councillors (from 96) to witness the scene (1598), when Essex insulted the queen and she boxed his ears.
Under James he became still more valued and - though willing to raise questions - increasingly aligned himself with James's absolutist conceptions of monarchy. In addressing the judges (04) he declared that ‘the king's majesty, as it were inheritable and descended from God, hath absolute monarchical power annexed inseparably to his crown and diadem, not by common law nor statute law, but more anciently than either of them’. His views on the constitution were expounded at length in his celebrated judgment in Calvin's Case (08) determining that persons born in Scotland after James's accession were not aliens in England. The four hour speech was published 1609. He did not regard the king as being above the law and recognised the importance of a balance of power, but his increasingly elevated position in the state placed an ever growing distance between his political thinking and that of his old profession, and he seemed unable or unwilling to understand concerns shared by many lawyer MPs and judges, at what they saw as growing absolutism.
He was at odds with the judiciary on several occasions (from 04) when they opposed the king's project of a legal union between England and Scotland. He fell out with them over the use of writs of prohibition, mandamus and certiorari, which he thought were being issued too lightly and without proper supervision. Prohibitions, in particular, were depriving the ecclesiastical courts of their tithe jurisdiction, and (09) the judges were hauled before the privy council to explain themselves. Worst of all, king's bench was assuming a power of judicial review over governmental activities. Ellesmere was angry that Coke and others had taken to reviewing the activities of municipal corporations, provincial councils and even the high commission, ‘as if the King's Bench had a superintendency over the government itself’. However, the principal clash came over his claim to be able to reopen cases which had proceeded to judgment at common law, long held to be illegal (in 98 the judges in the exchequer chamber confirmed this latter position). He resumed the practice of issuing decrees after judgment under the justification that his jurisdiction was concerned not with the judgment but with the conscience of the parties. In 1615 Coke released on habeas corpus a number of prisoners committed by him in such cases.
One of the parties released, a rogue called Glanville, embarked on the foolhardy course of trying to secure an indictment upon the Statute of Praemunire not only against his opponent but also against Ellesmere himself. He made a strong complaint to James and had the matter referred to the privy council and king's counsel (particularly Bacon), with a view to disgracing Coke. In this connection he compiled (doubtless with Bacon's help) A Breviate or Direction for the King's Learned Counsel, defending his disputed jurisdiction. In 1616 the King, primed by Ellesmere and Bacon, pronounced in favour of chancery. Coke (a nuisance to the government in several respects) was thrice called before privy council, suspended and ordered to revise some supposed defects in his reports as set out in writing by Ellesmere. Timothy Tourneur, a young barrister, saw these proceedings as symbolic of a new form of tyranny for which Ellesmere was largely to blame.
Coke perceived the threat to the rule of law even earlier. Since around 09 he had been noting ‘dangerous and absurd opinions affirmed before the king’ by Ellesmere. By 1616 he had 18. Coke said Ellesmere had told James he could decide cases in person without consulting the judges, a matter on which Coke had engaged in a famous altercation with the king. Coke was especially exercised over the new practice - engineered by Bacon and Ellesmere - of summoning judges before the privy council to answer for decisions, which were openly reproved by the law officers. The result drove a wedge between the king and his judges. When Ellesmere was asked to stand with the judges on these occasions, ‘his continual answer was that he would not lie in the gap for any man’. These were serious accusations, but Coke was out of favour so was ignored. Later (16) to the profession's horror, he was peremptorily dismissed from office. Ellesmere dragged himself from his sickbed to swear in a successor, and delivered an ungracious speech warning him not to imitate his predecessor, listing his faults in detail. The Stuart form of government was set on a disastrous course.

