Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/248

 240 THOMAS HARDING April priest abiding in the Low Countries, and according to the account there were sixty-one who benefited by this bequest. Further, some assistance was given to those who in these days of bewilder- ment favoured the cause of the English catholics with more or less conviction and constancy, and who often wanted pecuniary help themselves : to the fickle Sir Thomas Copley,^ who at that time was in sore trouble, a sum of 24 florins ; to Sir John Gage,^ 10^ florins. They evidently were on familiar terms with the deceased, for he left to their respective wives all his * Roman silken pictures '. A lady, Elizabeth Covell, who received 20 florins, was another acquaintance, for in the account a Henry Covell is mentioned as having borrowed a sum of 80 florins. Harding remembered in His will his intimate friend, the noble-hearted Francis Englefield,* whom Queen Elizabeth called an obstinate rebel, and whom Saunders praised as the greatest of his countrymen. They probably had become acquainted in the household of Bishop Gardiner, who had chosen them as executors of his will.* Harding requested that ' three sargeant rings of gold having the inscrip- tion : Lex arma Regum ', which had belonged to his former lord, should be given to Englefield, who was furthermore re- minded that Mr. Twattes, another of Gardiner's executors,^ had stUl one of his rings for which he ought to answer. To another friend, Mr. Shelton, a sum of 180 florins was left, as well as a golden ring with a sapphire. To Mr. John Culme was offered a legacy of 60 florins, with the request that he should pray for the repose of the soul of Bishop Gardiner. There are also some smaller legacies to friends, who evidently did not belong to the social rank of a Gage or an Engle- field. A new gown was left to Mr. Bavand, perhaps identical with the John Bavant of Christ Church, Oxford, who became master of arts in 1552 ; a gold coin was to be given to a Mr. Dominick and to Mr. Wilson, about whom no other details are recorded, as well as to Richard Smith, a priest, who can hardly be identified ; ® further to Nicholas Fox and » Diet, of Nat. Biogr. ; Wood, i. 133 ; Lechat, pp. 52, 81 fif. History of Mary Queen o/ England, London, 1901, pp. 234, 305). The daughter of a Mrs. Gage entered the convent of the English Benedictines of Brussels in 1607 (Guilday, p. 258 n.). in January 1563 (Lib. iv Intit., fo. 386; see Diet, of Nat. Biogr. ; J. 0. Nichols, Narro' tives of the Days of the Reformation, p. 95 ; Lechat, pp. 45-6). seems to have belonged to the chancellor's household. three times from 1560 to 1569. One is the famous Oxford professor of divinity, who
 * Constable of the Tower and lord chamberlain in Mary's reign (J. M. Stone, The
 * ' D. Franciscus Englefildius miles Anglus ' was matriculated in Louvain University
 * Cp. J. G. Nichols and J. Bruce, WiUa from Doctors^ Commons, p. 46.
 * Thomas Thwaites, as he is called in Gardiner's will (Nichols and Bruce, p. 46),
 * Li the Lib. iv. Latit. of Louvain University the name Richard Smith was entered