and intended for the
satisfaction of my Reader.

[Sidenote: Conclusion]

I had also a friendship with the Reverend Dr. Usher,[2] the late
learned Archbishop of Armagh; and with Dr. Morton, the late learned
and charitable Bishop of Durham; as also the learned John Hales,
of Eton College; and with them also--who loved the very name of Mr.
Hooker--I have had many discourses concerning him; and from them, and
many others that have now put off mortality, I might have had more
informations, if I could then have admitted a thought of any fitness
for what by persuasion I have now undertaken. But though that full
harvest be irrecoverably lost, yet my memory hath preserved some
gleanings, and my diligence made such additions to them, as I hope
will prove useful to the completing of what I intend: in the discovery
of which I shall be faithful, and with this assurance put a period to
my Introduction.

[Footnote 1: A native of Suffolk, one of the Clerks of Corpus Christi
College, Oxford, and Greek Reader. He entered Orders, became a noted
Preacher, Chaplain to James I., and a great admirer of Richard Hooker
and the famous Dr. John Reynolds, the latter of whom he succeeded
as Master of his College. About four years after Hooker's death, he
published the Five Books of Ecclesiastical Polity, with a Preface; and
dying on April 3rd, 1614, was buried at Oxford.]

[Footnote 2: The illustrious Primate of Ireland, born in Dublin, Jan.
4th, 1580. He was the first Student of Trinity College, in 1593,
and in 1610 he was made Bishop of Meath, whence he was translated to
Armagh, in 1625. In the Irish Rebellion, he lost every thing but his
library, which he conveyed to England, where he died in retirement,
March 21st, 1655-56.]

THE LIFE
OF
MR. RICHARD HOOKER.

[Sidenote: Birth and parentage]

It is not to be doubted, but that Richard Hooker was born at
Heavy-tree, near, or within the precincts, or in the City of Exeter;
a City which may justly boast, that it was the birth-place of him and
Sir Thomas Bodley; as indeed the County may, in which it stands, that
it hath furnished this nation with Bishop Jewel, Sir Francis Drake,
Sir Walter Raleigh, and many others, memorable for their valour and
learning. He was born about the year of our Redemption 1553, and of
parents that were not so remarkable for their extraction or riches, as
for their virtue and industry, and God's blessing upon both; by
which they were enabled to educate