Chaucer which was printed about 1550, (says Mr Bradshaw, though the British Museum Catalogue says '1545?') more or less from William Thynne's second edition of 1542; but from another passage hinting that Speght followed "a late English corrector whom I forbear to name," I suspect that the "inferior personne was poor John Stowe, and that the edition sneered at was that edited by him in 1561, the nearest in point of date to that of Speght. The manuscript from which the present tract is reprinted is, like most of the treasures of the Bridgewater Library, wonderfully clean and in good order. It is entirely in the Autograph of Francis Thynne, and was evidently written purposely for the great Lord Chancellor Egerton, and bears his arms emblazoned on the back of title-page. Master Speght most probably got his copy of the Animadversions in a more humble form.1 In conclusion may I remark that, as usual, the green silk ribands, originally attached to the vellum and gold cover, are closely cut away, probably for the purpose of being converted into shoe-ties, which Robert Greene informs us was the usual destination of ribands appended to presentation copies. He hints at the same time that those appendages were generally the only solid advantage gained by the dedicatee from the honour done him. MARK NOBLE'S ACCOUNT OF FRANCIS THYNNE, FROM HIS HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE OF ARMS, LONDON, 1804, p. 213. LANCASTER. ELIZ. FRANCIS THYNNE, ESQ. Descended from a branch of the ennobled family, now having the title of Marquis of Bath. The ancient name was The alterations in Speght's Glossary, &c. of 1602 show that he did have a copy of Thynne's criticism of him: see the Notes to the text in the following pages, and Speght's words, p. x, n., above.-F. THYNNE. b Botteville, taken from a place in Poitou, whence they came to assist John in the barons' wars. Settling at Stretton, in Shropshire, and losing their old name, they acquired that of le Thynne, literally the Inn, a significant term for their large spacious mansion at Stretton; the houses of the great being in former ages called inns. William le Thynne, of Stretton, by Joan, daughter of John Higgons of that place, had issue two sons; Thomas le Thynne seated at Stretton, from whom descended the Marquis of Bath, and William le Thynne, Chief Clerk of the Kitchen to Henry VIII., afterwards Master of the Household to that Monarch. He was father to Lancaster Thynne, who was born at Stretton, and educated at Tonbridge School, under Mr Proctor, the historian, commended by Holingshed; from thence he went to Oxford. Upon his leaving that University, he was sent to Lincoln's Inn to study the law; but fond of heraldic and genealogical pursuits, he presented a petition to Lord Burleigh, then presiding at the head of the commission for executing the office of Earl Marshal, requesting to be admitted into the College, desiring a previous examination, even in the deepest points of armoury which could be obtained, without the knowledge of philosophy and history, mentioning, as a recommendation in his own favour, that he had drawn out a "series" of the lord treasurers and composed "certain circularly pedigrees of the earls and viscounts of England." His acquirements were acknowledged; he was raised to the office of an herald without having ever been a pursuivant. He was then 57 years old. He died in 1608, not in 1611, as Wood mentions, who has fallen into many mistakes about him. Camden calls him "an excellent antiquary and a gentleman, painful and well-deserving of his office whilst he lived." Garter Dethick put his name down as a fit person to be raised to be Norroy. His arms were Or, five bars Sable. Hearne published "A Discourse of the Dutye and Office of an Heraulde of Armes, written by him the third day of March 1605." In the year 1651 were printed his "Histories concerning Ambassadors and their Functions," dedicated to his good friend William, Lord Cobham. He continued the Chronicle, known by the name of Holingshed's, finishing the Annals of Scotland, from 1586 down to where they now end. He drew up a list of English Cardinals, added to the reign of Mary I. He wrote the Catalogue of English Historical Writers. His "Discourses" upon the Earls of Leicester, Archbishops of Canterbury, Lords Cobham, and the Catalogue of the Wardens of the Cinque Ports, were suppressed. He also wrote his History of Dover Castle and the Cinque Ports; the Gencalogical History of the Cobhams; Discourses of Arms, concerning the Bath and Batchelor Knights; the History and Lives of the Lord Treasurers, mentioned in a MS. life of him, now in the collection of Sir Joseph Ayleffe, Bart. Numerous as these works