Last years, 1610–1617
His last years were rendered miserable by affairs of state, his wife and illness (gout and the stone and perhaps dementia). He was fond of fresh air, moderate country living and a healthy diet, and many believed him apt to feign illness to escape duties. He petitioned the king several times to be allowed to resign, though it was widely thought that he clung to office unaware of his growing incompetence. Having begun life in circumstances then considered ignoble, he was always covetous of rewards and dignities, and finally set his heart on an earldom.
Late in 1616, already in failing health, he was made Viscount Brackley (‘Break-Law’ some mispronounced it ). Early in 1617 he was allowed to retire, temporarily, with the promise of an earldom. In March 1617 he surrendered the great seal and died at York House, his London home, shortly after. He was buried at Dodleston, Cheshire, his principal seat since the 80s.
In 1610 he had prepared some ‘notes and remembrances’ for peace between his wife and son and (15) made his last will, ‘finding no true comfort nor contentment in this miserable life, but feeling the mighty hand of God in many grievous afflictions both in body and in mind’. His ‘loving wife’, who was left her jointure and paraphernalia but nothing else, contested the will unsuccessfully. Most of the considerable fortune (est £12K pa) went, after provision for his daughters, to his only surviving son. Sir John gained the viscountcy and soon after the earldom promised his father.
Panegyrics written in his lifetime (eg Jonson) can hardly be considered objective. It was widely agreed that he was deeply learned in the law and wise in judgement, eloquent in speech and with a pleasing voice. He liked to coin a nice phrase but did not waste words. According to an admirer ‘the grave chancellor Ellesmere, affecting matter rather than affectation of words, tied the same to laconical brevity’. Many of his aphorisms have been preserved, in addition to set speeches. On the other hand, in his later years virtues were offset by defects. John Chamberlain wrote, on hearing of his death, that he ‘left but an indifferent name, being accounted too sour, severe, and implacable, an enemy to parliaments and the common law, only to maintain his own greatness and the exorbitant jurisdiction of his court of Chancery’. Judge Richard Hutton wrote similarly in his diary of 'a man of great and profound judgment, an eloquent speaker, and yet in his later times he became more choleric and opposed the jurisdiction of the common law and enlarged the jurisdiction of the Chancery, and in many things he derogated from the common law and the judges.' Tourneur, while praising his judgement and voice, said he was the bane of the law; yet not for any hate he bare it, but for the love he bare to his own honour to greaten himself by the fall of others.
Nor were his judicial endeavours appreciated as highly as in Elizabeth's reign. Overwork and decrepitude combined to leave an enormous backlog of undecided cases. The office of Lord Chancellor was undoubtedly too much for one man but he had abandoned earlier attempts to improve chancery, and in furthering James's absolutist tendencies for his own aggrandisement had apparently forfeited his profession's general esteem.
(Based on ODNB)

Thomas Egerton 01

Thomas Egerton, first Viscount Brackley (1540–1617), Lord Chancellor, illegitimate son of Sir Richard Egerton, landowner, of Ridley, Cheshire, and servant girl Alice Sparke Sir Richard Egerton's grandson (he claimed descent from Robert Fitzhugh, Baron of Malpas in William I's time. One of several illegitimate siblings, he was raised up in the household of Thomas Ravenscroft (d c 1553), Bretton, Flint.

Early career, 1556–1581

He entered Brasenose, Oxford (1556) and Lincoln's Inn (1560)where he was caught up in a notorious Catholic circle. He escaped censure from Star Chamber (69) by producing a certificate of conformity (others were imprisoned) but his call to the bar was postponed (until 72). It was a time of intense study. By 76 he was sufficiently established to marry his stepfather's youngest, Elizabeth (d 1588), mother of Sir John, first Earl Bridgwater (1579-1549) and Sir Thomas (1574–1599). In 79 he became a bencher of his inn and (82) delivered the Lent reading. A good practice was established with patronage from several prominent people.

Solicitor-general and attorney-general, 1581–1596

Private practice continued but was increasingly submerged by public duties. In 81 he was appointed solicitor-general, at Elizabeth I's insistence it seems. In 82 he was elected recorder of Lichfield. In 84 and 86 he was MP for Cheshire then Reading (89). As a law officer of the crown in the 80s he necessarily laid aside youthful sympathy for Catholicism and became heavily involved in prosecuting recusants and Jesuits (Vaux, Campion, Percy [Northumberland], Mary, Queen of Scots and the Babington conspirators, Howard [Arundel], Perrot).

