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THE REV? W

COLE.A.M

of Cambridge, & FAS. 1768.

Engraved from an original Drawing.

London Published Aug 201805. by W Richardson N31, Strand.

No. XII. REV. WILLIAM COLE.

On examination of dates, and of the Pedigrees of the Coles, in the Manuscript Volumes in the British Museum*, it appears that their ancestors, who were yeomen of respectability, lived for several generations in that part of Cambridgeshire which borders on Essex.

William Cole, the father of our Antiquary, had a little farm at Baberham in Cambridgeshire; and had four wives:

1. Anne, daughter of..... Mole, of Elmdon, in Essex, who died 1697.

2. Elizabeth, daughter of . . . . Babbes, of Ongar, in Essex, widow of Mr. Meyer, who died 1712. 3. Catharine, daughter of Theophilus Tuer§, of Cambridge, merchant, widow of Charles Apthorp, who died April 25, 1725.

4. Margaret, daughter of Berkeley Green, of Cotteridge in Worcestershire.

Our Antiquary, who was a son of the third wife, was born at Little Abbingdon, a village adjoining to Baberham, Aug. 3, 1714. His mother died April 25, 1725; and his step-mother, whilst he was a

*Cole's MSS. vol. XI. pp. 164. 165.

+ Cole's MSS. vol. XVIII. p. 158; vol. LI. p. 75. All his father's family were seated about Shepereth, and the borders of Essex adjoining to Cambridgeshire.-A. William Cole lived at Shepreth 18 Richard II.-The earliest ancestor from whom he could trace descent in a direct line was John Cole, of Ashden in Essex, who occurs in a will in the Ely Register, 1521.

"The first arms I ever tricked out from painted glass in windows of churches were in Baberham church in Cambridgeshire, where my father lived, and in Moulton church in Lincolnshire; so early a taste had I for Antiquities, even when at school at Eton. I have the notes still by me, this 24 July, 1772." Cole's MSS. vol. XLIII, 339.

§ Whose mother Catharine Tuer was the third and youngest daughter of Owen Vaughan, of Llwydiart; which Owen Vaughan married Margaret, second sister of Mr. George Herbert the Poet, fifth son of Richard Herbert, of Montgomery, by Magdalen his wife, daughter of Sir Richard Newport by Margaret his wife, daughter and sole heir of Sir Thomas Bromley, of the Privy Council to Henry VIII. VOL. I.

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boy

boy at Eton school, in 1729, or 1730. His father died Jan. 14, 1735.

He

Mr. Cole received the early part of his education under the Rev. Mr. Butts at Saffron Walden. learned French of a Mons. Henebert, who was then teacher of the modern languages at Cambridge, whom he describes as an ingenious man, and above the common run of that sort of people.

After going to these several schools, a Dame's school at Cambridge, Linton, Saffron Walden, and Eton, where he was five years on the foundation, he was entered a Pensioner of Clare Hall (where he was a Fellow in 1735); and after three or four years' stay removed to King's, where he had a younger brother* then a Fellow, and was accommodated with better apartments, which was the occasion of his removal. He took the degree of B. A. in 1736; proceeded M. A. in 1740; and was ordained in the Collegiate Church of Westminster, by Dr. Wilcocks, Bishop of Rochester, Dec. 25, 1744, by letters dimissory from Dr. Gooch, Bishop of Norwich, on the Curacy of Wethersfield in Suffolk.

In 1749, he was resident at Haddenham in the Isle of Ely; and in that year was collated by Bishop Sherlock to the Rectory of Hornsey in Middlesex (at his institution Father Courayer was present); but resigned it Jan. 9, 1751, in favour of Mr. Territ, who had just been appointed by Bishop Sherlock to instruct the young Prince of Anamaboe on the Coast of Guinea, and then in England, in the principles of the Christian Religion.

In 1753, he was presented by his early Friend and Patron Browne Willis, esq. to the Rectory of Bletchley in Buckinghamshire; which he resigned, March 20, 1768, in favour of his Patron's Grandson.

In 1755 he was confined by a broken leg.

Mr. Cole was an early and intimate acquaintance of the Honourable Horace Walpole, afterwards Earl

Cole, John, mon cher frere, buried in Moulton church," MSS. vol. XXII. 43. 339, 373, 374.-" Cole, Jane, ma sœur, her riddle on a pair of snuffers," ibid. 31. 130.-" Cole, Robert, of Linton, mon cousin." ibid. 41. 308.

of

of Orford. They went to France together in 1765; Mr. Walpole to enjoy the world of gaiety, but Cole to seek a residence in a cheap part of the country, to which he might retire altogether. The Droit d'Aubaine* had not at that time been revoked; but Mr. Cole thought it no obstacle to his fixing on Normandy for his retreat. The visit, however, impressed his mind so strongly (even at that time) with the certainty of an impending Revolution, that he preferred remaining in England.

He wrote the Account of Pythagoras's School at Cambridge in "Grose's Antiquities;" and was a great contributor to the Rev. James Bentham's "History of Ely, 1771," writing the Lives of the Bishops and Deans, and the Description of the Ely Tablet.

On this subject he received the following letter from Mr. Walpole, dated March 9, 1765:

"You know I am not cordially disposed to your French jour ney, which is now more serious, as it is to be much more lasting. However, though I may suffer by your absence, I would not dissuade what may suit your inclination and circumstances. One thing, however, has struck me, which I must mention, though it would depend on a circumstance that would give me the most concern. It was suggested to me by that great fondness I have for your MSS. for your kindness about which I feel the utmost gratitude. You would not, I think, leave them behind you; and are you aware of the danger they would run, if you settled entirely in France? Do you know that the King of France is heir to all strangers who die in his dominions, by what they call the Droit d'Aubaine? Sometimes, by great interest and favour, persons have obtained a remission of this right in their life-time; and yet even that has not secured their effects from being embezzled. Old Lady Sandwich had obtained this remission; and yet, though she left every thing to the present Lord her grandson, a man for whose rank one should have thought they would have had regard, the King's officers forced themselves into the house, after her death, and plundered. You see, if you go, I shall expect to have your MSS. deposited with me. Seriously, you must leave them in safe custody behind you."

† Among Mr. Cole's alphabetical volumes, B. part 1. f. 113. b. is a long account of Mr. Bentham, and the share Mr. Cole had in the History of Ely. "The History, proposed to be sold to the subscribers for 18s. was increased (though with about 50 copper-plates) only to a guinea; got up, even Aug. 1, 1778, to

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