Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/69

Fisher Necessitate Orandi.' 15. 'Psalmi vel precationes.' An edition of his English, works has been undertaken for the Early English Text Society by Professor John E. B. Mayor, of which the first volume (1876) only has as yet appeared. This contains the originals of 8, 10, 11 a, and 12; the two sermons of the funerals of Henry VII and his mother; and 'A Spiritual Consolation,' addressed to Fisher's sister, Elizabeth, during his confinement in the Tower. Of these, the two funeral discourses and the originals of 8 and 10 are reprinted from early editions by Wynkyn de Worde. An 'Advertisement' to this edition gives a valuable criticism by the editor on Fisher's theology, English style, vocabulary, &c. The second volume, containing the 'Letters' and the 'Life' by Hall, is announced, under the editorship of the Rev. Ronald Bayne.

A volume in the Rolls Office (27 Hen. VIII, No. 887) contains the following in Fisher's hand: 1, prayers in English; 2, fragment of a 'Commentary on the Salutation of the Virgin Mary;' 3, theological commonplace book, in Latin; 4, draft treatises on divinity; 5 and 6, treatises on the rights and dignity of the clergy; 7, observations on the history of the Septuagint Version (this annotated and corrected only by Fisher). He also wrote a 'History of the Divorce,' which, if printed, was rigidly suppressed; the manuscript, however, is preserved in the University Library, Cambridge. [Fisher's Life, professedly written by Thomas Baily, a royalist divine, was first published in 1665, and was really written by Richard Hall, of Christ's College, Cambridge, who died in 1604 [see art. ]; a manuscript in University Library, Cambridge, No. 1266, contains Maurice Channey's account of the martyrdoms of More and Fisher; a considerable amount of original matter is also given in the appendices to the Life by the Rev. John Lewis (a posthumous publication), ed. T. Hudson Turner, 2 vols. 1855. The following may also be consulted: The Funeral Sermon of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, with Baker's Preface, ed. Hymers, 1840; Baker's Hist. of St. John's College, ed. Mayor, 2 vols. 1869; Cooper's Memoir of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, 1874; Early Statutes of the College of St. John the Evangelist, ed. Mayor, 1859; Mullinger's Hist. of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. 1873; a paper by Mr. Bruce in Archæologia, vol. xxv.; Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vols. iv. to viii., with Brewer's and Gairdner's Prefaces; Brewer's Reign of Henry VIII, 2 vols., 1884; T. E. Bridgett's Life of Blessed John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, and Martyr under Henry VIII, London and New York, 1888.]  FISHER, JOHN (1569–1641), Jesuit, whose real name was, son of John Percy, yeoman, and his wife, Cecilia Lawson, was born at Holmside, co. Durham, on 27 Sept. 1569. At fourteen years of age he was received into the family of a catholic lady, and soon afterwards joined the Roman church. He then proceeded to the English College at Rheims, where he studied classics and rhetoric for three years. On 22 Sept. 1589 he entered the English College at Rome for his higher studies. He was ordained priest on 13 March 1592-3, by papal dispensation, before the full canonical age, in consequence of the want of priests for the mission. After publicly defending universal theology at the Roman college, he was admitted into the Society of Jesus by Father Aquaviva, and began his noviceship at Tournay on 14 May 1594. In the second year of his noviceship he was ordered to England for the sake of his health, which had been impaired by over-application to study. On his way through Holland he was seized at Flushing by some English soldiers on suspicion of being a priest, and cruelly treated. Immediately after his arrival in London he was arrested and committed to Bridewell, from which prison, after about seven months' confinement, he succeeded in making his escape through the roof, together with two other priests and seven laymen. In 1596 he was sent by Father Henry Garnett to the north of England, where he laboured till 1598, when he was appointed companion to Father John Gerard in Northamptonshire. In that locality he exercised his priestly functions, and he occasionally visited Oxford, where he became acquainted with William Chillingworth [q. v.], whom he persuaded to renounce the protestant faith (, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 87). He was professed of the four vows in 1603. For some time he and Gerard resided first at Stoke Poges, and subsequently at Harrowden, in the house of Mrs. Elizabeth Vaux, widow of William, second son of Lord Vaux of Harrowden. Fisher was afterwards chaplain to Sir Everard Digby [q. v.] In August 1605 he went on a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's well with Sir Everard Digby's wife, Mrs. Vaux, and others. He was arrested in November 1610, with Father Nicholas Hart, at Harrowden, was conveyed to London, and committed to the Gatehouse prison, and after upwards of a year's confinement was released at the instance of the Spanish ambassador, and with Father Hart sent into banishment. Both of them had been tried and condemned to death, and had received several notices to prepare for execution. After landing in Belgium, Fisher discharged the duties at Brussels of vice-prefect 