“Thomas Farnabie, the most noted schoolmaster of his time, son of Thomas Farnabie, of London, carpenter, son of ―――― Farnabie, sometime Mayor of Truro in Cornwall, was born in London about 1575, and became a Student of Merton College in 1590; but being wild he made no long stay there, but left the college very abruptly, and went into Spain, and was for some time educated in a college belonging to the Jesuits. He left them, however, and being minded to take a ramble, went with Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkyns in their last voyage; afterwards, it is said, he was a soldier in the Low Countries. Having suffered great distress after his return, he at last succeeded in establishing a school in Goldsmiths’ Rents, near Red Cross Street in London, where at one time he made up a number exceeding three hundred generous youths. At length, upon occasion of some sickness, he removed about 1636 to Sevenoaks in Kent, in the neighbourhood of which place (at Oxford) he had purchased an estate, and taught there the sons of several neighbouring gentlemen, by which he acquired considerable wealth, and purchased another estate near Horsham in Sussex. He suffered some loss and imprisonment in the Civil War on account of his taking the Royalty side, and died at Sevenoaks, where he is buried, in the chancel of the church, with the following inscription: “P. M. Viri ornatissimi Thomæ Farnabii Armigeri, causæ olim Regiæ, reique publicæ, sed literariæ vindicis acerrimi, obiit 12 Junii 1647. “Vatibus hic sacris qui lux Farnabius olim, Vate carens saxo nunc sine luce jacet.” His principal works are, Notes on the Satyrs of Juvenal and Persius. Notes on the Tragedies of Seneca. Notes on Martial’s Epigrams. Notes on Lucan’s Pharsalia. Notes on Virgil. Notes on Terence. Notes on Ovid. A System of Grammar. Index Rhetoricus and Oratorius. Phrasiologia, Latin and English. Anthology of Greek Epigrams, with a Latin Translation. Tables of the Greek Language. Various Letters to Learned Persons. Boyle says of him in his Dictionary, that Farnaby was a learned classic, and that his notes on the greater part of the ancient Latin Poets have been of much use to young persons; that he dedicated his Horace to Prince Henry, the eldest son of King James the First, and that he was most favourably received by the Prince when he presented his work; and that he received an order, or a request, to make similar commentaries on all the Latin Poets, in anticipation, in some degree, of the great work afterwards executed for the King’s son in France. * * * * * But the most remarkable and striking feature in the history of Truro consists of the great wealth acquired there by various families in succession during a long series of years.