CHAPTER II.

THE ALDWINCLES AND THE PARSON OF

ST. PETER'S. (1602-15.)

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.-LOCAL SCENERY.-ALL SAINTS' CHURCH.-ST. PETER'S CHURCH AND ITS PARSONAGE-HOUSE.-OF BUILDING.-MARRIAGE OF MR. FULLER. THE DAVENANT FAMILY.-FULLER'S GODFATHERS: DR. DAVENANT AND DR. TOWNSON.-SIR ROBERT COTTON; DR. ROGER FENTON; DR. JOHN OVERALL; REV. R. GREENHAM.-CHURCH PARTIES IN THE COUNTY, AND THEIR RELATION TO MR. FULLER. THE HIGH COMMISSION COURT; DR. CAREY.-MR. FULLER'S CHILDREN.

"There is a secret Loadstone in every man's native soyle effectually attracting them home again to their country their center."-Abel Redevivus, p. 21.

M

Y author in another place antithetically tells us to what shire he was indebted for his birth. We quote from a paragraph entitled Natale solum dulcedine, etc., in his Mixt Contemplations, written at the end of his days: "I must confess myself born in Northamptonshire; and if that county esteems me no disgrace to it, I esteem it an honour to me."1 There is a ring of the civis Romanus sum about this sentence which adds much to one's appreciation of it: if there is any pride in it, it is surely commendable. Next to being an Englishman, Fuller took pleasure in his being a native of Northamptonshire. Very often in his writings he directs attention to his connection with the shire which bred him. He is never weary of speaking in its praise. Thus, "it is as fruitful and populous as any in England;" its waste lands occupy an insignificant space; it is the "great corn county " of the period, &c. He thrice calls attention to the fact that "all the rivers of the county are bred in it, besides those (Ouse and Cherwell) it lendeth and sendeth to other shires." In his Worthies Fuller takes full care to set forth its glories, "though it be my native country." The fair city of Northampton he omits not to commend; and he mentions its

1 P. 43.

Holy State, p. 123; Ch.-Hist. ix. 209; Worthies, § Northamptonshire.

reputation as the place for the most, and cheapest, if not the best shoes and "stockens;" manufactures which naturally lead him to remark that the town "may be said to stand chiefly on other men's legs!" In his History of Cambridge University, speaking of certain secessionists from the Universities who, A.D. 1262, proposed to begin a rival college at Northampton, he thus summarises the advantages of the position chosen:-"I commend their judgment in the choice of so convenient a place, where the air is clear, yet not over sharp; the earth fruitful, yet not very dirty; water plentiful, yet far from any fennish annoyance; and wood, most wanting now of days [1655], conveniently sufficient in that age. But the main is, Northampton is near the center of England; so that all travellers coming thither from the remotest parts of the land, may be said to be met by the town in the middest of their journey, so unpartial is the situation thereof in the navel of the kingdom." For the same reasons he comments on the favourableness of the position of the country for the Presbyterian discipline, A.D. 1597, to "derive" itself "into all the quarters of the kingdom."

"I was born," says Fuller again, "at Alwincle in Northamptonshire, where my father was the painful Preacher of Saint Peter's."3

This village, popularly called Aldwincle, but more correctly the Aldwincles (for it is one of the numerous Northamptonshire villages which have dual parishes), is situated in the north-eastern part of the county, between Thrapston and Oundle, in the hundred of Huxloe. It is best approached from Thrapston, whence it lies distant about three miles and a half north-east. There is a shorter way by a footroad through the low-lying meadows watered by the river Nene. Turning off from the main street of the pleasant little town, the pedestrian passes under the shade of some majestic trees, and after

1 Sect. i. § 49, p. 13.

2 Church-Hist., xi. 209.

Mixt Contemplations, p. 64. Painful = painsful, painstaking, is a favourite word of our author's.

'The villages are called Eldewincle in Doomsday book. The Saxon name was Aldwyncle. A variety of changes has been rung on the word. Orwincle (Aubrey), All Wincle, Alvincle, Aldwinckle, seem ultimately to have settled into Oldwincle; but Aldwincle now obtains. The etymology of the words is

equally varied. It may be, as the Rev. H. Ward points out in his Popular Hist. Aldwincles, p. 2, either Old Corner (Ald Wincel), or Old Wine-celler (Ald Wyncel); but Fuller, who ought to be heard on the matter, although it must be confessed he has started some outrageous etymologies, speaks of it (see page 20) as being the Saxon for Old Shop. seasonably remember his saying that he who seeks a reason for all proper names may seek it.

We

crossing the railway sees in the distance the village towards which he is bent. The extent of the village is indicated by its two churches, that of All Saints' directly before him, that of St. Peter's among the trees on the left. The village is much further off than it seems; for the long, flat, and apparently interminable field is apt to mislead in calculating the distance. The path is along the broad valley of the Nene, or Avon as it seems once to have been called (Oundle, written by Fuller Oundale Avondale); but the river is scarcely discernible in it. A Dutchman would be enraptured with such scenery. The meadows are of a prodigious size, and he who is accustomed to enclosed fields will express surprise at the many-acred plain spread out before him. This peculiarity is owing to the fact that Northamptonshire was one of the last places to be enclosed with hedges. Large open spaces scattered up and down the county are still called in the local speech" fields;" and there are many such indicated on the Ordnance map.

But to counterbalance the uninteresting monotony of a full half-hour's walk, there are, first, the well-wooded boundaries of the valley on each side, with here and there a church spire; and next, the fact that these meadows are extremely fertilethey are literally "green," and beside "still waters," affording pasture to herds of cattle. These adjuncts to the landscape remove, in a great degree, the apparent sameness and solitariness of the view. The fertility of the valley is derived from the Nile-like Nene. In making its way down the valley, the river, owing to the flatness of the district, flows, like Cæsar's stream, incredibili lenitate, as if it were loathe to seek "fresh" fields "and pastures new." Near Aldwincle, as though tired of itself, it lazily" parts from itself," as Fuller would say, breaking itself up into two or three other streams. The consequence is, that as we near our destination we have to cross some foot bridges.

The lower part of Aldwincle, which has been in view so long, is at last reached. It is built on a slope of the main bank of the river, which here makes a distinct bend, enclosing the very pleasantly situated village. The wooded ground on the left rises a little higher. Such gentle elevations as these, in a county which is hereabouts strikingly free from eminences, are eagerly dubbed hills. Aldwincle thus boasts of its "hill." The dark woods on it and beyond are remains of the old forest of Rockingham, which in Fuller's time was far more extensive than it is to-day; and if part at least of his native village was not in the forest, it lay within its purlieus. The old forest still occupies an extensive area, though great encroachments have