Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/449

 Drake left him the manor of Warthill, near York, and a house at Pontefract. Four years later, in 1717, Birbeck died, and Drake, availing himself of the opening occasioned by his death, commenced practice at York. It was not long before he had gained for himself a reputation as an expert practitioner. In May 1727 the corporation of York appointed him city surgeon, an office of little profit but of considerable local importance.

Drake had not been long in practice when the perusal of a copy of the manuscript history of York, by Sir Thomas Widdrington, formerly recorder of the city, gave him the first impulse to collect materials for the great work of his life. 'From a child,' as he himself tells us (preface to Eboracum), 'history and antiquity were always my chiefest tast.' The earliest intimation we have of his having entered upon the task appears in letters addressed in August and October 1729 to Dr. Richard Richardson of Bierley, and to Thomas Hearne, asking them 'to lend a helping hand to one who, swayed by no thirst of interest or vainglory, undertakes to deliver down to posterity the transactions of this famous city' (Extracts from the Correspondence of R. Richardson, M.D., F.R.S., pp. 299-300, 304; Letters written by Eminent Persons, . i. 76-9, 8vo, London, 1813). Despite the neglect of these and other persons to whom he applied for aid, Drake received every encouragement in his undertaking from the corporation of York. When, in April 1731, he represented to that body 'that the work was so far completed that he should be able to put out his proposals in a short time, and he desired liberty to inspect the ancient registers, cartularies, &c., belonging to the city,' they immediately made an order 'giving Drake the liberty to inspect and extract out of the ancient registers, deeds, and writings such things as he should think requisite for completing and illustrating his proposed history.' Again, in September 1735, when Drake was anxious to add to his already numerous illustrations engravings of the two market-crosses, Ouze Bridge, a map of the Ainsty, the front elevation of the mansion house, then recently erected, and an interior view of the state room, the corporation voted him, under certain conditions, a contribution of 50l. As long ago as 1732 he had issued from the London press of William Bowyer his proposals for printing the work by subscription (, Lit. Anecd. ii. 13), but nearly three years passed before he was in a position to announce that his 'History was in the press, and that the many copper plates necessary to the work were under the hands of the best masters in that art' (Gent. Mag. v. 280). The book was at length issued towards the close of 1736 with the title 'Eboracum: or, the History and Antiquities of the City of York, from its original to the present time. Together with the History of the Cathedral Church and the Lives of the Archbishops,' fol. London, printed by William Bowyer, for the author, 1736. The subscription price was five guineas. In a list numbering nearly 540 subscribers the clergy of both city and county are well represented, but the name of the archbishop, Dr. Lancelot Blackburne, is absent. 'He not only refused,' writes Drake, 'upon my repeated application to him to accept the dedication of the church account, but even to subscribe to the book.' At p. 416 of 'Eboracum' will be found Drake's droll attack upon the archbishop, with which compare Pegge's 'Anonymiana,' century xii. No. xxiv. On 26 Nov. of the same year (1736) Drake attended a full meeting of the corporation in the guildhall at York, and in person presented to them six copies of his book, one 'richly bound in blue Turkey leather, gilded and beautifully painted and illuminated, in two large folio volumes on royal paper,' to be kept among the city records. At the same time 'he made a very handsome and elegant speech to the assembled corporation, acknowledging the several orders they had made in his favour,' and explaining that he could not dedicate his book to them, as he was bound in gratitude to dedicate it to the Earl of Burlington. Drake's motives were genuine. In the preface to 'Eboracum' he had alluded somewhat mysteriously to a sojourn in London. The allusion is explained in a letter of the antiquary, Benjamin Forster [q. v.], to Richard Gough, dated 12 Nov. 1766. Happening one day to put up at an inn at Knaresborough, Drake found Sir Harry Slingsby, the member for the borough, negotiating with a farmer for a loan of 600l., and was persuaded 'as a mere matter of form' to put his name to the bond. The baronet, protected by his position as member of parliament, repudiated the debt, and allowed Drake to be arrested and imprisoned for the money. 'He might,' writes Forster, 'have lain in the Fleet to this day had not Lord Burlington interposed, who assured Sir Harry he would use all his interest to prevent his being rechosen for Knaresborough unless he paid the debt and made a compensation to Mr. Drake' (, Illustr. of Lit. v. 298). The affair probably occurred in the spring or early summer of 1736.

On returning home Drake found that his long enforced absence had seriously interfered with his practice, so that although he accepted the post of honorary surgeon to the