He became in course of time a Calvinist, implacably imposed to ‘the devilish doctrine of Rome’. However (88ff) he called for a distinction between the simple led by error - pity not punishment - and others dangerous, wilful and seditious. Many thought him ‘an arrant hypocrite and deep dissembler’ though his ability and judgement were widely recognised. He became a particular friend in the 90s to young Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

Already by 92 he was seen as a possible Lord Keeper but was first Attorney-general. In 94, already the most important member of the Queen's council in the Welsh marches (from 86), he was made Chamberlain of Chester, knighted and made Master of the rolls. He began with typical zeal, immediately seeking to restore certain prerogatives (eg recovering possession of the Rolls Chapel, obtaining annulment of earlier reversionary grants of offices in his gift). He was less successful fighting off other interferences with his patronage (eg he failed to bring public records at the Tower of London under his control). His efforts were largely self-interested but as head of the chancery administration was concerned at growing court interference with his department for reasons of financial gain.

Lord keeper, 1596–1617

In 1596, he became Lord Keeper, (again Elizabeth's personal choice) being allowed to retain the rolls until the Queen chose a successor - which she never did. Not fully welcomed by the Cecils, there was no serious competitor and general reaction was favourable. The unprecedented conjunction of offices did little for dispatch of business but put him in a unique position to reform chancery. He took opportunity to improve procedure and efficiency. It is generally supposed that his best work was in the 90s, though he was too conservative and too touchy about his own sources of income for very radical reform.

In 1597 he married second wife Elizabeth (d 1600), daughter of Sir William and Margaret More of Loseley, Surrey, widow of Sir John Wolley and Richard Polsted. She died 1603, shortly after the death of his eldest son (wounded serving in Ireland with Essex). He suffered the further blow of a personal betrayal by the earl, whom he had befriended in his troubles. His third wife was Alice Spencer (1559-1637), daughter of Sir John and Katherine Spencer, Althorp, Northampton, widow of Stanley, Earl of Derby. The marriage brought further wealth but no happiness. A prominent court lady and cultured patron of literature, the beautiful, wealthy dowager countess seemed a good match (she had extensive property secured by chancery decree) but was haughty, profligate, greedy, ill-tempered. He writes of ‘tempests and storms’ in this marriage wearing him down (1610).

On James I's accession, he was briefly reappointed Lord Keeper and made Baron Ellesmere (with a large estate), but relinquished the rolls. That same year he was made Lord Chancellor. He presided over chancery and Star Chamber another 14 years and conducted a number of state trials, (eg Raleigh, gunpowder plotters, Carr [Somerset]). In his judicial roles he did not always maintain proper independence. Coke said he ‘told the king that he as chancellor was keeper of the king's conscience and therefore whatsoever the king directed in any case he would decree accordingly’. His manner of dispensing justice in ordinary cases, though, at least earlier on, impressed the profession. During his time the first specialist reports of chancery cases were preserved, also the first extensive Star Chamber reports.

He encouraged favourites at the bar, especially Bacon who worked with him on matters of state and eventually succeeded him. He could be very sharp with lesser practitioners who exceeded their duty and once promised to ‘abolish and extirpate all solicitors ... caterpillars of the common weal’. He was even sharper with criminal defendants, being fond of telling them that punishments ought to be heavier than the law permitted.

To be continued (based on ONDB)

Publications 07

Title: Mystical bedlam, or the vvorld of mad-men. By Tho: Adams 2 Tim 3:9 Their madness shall be manifest, etc. and a quote from Augustine on the Trinity

Imprint: London: Printed by George Purslowe for Clement Knight, and are to be sold at his shoppe in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Holy Lambe, 1615.

Date: 1615

No. pages: [6], 82 p.

Notes: Sermons; Running title reads: Mysticall bedlam, the world of mad-men.

Copy from: Cambridge University Library

The two sermons are on Ecclesiastes 9:3 and are preceded by a four page dedication 'To the right honourable Sir Thomas Egerton, Knight, Baron of Ellesmere, Lord High Chancellor of England, one of his majesty's right hon privy council, the true pattern of virtue and patron of good learning.' Egerton lived 1540-1617.

Publications 06

Title: Englands sicknes, comparatively conferred with Israels Diuided into two sermons, by Tho: Adams. Imprint: London: Imprinted by E: G[riffin]: for Iohn Budge, and Ralph Mab, 1615. Date: 1615 No. pages: [4], 101, [1] p. Notes: Quires F and I exist in two different settings, identified by the position of the signature-mark on the first leaf of the gathering. Quire F: signature-mark (1) under "God" or (2) under "please". Quire I: signature-mark (1) under the "d" or (2) under the "m"s of "commendeth". Copy from: Cambridge University Library

The text is Jer 8:22. The work is divided into two lectures preceded by a two page dedication "to the right worshipfull Sir Iohn Cleypoole Knight". This appears to be John Claypole of Northborough, Northamptonshire, married to Mary Angell and the father (1625) of Lord John Claypole who married Cromwell's daughter Elizabeth.

