about the year 1644. The younger, John, who is the subject of this memoir, is said to have been born at Hartlebury in the same county5 about three years later6.

The troubles of those times, of which Worcestershire had its full share, may perhaps have occasioned the births of the two brothers to fall at different places. But in the course of a few years Mr. Inett was at liberty to choose a residence on other considerations, and we find him accordingly taking up his abode at the flourishing town of Bewdley, and placing his sons under the instruction of Mr. Low the master of its endowed grammar school', which seems to have been then in greater repute than any other in the county. From Mr. Low's care the elder son, Richard, was removed to Oxford, and was admitted a commoner of Trinity College in May 1660, being then sixteen years of age. He took the degree of B. A. May 26, 1664.

4 See the record of his admission at Trinity College, Oxford, cited below in note 8. By the kindness of the Rev. Arthur Severne, rector of the parish, I have received extracts from the registers of Rock, and have also been enabled to examine them myself. Unluckily there is a very large gap in them after the year 1641. Before that year the name of Inett or Inet occurs repeatedly with the Christian names of Richard, Humphrey, and Thomas; and in 1640 “Susannah the daughter of Richard Inett and Marie his wife" was baptized. 5 Kennett on Fast, Oxon. II, 308, n. 6. The Rev. Thomas Baker, rector of Hartlebury, assures me that he cannot find any entry of the baptism in the register of that parish.

6 The statements of his age at his matriculation and on his gravestone taken together place his birth between March 3 and July 17, 1647.

7 See note 8, and Kennett ibid.

8" Richardus Inett ex agro Vigorniensi et parochia Rock oriundus, patre ejus generoso apud Bewdley jam vivente, in schola Beudliensi a Mro. Low postremo institutus, annorum circiter 16, admissus est Commensalis quarto die Maii 1660." Trin. Coll, Oxon. Reg. Admiss.

John, the younger brother, was sent to Oxford likewise, having been appointed on August 2, 1661, to an exhibition in University College on the foundation of the celebrated Robert Dudley earl of Leicester9. Probably he did not begin his residence in the university for a twelvemonth or more; but, by an irregularity not uncommon at that time, he certainly kept several terms there before his matriculation on July 17, 1663, when he is described as of the age of sixteen years 10. No record of his early conduct or habits at Oxford is preserved; but as he was "much favoured and encouraged by bishop Fell" (then however only dean of Christ Church), who never lavished his patronage on unworthy objects, no doubt he led a student's life and began even then to fit himself for the work to which so many of his riper years were devoted. He was admitted to the degree of B. A. October 27, 1666, the year in which dean Fell became Vice-Chancellor.

On September 22, 1667, he received deacon's orders at Gloucester from bishop Nicholson 12. Two or three well known instances of persons ordained at a very early "A". I have to thank the Rev. John Wilson, D.D., President of the College, for permission to make this extract.

9 Univ. Coll. Reg. The Leicester exhibitions are in the gift of the heir of the founder, who on this occasion was sir Robert Sydney, second earl of Leicester of that name, the father of the patriot Algernon Sydney. Their annual value at that time was £20. For this information I am indebted to the Rev. F. C. Plumptre, D.D., Master of the College.

10 Before his admission to the degree of B. A. he obtained a dispensation enabling him to count all the time he had resided in the university before he was presented for matriculation. See Reg. Congreg. Oct. 16, 1666.

11 Kennett ibid.

12 The date, place, and ordaining bishop are recorded in his subscription at Oxford in 1670. See below, n. 16.

age, who afterwards became men of great eminence, are commonly cited as rare examples of the discretion. which till the beginning of the present century was allowed to our bishops to dispense with the canonical limitation of three-and-twenty years complete. But we must either suppose that such discretionary power was exercised two centuries ago more frequently than has been thought, or else believe that young Inett's abilities, attainments, and character had already gained him a very marked distinction. For, unless the age ascribed to him at his matriculation is incorrect, he cannot have been much more than twenty-one years old at the time of his ordination; while the age recorded on his grave-stone 13 would give him little more than twenty years and a half.

