first bishop of the Northumbrians, and received the faith and sacraments of Christ. She then, having decided to forsake the secular habit and to serve Him alone, departed to the province of the East Angles. For she was a near relation of their king, and she had a desire to leave her fatherland and all that she had, and in some way to pass from thence into Gaul, and to lead the life of a stranger for the Lord's sake in the monastery of Chelles.

2

The Second Lesson. For in the same monastery there was a sister of the same Hererich, the mother of Aldulf, King of the East Angles, subject to the regular discipline. Emulating her example, she herself also was retained for a whole year in the aforesaid province, with the intention of going abroad. Then, being recalled by Bishop Aidan to her own fatherland, she accepted the land of one family on the north side of the river Tigris,' where for one year she led a monastic life with a few companions. After this she was made abbess in the monastery which is called Heorthen. And when she had presided over this monastery for some years, it came to pass also that she undertook the government of a monastery in the place which is called Strenshale (Whitby). The Third Lesson. But when she had presided over this monastery for many years, it pleased Him who hath made such merciful provision for our salvation, to make trial of her soul by long-standing infirmity of the flesh. Being plagued with fevers, indeed for six years she ceased not from her labours while enduring the same affliction. In the seventh year of her sickness she arrived at the last day, and about the cock-crowing, having received the viaticum of the all-holy Communion, amid words of prayer and exhortation, she, rejoicing, saw death; yea, she passed from death unto life, through Him who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

The rest from the Common of one Virgin not a Martyr.

1 Mistake for Bede's reading Uiuri, of the Wear.

2 Bede has Heruteu, now Hartlepool.

VOL. XVII.

E

THE WILL OF TIMOTHY BRIGHT, M.D.,

RECTOR OF

METHLEY AND BARWICK-IN-ELMET, 1615.

THE following is the account of Timothy Bright in the Dictionary of National Biography:

Timothy Bright was born in or about 1551, probably in the neighbourhood of Sheffield.1 He matriculated as a sizar at Trinity College, Cambridge, impubes at. 11, on 21 May, 1561, and graduated B.A. in 1567-8. In 1572 he was at Paris, probably pursuing his medical studies, when he narrowly escaped the St. Bartholomew massacre by taking refuge in the house of Sir Francis Walsingham. He graduated M.B. at Cambridge, in 1574, and was created M.D. in 1579. For some years he appears to have resided at Cambridge, but in 1584 he was living at Ipswich. He succeeded Dr. Turner as physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital about 1586,2 and must have resigned in 1590, when his successor was elected. His first medical work (dated 1584) seems to have been written at Cambridge. It is in two parts, "Hygieina on preserving health" and "Therapeutica on restoring health," and is dedicated to Cecil, Lord Burghley. Bright afterwards abandoned the medical profession and took holy orders. His famous treatise entitled "Characterie: An Arte of short, swifte, and secret writing by character," he dedicated in 1588 to Queen Elizabeth, who, on 5 July, 1591, presented him to the rectory of Methley, then void by the death of Otho Hunt, and on 30 Dec., 1594, to the rectory of Barwick-in-Elmet.3 He left a widow, whose name was

1 It has been suggested that Timothy Bright was born at Carbrook, near Sheffield, but no authority is forthcoming in support of this statement. Cambridge, or its vicinity, is also believed to have been the place of his birth.

2 This is an error. "He was elected physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1584, and in 1590 his successor, Dr. Dayley, was appointed. In the St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports for 1881, Vol. xviii, an account is given of

his medical writings with dates. There is no record of his birthplace in any of his works" (Dr. Norman Moore).

3 Bright probably owed his promotion to his acquaintanceship with the Cecil family (see his Hygieina and Therapeu tica), and his theological opinions, rather than to his little book on shorthand. He apparently resigned Methley about 1594. In the list of presentations of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Record Office is the following entry-Methley, Christopher

Margaret, and two sons, Timothy Bright, barrister-at-law, of Melton super-Montem, in Yorkshire, and Titus Bright, who graduated M.D. at Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1611, and practised at Beverley. Bright's works include a "Treatise on Melancholie" and "An Abridgement of John Foxe's 'Book of Acts and Monuments of the Church."" Bright will ever be held in remembrance as the inventor of modern shorthand writing. Only one copy of his "Characterie" is known to be in existence, and is now preserved in the Bodleian Library. The shorthand signs are all written in ink (Dictionary of National Biography).

The Rev. Joseph Hunter,' in his account of Timothy Bright, adds some further particulars about him and his children. Amongst his works he published, in quarto, in 1589, "An Abridgement of the Acts and Monuments of the Church," and it is in his dedication of this abridgment of Fox that he mentions his escape from the massacre of St. Bartholomew. His other works were "A Treatise on Melancholy," octavo, 1586, 1613, and "Animadversiones in G. A. Scribonii Physicam," published at Cambridge in 1584. "For his son we shall find a monumental inscription in the church of Melton. It appears from it that he and his lady, after a union of nine years, died within ten days of each other. In the interval she made her will. . . . . . . It appears that Dr. Bright the elder, notwithstanding he had such valuable preferment, died in debt."