Publications 05

Title: The blacke devil or the apostate Together with the wolfe worrying the lambes. And the spiritual navigator, bound for the Holy Land. In three sermons. By Thomas Adams.

Jer 13:23 Can the Black-moore change his skin? etc and a quotation from Bernard's sentences.

Imprint: [London]: Printed by William Iaggard, 1615.

Date: 1615 No. pages: [8], 78, [2]; [4], 34, [2]; [4], 58, [2] p. Notes: "Lycanthropy, or the vvolfe vvorrying the lambes" and "The spirituall nauigator bound for the Holy Land" each has separatley dated title page, pagination and register.; Initial leaf contains large signature-mark "A" with ornaments.; The last leaf is blank.

Copy from: British Library

The work is preceded by a two page dedication 'to the honourable gentleman, Sir Charles Morrison, knight Baronet' and a two page epistle to the reader. Morrison lived 1587-1628 and married Mary Hicks (daughter of Baptist Hicks) in 1606.

Publications 04

Title: The deuills banket described in foure sermons [brace], 1. The banket propounded, begunne, 2. The second seruice, 3. The breaking vp of the feast, 4. The shot or reckoning, [and] The sinners passing-bell, together with Phisicke from heauen / published by Thomas Adams

Imprint: London: Printed by Thomas Snodham for Ralph Mab, and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Grayhound, 1614.

Amos 6:7 and 8:10 Therefore, etc

There is also a Latin quotation fom Ambrose on penitence.

Date: 1614

No. pages: [8], 348 p.

Notes: Each sermon, except the first, has special t.p.; Part V has imprint: London: Printed by Thomas Snodham of Iohn Budge, 1614.; Marginal notes.; Includes six sermons published elsewhere; Signatures: A-2V4 2X3.; Signature Bb3 mislabeled Bb5.; Numerous errors in paging.

Copy from: Harvard University Library

The sermons are preceded by a three page dedication 'To the verie worthie and vertuous gentleman Sir George Fitz-Jeoffrey Knight, one of Majesties Justices of the Peace and Quo vam in the Countie of Bedford' and a three page epistle to the reader headed 'Ad vel in Lectorem'.

That same year another edition appeared
Title: The Diuells banket Described in sixe sermons. ... Published by Thomas Adams ...
Imprint: London: Printed by Thomas Snodham for Iohn Budge [or Ralph Mab], and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Grayhound, 1614.
Date: 1614
No. pages: [8], 341, [3] p.
Notes: The last leaf is blank.; Sermons [2] "The second seruice of the Deuils banket", [3] "The breaking vp of the Deuils banket. Or the conclusion", [4] "The shot: or the wofull price vvhich the wicked pay for the feast of vanitie", [5] "The sinners passing-bell. Or a complaint from heauen for mans sinnes", and [6] "The sinners passing-bell. Or phisicke from heauen" have separately dated title pages; pagination and register are continuous.; Sermons 5 and 6 may have been issued together separately.; The general title page and those of all the sermons except 5 may have either John Budge or Ralph Mab in the imprint; sermon 5 has only been noted with Budge's name.; Sermon 5 identified as existing elsewhere.
Copy from: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery (also at Sion College).

Publications 03

Title: The white deuil, or The hypocrite vncased in a sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, March 7. 1612. By Thomas Adams minister of the gospell at Willington, in Bedfordshire.

John 6:70 Have I not chosen you twelve, etc.

Imprint: London: Printed by Melchisedech Bradvvood for Ralph Mab, and are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard, at the sig ne [sic] of the Angel, 1613.

Also a version printed by Thomas Snodham.

Date: 1613

No. pages: [8], 61, [1] p.

Notes: Running title reads: The white deuill. On second edition some print faded; several pages stained.

Copy from: Emmanuel College (University of Cambridge) Library. Also one at Union Theological Seminary (New York, NY) Library.

