famous men have been born in Hertfordshire, but
very many have resided in the county, or have at least been associated
with it sufficiently to justify the mention of their names here.

1. _Men of Letters._--Chaucer was clerk of the works at Berkhampstead
Castle in the time of Richard II.; Matthew Paris, the chronicler, lived
and wrote in the great Benedictine monastery at St. Albans; Sir John
Maundeville, once called the "father of English prose," was, according
to his own narrative, born at St. Albans and, if we may trust an old
inscription, was buried in the abbey;[2] Dr. Cotton, the poet, lived and
died in the same town, where the poet Cowper lodged with him at the
"Collegium Insanorum". Bacon lived at Gorhambury and was buried in the
neighbouring church of St. Michael. Bulwer Lytton lived and wrote at
Knebworth, where he was visited by Forster, Dickens and others. George
Chapman translated much of Homer at Hitchin, and is believed to have
been born in that town. Young, the author of the _Night Thoughts_, was
for many years Rector of Welwyn; his son was visited there by Boswell
and Dr. Johnson. Macaulay was at school at Aspenden. John Scott, the
Quaker poet, lived at Amwell; Lee, the dramatist, was born at Hatfield.
Skelton probably stayed at Ashridge just before the Dissolution of the
Monasteries; Sir Thomas More lived awhile at Gobions, North Mimms.
Cowper was born at Berkhampstead. The county has been immortalised by
Walton and Lamb in writings known to all.

[Footnote 2: As most readers are aware, it is now, to say the least,
gravely questioned whether "Sir John Maundeville" was ever more than a
name.]

2. _Divines._--Bunyan laboured and preached much in Hitchin and its
neighbourhood; Baxter preached at Sarratt and elsewhere, and lived
awhile at Totteridge; Isaac Watts lived for many years at Theobalds near
Cheshunt; Philip Doddridge was at school at St. Albans. Fox, in his
_Journal_, mentions visiting Hitchin, Baldock and other places.
Tillotson was a curate at Cheshunt; Ken was born at Little
Berkhampstead; Nathaniel Field, a man of prodigious learning, chaplain
to James I., was born at Hemel Hempstead. William Penn, whom many
considered a divine indeed, lived with his beautiful wife at Basing
House, Rickmansworth; Godwin was an Independent minister at Ware. Ridley
and Bonner were much in the county. Fleetwood, afterwards Bishop of
Worcester, was Rector of Anstey; Cudworth was Vicar of Ashwell; Warham
was Re