are, yet there are various other literary productions of his: some of them are preserved in the Cotton Library, others were possessed by Anstis, sen. Garter. His heraldic collections are in the College of Arms, and in the Ashmoleian Museum at Oxford. Some of his manuscripts are collections of antiquities, sepulchral inscriptions, taken by him from English churches, and elsewhere. He intended to have published an edition of Chaucer's works, but declining that, gave his labours relative to it to Speght, who published them in his edition of that poet's works, with his own notes, and those of his father, who printed the first edition of this ancient writer in 1542, being the oldest of any except Caxton's. Thynne, Lancaster, had meant to have written a comment upon the text: some verses of his are prefixed to Speght's edition. XX HINDWORDS BY F. J. FURNIVALL. I. WILLIAM THYNNE (dies Aug. 10, 1546). a. Henry VIII's grants to him, p. xxi, e. Is Clerk-Comptroller of the House xxvii, xxviii. (2 Letters, p. 131.) b. Duties as Clerk of the Kitchen, hold his Contracts, p. xxviii; Duties, p. xxx; Food, p. xxxvi; and Allowances, p. xxxviii. His Monument and Will, p. xxxix. g. His edition of Chaucer, p. xl. h. The Pilgrims Tale, p. xlii; and 'sise, the best cast on the dice,' p. xliv. II. FRANCIS THYNNE i. His notes of his Youth, p. xlvii. k. His first antiquarian work, p. xlix. m. His bad opinion of Wives, p. lvi. o. His Perfecte Ambassadoure, p. lix. of Britayne (Part III containing q. Continuation of Holinshed's Chro- 8. His Speeches at the Society of Antiquaries, p. xciii. t. Second Application for post in the Heralds' Office, p. xcvi. u. His Discourse of Armes, p. xcvii. v. (A.D. 1545-1608). Names and Arms of the Chancellors, p. xcviii. w. Animadversions on Speght's Chau- x. Emblems and Epigrams, p. ciii. A. His Poem on Chaucer, p. cvi. E. Mr J. P. Collier quite wrong in at- 2. Pleasaunt Dialogue betweene the 4. The Case is altered, 1604, p. F. Mr Collier wrong again, p. cxlii. To my friend Dr Kingsley's Forewords (or 'Preface') I wish to add some Hindwords on 1. a. the duties and allowances of our old Chaucer editor, William Thynne, at Henry VIII's court, that we may better realize his life; b. the special points of his edition of Chaucer, with c. a note on the re-found Pilgrim's Tale; and 2. some fresh notices of his son Francis's life, and details about his works, in which latter I shall have to comment on Mr J. P. Collier's attributing to him certain books which it is absurd to suppose he ever wrote. I make these additions because the Animadversions is now printed for the Chaucer Society as well as the Early English Text Society. I. WILLIAM THYNNE. Ia. Assuming, as I do, that our William Thynne was not the Thynne mentiond in Aug. 1516 by Erasmus (Ep. viii. 14),-when he, writing from Sir Thomas More's to Ammonius, says that hunting had carrid off the King, the Cardinal, Urswick, Thynne, and now Ammonius (Brewer's Calendar, Hen. VIII, vol. II, Pt I, p. 717, No. 2323),—we first come on our Chaucer-editor in 1524, when he is but Second Clerk of the Kitchen to Henry VIII, though in 1526 he is Chief Clerk:Entries from Mr Brewer's Calendar of Henry VIII, forthcoming vol. up to 1530, supplied by the kindness of Mr C. Trice Martin of the Record Office. Im Thynne. 11 Feb. 15 Hen. VIII (1524). Second Clerk of the Kitchen, to be bailiff in reversion of Rye, Essex, now held by Ric. Shurley, cofferer of Hen. VII's household.-Pat. 15 Hen. VIII, pt. 2, membrane 18. 24 Oct. 18 Hen. VIII. (1526). Chief Clerk of the Kitchen. Grant of Annuity of £10 out of the issues of the Manors of Cleobury Barnes, Salop.-Pat. 18 Hen. VIII, pt. 1, m. 16. 25 Feb. 1528. Signature to the expenses of a royal banquet.2 Lansdowne MS. 1. f. 203-9. "Visus per me Willelmum Thynne." 20 Aug. 1528. Chief Clerk of the Kitchen. To be bailiff of the town, and keeper of the park, of Beaudley, Salop, vice Sir W. Compton. -Pat. 20 Hen. VIII, pt. 1, m. 24. 22 Dec. 1528. Grant to John Chamber, Clerk; Wm Thynne, Chief Clerk of the Kitchen; and John Thynne; of the next presentation to the church of Stoke Clymslond.-Pat. 20 Hen. VIII, pt. 2, m. 11. 1 Anthony Wood says, i. 136, " William Thynne, otherwise Botevill, was, as it seems, a Salopian born, and educated among the Oxonians for a time. Afterwards retiring to the court, became, through several petty employments, chief clerk of the kitchen to K. Hen. 8, and is stiled by Erasmus 'Thynnus Aulicus':" on this last point see p. viii, above, and the Notes at the end. 2 Here insuyth the hole Charge of a dyner made by the kynges highnes in the Loge in the Litle parke of Wyndesour the xxyth of February, being the xix yere of hys Reyne," leaf 203, |