It is remarkable that, in the two subscriptions which he had to make before orders could be conferred, he described and signed himself "Johannes Inett alias Hungerford" and "John Inett otherwise Hungerford "14. Perhaps this was for the purpose of keeping in mind his connection with the ancient family of the Hungerfords in an age when more than one surname was unusual; yet he never appears to have used his mother's name, even with "alias" before it, on any other occasion throughout his life.

The title on which he was ordained is not on record, nor is it known how long he remained in the diocese of Gloucester. On July 8, 1669, he proceeded to the degree of M.A.; and in September 1670, if not before,

13 "Aged 70 years" on March 3, 1718.

14 I am indebted to the courtesy of Thomas Holt Esq., Registrar of the diocese of Gloucester, first for an account of the two subscriptions, and afterwards, when I expressed my surprise at the signature, for tracings of them.

he had returned to Oxford to combine the exercise of his profession with the prosecution of his studies, for in that month he received priest's orders from bishop Blandford 16. In his subscription on this occasion he styles himself an "alumnus" of University College, with reference probably to the exhibition which he still enjoyed there, and which seems to have been tenable in those days without limitation of time. He continued to hold it between nine and ten years longer, not resigning it till March 29, 16801, which was probably the year of his marriage. Some time after his admission to full orders we find him rector of St. Ebbe's in Oxford 18, a small benefice in the gift of the crown, for which he was perhaps indebted to the patronage of dean Fell. Here he remained for several years, possibly till he was removed to the vicarage of Nun-Eaton in Warwickshire, a more valuable living likewise in the gift of the crown, to which he was presented in December 1678 and instituted in February following 19.

Whether this change of residence made him known to sir Richard Newdigate of Arbury in Warwickshire, the second baronet of that name, one of the munificent patrons of learning and piety of that age, or whether

16 Episc. Oxon. Reg. Subscript. The date of his ordination is not recorded, but his subscription bears the date of September 24, which in 1670 fell on a Saturday.

17 Univ. Coll. Reg.

18 Fast. Oxon. II, 308. The dates of his tenure of the rectory of St. Ebbe's have not been ascertained. Search has been made in the Patent Rolls, and inquiry instituted at the Bishop's and the Archdeacon's Registries at Oxford, without success. One of the registers of the parish contains two entries, one purporting to be made in September 1672, the other about Easter 1675, to which his name is signed as "Minister".

19 Docket Book from the Signet Office, now in the Rolls Chapel Office. Episc. Lichf. et Cov. Reg. Subscript.

he had been previously recommended to sir Richard's favourable notice and owed the living of Nun-Eaton to his interest, has not been ascertained. But about this period he was chaplain at Arbury and was treated with great kindness by the family, and the friendship continued long after the official relation had ceased 20. Perhaps it was at Arbury that he became acquainted with the lady whom he married. For sir Richard Newdigate's first wife was Mary daughter of sir Edward Bagot, baronet, of Blithfield in the county of Stafford ; and Mrs. Inett was Mary daughter of the late Rev. Richard Harrison 21, chancellor of the cathedral church of Lichfield, and rector of Blithfield, as well as vicar of St. Mary's, Lichfield, where he died March 31, 167622. The marriage probably took place in 1680: their eldest known child, Mary, was baptized at Nun-Eaton September 14, 168123.

The first known publication of our author appeared in 1681, a quarto tract of 32 pages in all, with the fol

20 The kindness of Charles Newdigate Newdegate Esq., M. P. for North Warwickshire, the present possessor of Arbury, has permitted me to inspect three of Inett's letters to sir Richard Newdigate which still remain there. A label in the handwriting of sir Roger Newdigate marks them as letters from the "Rev. John Inett, chaplain at Arbury, author of the Origines Anglicana." The first of them was written in 1686, the second in 1692, the third in 1705. Two are letters of condolence on the loss of relatives; the other asks permission to dedicate to sir Richard a work which will be mentioned presently. The earliest of the three has its seal remaining, a coat of arms, of which the bearings seem to be these: on a cross between four covered cups (or perhaps trees) an annulet, probably for difference; on a chief three pelicans: crest, out of a mural coronet a pineapple. The tinctures are not clearly shown, but the field seems to be argent, and the cross is perhaps gules.

21 Her grave-stone in Lincoln cathedral.

22 Harwood's History of Lichfield.

23 Nun-Eaton Register.

Elias Ashmole's Diary.