The sermon is preceded by a two page dedication to Sir Thomas Cheeke (an MP?) and a three and a half page epistle to the reader. The sermon is on John 12:6.

Easily Adams's most popular work it was presumably reprinted more than once and then an expanded edition appeared in 1615 -

Title: The vvhite deuill or The hypocrite vncased to this fourth impression are newly added, 1 The two sonnes or The dissolute conferred vvith the hyprocrite. 2 The leauen, or A medicine for them both. By Tho. Adams.
Imprint: London : Printed by Thomas Dawson, for VVilliam Arondell, and are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard, at the signe of the Angell, 1615.
Date: 1615
No. pages: [10], 121, [1] p.
Notes: "The tvvo sonnes or the dissolute conferred vvith the hypocrite" has separate dated title page, and "The leauen or a direction to heauen" has a divisional title, but pagination and register are continuous.

Copy from: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery

This expanded edition also appeared in 1621 [Imprint: London: Printed [by Thomas Snodham] for Richard Higginbotham, and are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard, at the signe of the Angell, 1621. No. pages: [10], 62+ p. Notes: The first leaf is blank.; "The leaven, or a medicine for them both" was published in the fourth impression as "The leaven or a direction to heaven". (Lacking all after p. 62). Copy from: Sion College Library]

W F Mitchell 01

This extract is from W Fraser Mitchell's English Pulpit Oratory From Andrewes to Tillotson published by SPCK in 1932. See pp 214-216

Adams’ sermons are particularly rich in topical allusion and, … he drew upon contemporary deposit of strange and curious learning secured at one and the same time an edifying moral rhetorical effect. One feature of his work, however, calls for special remark - his great familiarity with the Classics and his almost instinctive habit of quoting from them. Not after his first college-addresses as a young don do we find allusion to the Classics in Andrewes (see pic), and even in case of the Puritan archbishop Abbot, whose ‘Exposition upon the Prophet Jonah’’ contains numerous quotations from the Classics, it must be remembered that such quotations occur in university discourses. With Adams, on other hand, preaching at times, it is true, before distinguished patrons but, for the most part, to a City auditory, classic allusions are constant, and classical quotations so numerous that it is difficult to open his works at random without lighting on some reference to the stories of Aesop or the Metamorphoses, or finding a quotation from Juvenal, Horace, Martial, or, most frequently of all, Seneca. This feature of his work links him up closely with Joseph Hall, and together they point forward to what was to be a distinguishing characteristic of Tillotson. Adams’ habit, however, translating his quotations, when they are in verse, in doggerel couplets - a device familiar to readers of Florio’s Montaigne and other translations of the period - was unique and is proof of the early date of his work.
Another feature of Adams’ sermons, in this case connect with their publication, which is of more than passing interest, is the strange and arresting titles under which they appeared. Burton’s well-known gibe about men rushing to print with sermons to which they gave titles likely to attract public attention, although principally directed against those who sought to impress by pointing to distinguished auditories before whom they had preached, might equally well have been directed against those who endeavoured to give to their printed discourses the advantages enjoyed at the present day by the novel but then confined to the pamphlet and the play; and, in an age of alluring sermon titles Adams’, it may certainly be claimed, secured a high place. Two of his titles, moreover, The Sovles Sicknesse and Mysticall Bedlam, serve not only as striking advertisements for printed sermons, but also usher in collections of characters written round a leading idea. We are not surprised, therefore, for this and other reasons, to learn from one of Adams’ prefaces, that by contemporaries he was considered a trifle fanciful, and given to allegories and rhetorical flourishes; but in point of fact such sermons are merely specimens of the "figure sermons" beloved of Spanish preachers, some of whom, according to Claude, even laid down rules for preaching in this manner. Robinson, Claude’s editor, in a note, further informs, us that so great a preacher as Cardinal Borromeo, in his Oration to the clergy of Milan, delivered at the opening of his sixth Provincial Council, indulged in a composition of this kind, in which various sins are depicted in turn by their resemblance to physical diseases, very much in the manner of Adams’ earlier discourse. From Robinson’s note we further learn that this fashion of strange titles and series of religious contemplations paralleled by descriptions drawn from some variegated sphere in life flourished considerably in England in the 40 years which ended about 1590. Adams' productions, therefore, represent a survival rather than an innovation.
Note Some of his more outstanding titles may be mentioned in passing. His first recorded sermon was The Gallants Burden, followed soon after by The Devills Banket, a series of six sermons, each with a separate title: 1. The Banket Propounded, Begun 2. The Second Service 3.The Breaking up of the Feast 4. The Shot 5. The Sinners Passing-Bell 6. Physicke from Heauen. Others are Politicke Hunting, The Three Divine Sisters, The White Devil (Or the Hypocrite Vncased: In a Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse, March ... 1612, the same year as the publication of Webster’s play; probably this represents a topical hit), The Cosmopolite and The Spirituall Navigator.

