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 5 March 1622, and sent it down to the university, where it was published in convocation on 17 May. The endowment was provided out of the manor of Bexley in Kent, which Camden had purchased of Sir Henry Spelman. The rents, valued at 400l. per annum, were settled on William Heather and his heirs for a term of ninety-nine years, dating from the time of Camden's death, and during this term the annual stipend of 140l. was to be paid to the professor of history. The first professor, appointed by Camden himself, was Degory Wheare.

Within a few weeks of this foundation Camden records, in the last entry in his 'Memorabilia,' a night of illness on 7 June 1622. Little more than a year after (18 Aug. 1623) he fell from his chair, stricken with paralysis, which for the moment deprived him of the use of his hands and feet (Apparat. Annal. Jac. I, p. 82). This was followed by an illness which put an end to his life, 9 Nov. 1623. His body was brought up to his house at Westminster, and on the 19th of the month was thence carried to burial in the abbey, and laid, in the presence of a large company, in the southern transept (see a copy of his funeral certificate, which gives the names of persons who attended, printed in The Visitation of co. Hunt., Camd. Soc., 1849, p. xi). His monument of white marble, which is affixed to the wall above his grave, represents him at half length, his left hand resting on a closed book, on which is the word 'Britannia.' It is curious that in the inscription his age is wrongly stated to have been seventy-four. Smith (p. 75) tells an apparently absurd story, on the faith of gossip of Charles Hatton, that the nose of the effigy was wilfully damaged by a young man, one of whose relatives had been reflected on by Camden. Another and more probable account of the mischief is that the cavaliers or independents who broke into the abbey at night to deface the hearse of the Earl of Essex (1646) 'used the like uncivil deportment towards the effigies of old learned Camden, cut in pieces the book held in his hand, broke off his nose, and otherwise defaced his visiognomy' (Perfect Diurnal, 23-30 Nov. 1646, quoted in Stanley's Memorials of Westm. Abbey, 1876, p. 290). The damages were repaired at the cost of the university of Oxford. An oration in Camden's honour, which was delivered by Zouch Townley, deputy-orator, and another ('Parentatio Historica') by Degory Wheare, together with various copies of complimentary verses composed by members of the university, were published in 1624 under the title of 'Camdeni Insignia.'

During his long service at Westminster School, Camden had laid by sufficient means to content him. By his will, which was proved 10 Nov. 1623, William Heather being executor, and which was printed by Hearne (Curious Discourses, ii. 390), he left a number of small sums to various friends and dependents. His cousin John Wyatt, painter, of London, receives the largest bequest of 100l. A piece of plate is left to Sir Fulke Greville, lord Brooke, 'who preferred me gratis to my office.' The two city guilds of Painters and Cordwainers also received each a piece of plate, with directions to have it inscribed as the gift of 'Guil. Camdenus, filius Sampsonis pictoris Londinensis.' With regard to his books and manuscripts Camden directs that Sir Robert Cotton 'shall have the first view of them, that he may take out such as I borrowed of him,' and then bequeaths to him all except heraldic collections and ancient seals, which were to pass, at a valuation, to his successors in the office of Clarenceux. The printed books, however, were diverted to another use; for on the building of the new library attached to the abbey, Dr. John Williams, bishop of Lincoln and dean of Westminster, 'laid hold of an expression in the will that was capable of a double meaning', and removed the books thither. Sir Henry Bourghchier, in his letter to Ussher (, Life of Ussher, p. 302), says: 'His library, I hope, will fall to my share, by an agreement between his executors and me; which I much desire, partly to keep it entire, out of my love to the defunct.'

Camden appears to have been of a peculiarly happy temperament. His gentleness of disposition made and kept him many friends. He was active in body, of middle height, of a pleasant countenance, and as his portraits, taken when he was well advanced in life, present him, of a ruddy complexion. He was careless of ordinary personal distinction, and refused knighthood. 'I never made suit to any man,' he writes in his letter to Ussher in 1616 (ep. 195), 'no, not to his majesty, but for a matter of course, incident to my place; neither, God be praised, I needed, having gathered a contented sufficiency by my long labours in the school.' And again, his own words, 'My life and my writings shall apologise for me' (ep. 194), might have been adopted as his motto.

Among his intimate friends Smith enumerates Sir Robert Cotton, Bishop Godwin, Matthew Sutcliffe, Sir Henry Savile, Sir Henry Wotton, Archbishop Ussher, Sir Henry Bourghchier, Sir Henry Spelman, and John Selden. In addition, his printed correspondence connects him with Thomas Savile, who