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 the first canonry of Windsor that should fall vacant. No vacancy occurred until 1594, when Nowell was installed (, iii. 398). Having been included in the new ecclesiastical commission, he assisted in 1590 at the examination of Ralph Griffin, dean of Lincoln, who was charged with preaching false doctrine. He was sent by the privy council, together with Lancelot Andrewes [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Winchester, then his chaplain, in 1591 to confer with John Udal and others, then under sentence of death for sowing sedition, with a view to their pardon (Life of Whitgift, ii. 97). On 6 Sept. 1595 he was elected principal of Brasenose College, but resigned in the following December, after having on 1 Oct. been created D.D. with seniority over all the doctors of the university (, p. 564; ). He died on 13 Feb. 1601–2, having retained all his faculties to the last, and was buried in St. Mary's Chapel, behind the high altar, in St. Paul's. By his will, of which an account is given by Churton, it appears that he was twice married, the first time to a widow, whose name seems to have been Blount, with children who were alive in 1591; his second wife being Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Bowyer, grocer, of London. She survived Nowell, and died in 1611 or 1612, being buried at Mundham, near Chichester (monumental inscr. and par. reg. at Mundham). Nowell had no children by either of his wives.

Nowell was a polished scholar, a weighty and successful preacher, a skilful disputant, and a learned theologian. Though the circumstances of his early life inclined him to Calvinism in doctrine, and puritanism in matters of order, he loyally complied with the ecclesiastical settlement of Elizabeth's reign, and even voluntarily showed his approval of certain observances, such as the keeping of holy days, that were disliked by the presbyterian party. Nor does he appear in any respect to have fallen short of the standard of the church of England either in his teaching or his practice. At the same time he was always anxious to promote peace both in the church and among his neighbours, and was a great composer of private quarrels. Meditative, as became a renowned angler, wise in counsel, and grave in carriage, he was held in high esteem by the foremost persons in church and state. Among men of letters his reputation was great; many books were dedicated to him (, sect. ix), and among other panegyrists Barnabe Googe [q. v.] addressed verses to him. Many testified to his piety by seeking consolation from him when dying, and, as in the case of Frances, sister of Sir Henry Sidney, and widow of Thomas Ratcliffe, third earl of Sussex (1526?–1583), by requesting that he would preach their funeral sermons. He was the almoner of Mildred, lady Burghley, a very charitable woman, and was chosen by her husband to preach at her funeral. Besides his benefactions to Middleton School and Brasenose College, he gave liberally to the poor. In his private relations he was affectionate and careful for others, and engaged in long lawsuits to protect the interests of his stepchildren, the ‘poore orphans of Mr. Blounte.’ In person he was slight; his face was thin and rather pointed, his complexion delicate, and his eyes bright. He wore a small beard and moustache (, Herωologia, p. 217). He lived to be the last of the fathers of the English reformation, and was a link between the days of Cranmer and the days of Laud. A portrait of Nowell engraved in Churton's ‘Life,’ and described by him as the ‘original picture’ from Read, was in 1809 the property of Dr. Sherson; it represents Nowell as wearing a broad-brimmed hat, and has an inscription to the effect that he died 13 Feb. 1601, aged 95, with the words ‘Piscator hominum,’ referring to his love of angling. There is a portrait with the same inscription in the hall of Brasenose College, and another in the Bodleian Library, to which he gave books (, History and Antiquities of Oxford, ii. 922). Another portrait in Chetham's Library, Manchester, presented by the Rev. James Illingworth in 1694, exhibits Nowell as wearing a skull-cap. There are engravings in Holland's ‘Herωologia,’ by Clump for Brasenose College, in Churton's ‘Life,’ and of Nowell's monument with effigy by Hollar in Dugdale's ‘History of St. Paul's,’ re-engraved by Basire for Churton's book (as to the headless trunk discovered in the crypt of St. Paul's, and engraved in Churton's ‘Life’ as a fragment of Nowell's monumental effigy, see, dean of St. Paul's, and , Life of Colet, p. 239).

Besides his catechisms noticed later, Nowell's printed works are: (1) A book containing Redman's last judgment of several points of religion, 1551 (not known; Memorials, ii. 527, 528); (2) ‘An Homily … concerning the Justice of God … appoynted to be read in the time of sicknes,’ with Grindal's form of prayer (not known;, ed. Herbert, p. 721; Life of Parker, i. 261); (3) ‘Reproofe written by A. N. of a book entituled “A Proofe of certain Articles in Religion denied by Master Jewel, set forth by Tho. Dorman, B.D.,”’ 1565, 4to; (4) ‘The Reproofe of M. Dorman's Proofe … continued,’ 1566, 4to; (5) ‘A Confutation as wel of M. Dorman's last book entituled a “Defence,” &c. … as also