Henry Grey

Henry Grey (c 1583-1639) was the 8th Earl of Kent from 1623. From 1621 to 1623, he held the title jointly with his father Charles Grey, 7th Earl of Kent. In 1623 he also became the 11th Lord Grey of Ruthin [established 1325]. He was the only son of Charles and of Susan Cotton. He was married to Elizabeth Talbot in 1601. There were apparently no children. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, 1621-1627 (jointly with Thomas Wentworth from 1625) and 1629-1639 (again with Wentworth). Grey died childless and his primary title as Earl of Kent was inherited by his closest male-line relative, a second cousin of his father called Anthony (both were great-grandsons of George Grey, the 2nd Earl).

Publications 02

Title: Heauen and earth reconcil'd A sermon preached at Saint Paules church in Bedford, October. 3. 1612. At the visitation of the right Wor. M. Eland, Archdeacon of Bedford. By Tho. Adams, Minister of the Gospell at Willington. 1 Cor 5:19 For God was in Christ, etc.

Imprint: London: Printed by W. W[hite] for Clement Knight, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the holy Lambe, 1613.

Date: 1613

No. pages: [2], 23 leaves

Copy from: Cambridge University Library

On the first two pages there is a dedication to the Right honorable Lord Henry, Earl of Kent, Lord of Hasting, Weisford and Ruthyn. This is Henry Grey (1583-1639). The sermon is on Daniel 12:3.

George Eland had become Archdeacon of Bedford in 1600. He was also Chancellor of Lincoln (from 1606). He died in 1631.

William Gostwick

Adams first book was dedicated to his patrons, Lord and Lady Gostwick, in 1612. Monuments to the Gostwick family can be found in the church at Willington, Bedfordshire, St Lawrence's, where Adams served 1612-1614. The earliest is a brass to Robert Gostwick esq. 1315. There is also a 13th century stone coffin lid.
Sir William Gostwick (1565-1615) was the son of John and Elizabeth Gostwick. Sir John once entertained Henry VIII at his seat in Willington. William married Jane (d c 1615), daughter of Henry Owen of Wotton, Beds, before 1588. They had as many as 11 children, including Ann and (from 1607 Sir) Edward (1588-1630 2nd Bt). William held the office of Sheriff of Bedfordshire 1595, 1596. He was created first Baronet Gostwick of Willington in 1611. A black letter Bible from this same year can be found in the church. Sir William died intestate and was buried in the Willington church. The tomb for him and his family has been described as “a fine canopied altar-tomb of marble, with recumbent effigy”.

Publications 01

The first title Adams' ever had published was as follows

Title: The gallants burden A sermon preached at Paules Crosse, the twentie nine of March, being the fift Sunday in Lent. 1612 By Tho. Adams, preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedfordshire.

Imprint: London : Printed by W. W[hite] for Clement Knight, and are to be sold at his shoppe in Pauls church-yard at the signe of the Holy Lambe, 1612.

Date: 1612

No. pages: [2], 34 leaves

Copy from: Cambridge University Library

The sermon is preceded by a two page dedication "to the honorable Sir William Gostwicke, baronet, and his worthy Lady, the Lady Jane Gostwicke". The Gostwicks were Lord and Lady of the Manor in Willington where Adams pastored. Gostwick lived 1565-1615. The sermon is on Isaiah 21:11, 12.

Further editions appeared in 1614 [Imprint: London: Printed by T[homas] S[nodham] for Clement Knight, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules church-yard at the signe of the Holy Lambe, 1614. No. pages: [4], 67, [1] p. Copy from: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery] and 1616 [same imprint as the original, same pages as 1614. Copy from: Union Theological Seminary (New York, N. Y.) Library]