The rector of Barwick's will shows that he was very highly cultured. The number of books mentioned is greater than usual. In Notes and Queries (8th Series, xii, 302), the list of books. bequeathed in the wills of nineteen clergymen of the diocese of Durham, dated between the years 1559 and 1603, and printed by the Surtees Society in the Proceedings of Bishop Barnes, App. x, is tabulated. They are very few in number. In eight only, out of the nineteen, is there any mention of books, and where they are mentioned they seem in some cases to compare but poorly in value with other belongings of the testator. In the lengthy will of Leonard Pilkington, prebendary of the seventh stall in Durham Cathedral, no mention is made of books, a remarkable fact, seeing that Pilkington was from 1561-1564 Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, and for a short time, 1561-2, Regius Professor of Divinity in the same University. Dr. Bright's library was much better furnished. Besides

Lindall, 21 May (Timothy Bright resigned), 36 Eliz. In the same list is contained his presentation in 1590 to the rectory of Stanford Rivers in Essex, in which he is styled "minister of ye word

and sacraments, and Doctor of Physic." It is probable he was never instituted, as there is no record of him there.

1 History of South Yorkshire, I, 365.

books on physic and philosophy he had a Hebrew Bible and a Syriac Testament, as well as works in Italian, Greek, and Latin, which prove he was no mean linguist. He was fond of music, and died possessed of a couple of theorbos, a stringed instrument, and an Irish harp. He studied music in theory as well as practically, and to aid him had bought the standard work on harmony by an Italian, Joseph Zarlino.

The following skeleton pedigree, chiefly derived from Hunter, will show his relations ::

(1) Timothy Bright, of Melton, a barrister. Died Sept. 20, 1617; buried at

Melton; married Edith,

daughter of John Lewis, of Marr, recorder of Doncaster. Will dated October 4, proved November, 1617

[Consistory Court, Vol. xxxi, fo. 180.]

In the name of the most holie and blessed Trinity, God the ffather, God the sonne, and God the holy ghost, one God eternall and omnipotent, I, Timothy Bright of Barwick in Elmett in the County of Yorke, Clerke, and Doctor of Phisick, being sick in bodie, but of good and perfect remembrance, do, this present nyneth day of August, in the yeare of our lord and saviour Christ, one thousand six hundreth and ffiftenth, make and declare this my last will and testament in manner and forme followinge, that is to say, ffirst wth a most thankfull acknowledgment of Godes great benefittes, both spiritual and temporall, bestowed on me of his free mercye wthout any desert of myne, I comend my soule vnto God to remayne in euerlastinge blisse, wth the rest of the soules of Godes Sainctes, as is

4

my constant fayth it shall, by the merittes of my saviour Christ, and my body I comitt vnto ye earth, to be buried when and where it shall please God, ther to remayne vntill the generall ioyfull resurrection. And for the disposicon of my goodes and chattells, my will is, and I do hereby will and bequeath vnto my much beloved brother, William Bright, Bacho' of Divinitie, and publique preacher of Godes word in the towne of Salop, in the County of Salop, all thoos my bookes, called or knowne by the name or names of the Hebrue byble, the Syriac testament, Josephus Zarlinus in Italian,' in two volumes, and Plato in Greeke and latine, translated by Marsilius ficinus, and thoos my Instrumentes of musick called the Theorbo,3 wth its case, and the Irishe harpe, wch I most vsuallye played vpon. And I giue and bequeath to Titus Bright, my sonne, Doctor of Phisick, the somme of xxtie poundes in money, and all my bookes of Phisick and Philosophie, and the rest of my Instrumentes of musick, not bequeathed to my said brother, for his full childes parte and porcon of all my goodes, chattells and estaite. Furthermore after my debtes and legacies in this my will specified and my funerall charges and expenses satisfied, paid and discharged, I give and bequeath vnto my deare and entirelie beloved wife, Margaret Bright, all the rest and residue of my goodes, chattells, credittes and estate, wch I shall haue to me in any wise belonging, due or owing at the tyme of my death, reposeing my whole trust in her for to give and bestow to my daughter, Elizabeth Bright, such a portion for her maintenance and preferment in marriage, as my said wife shall thinke meet, and not otherwise. And my will further is, and I do earnestlie inioyne my

1 Joseph Zarlino, master of the chapel of St. Mark's, Venice, and one of the most celebrated writers on the theory of music, was born at Chioggia in 1519, and lived until 1599. An edition of his collected works was printed at Venice in 1589 in four folio volumes. His most celebrated work on music, the one probably alluded to above, appeared in folio at Venice in 1558, 1562, and 1573, under the title:-Istituzioni harmoniche, divise in quattro parti, nelle quale, oltre le materie appartenanti alla musica, trovano dichiarati molti luoghi de poeti, historici e filosofi.

2 Marcilio Ficino, son of Cosimo de Medici's physician, was born at Figline in 1433. When a youth of eighteen he entered the Medicean household, and began to learn Greek, in order that he might qualify himself for translating Plato into Latin. He was forty-four years old when he finished his translation of Plato's

works. Five years more elapsed before the first edition was printed, in 1482, at Filippo Valori's expense. He also translated Plotinus and Dionysius the Areopagite, "On the Hierarchies " (Symonds' Renaissance in Italy. Revival of Learning, 1882, p. 324).

3 The Theorbo was a musical instrument of the lute class, having two necks, the one above the other, the lower bearing the melody strings, which were stretched over a fretted fingerboard, and the upper bearing the accompaniment strings or "diapasons," which were deeper in pitch, and were played without being stopped. The Theorbo was much used in the seventeenth century for accompaniments of all kinds, and was an important constituent in the orchestra of the period (Century Dictionary).

4 The old Irish harp was similar to the harp in the royal arms. See Groves' Dictionary of Music, s.v. Harp.