Cabinet Portrait Gallery of British Worthies. Volume IAnonymous
History
Cabinet Portrait Gallery of British Worthies. Volume I
Anonymous
Great Britain -- Biography
Paine thee not each crookèd to redress,
In trust of her that turneth as a ball,
Great rest standeth in little business;
Beware also to spurn against a nall,[39]
Strive not as doth a crocke with a wall;
Doomé thyself that doomest others dede,
And truth thee shall deliver, it is no drede.
That[40] thee is sent, receive in buxomness,[41]
The wrestling of this world asketh a fall;
Here is no home, here is but wilderness;
Forthe pilgrim, forthe beast out of thy stall,
Look up on high, and thanke God of all,
Waivè thy lusts, and let thy ghost[42] thee lead,
And truth thee shall deliver, it is no drede."
WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM.
There is an old tradition, perhaps not worthy of much credit, that upon
the wall of a tower in Windsor Castle, known as the Winchester Tower,
was inscribed "This made Wykeham." The great churchman raised this tower
as the architect of Windsor Castle, working under the commands of his
patron Edward III. It is further said, that the king being offended at
this inscription, its more obvious meaning was dexterously explained
away, seeing that it should be interpreted to record that the building
of the castle was "the making" of the architect. There are other proud
edifices still remaining upon which might be inserted "This made
Wykeham" in the most complete sense. No man ever left more permanent
traces of his course and character. The founder of Winchester College,
and of New College, Oxford,--the builder of the noblest part of
Winchester Cathedral,--had a title to be called their "maker," with no
king or subject to dispute his pretensions. He was one of the very few
men who, having raised themselves by their abilities and integrity to
riches and honour, worked not sordidly for themselves to heap up
treasure, but nobly employed their wealth in works of the highest public
utility. The life of such a man is for example. William De Wykeham, or
Of Wykeham, was born at Wykeham or Wickham, in Hampshire, in the year
1324, and, as his biographer Bishop Lowth has shown, some time between
the 7th of July and the 27th of September. There is reason to believe
that he did not take his name from his native village, the same name
being borne by several of his relations living in his own day, who do
not appear to have been born there. All that is certainly known about
his father and mother is that their Christian names were John and Sybil:
if his father bore the name of Wykeham, he appears to have also passed
by that of Long or Longe, and to have had an elder brother who was
called Henry Aas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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