A briefe view of the state of the Church of England as it stood in Q. Elizabeths and King James his reigne, to the yeere 1608 being a character and history of the bishops of those times ... / written ... by Sir John Harington ..., Knight.

Doctor John White.

He was born of a worshipfull house, and in the Diocess of Winchester, and became after Warden of Winchester, thence for his great learning, and vertu∣ous life prefer'd to the Bishoprick of Lin∣coln, and after upon the death of Stephen Gardner, made Bishop of Winchester; wherefore of him I may say, his fame did well answer his name, and so would all men say (how contrary soever to him in Religion, but for one black Ser∣mon that he made; yet for the colour is may be said he kept decorum, because that was a Funerall Sermon of a great Queen both by birth and mariage, I mean Q. Mary. But the offence taken against him was this. His Text was out of Eccles. 4. 2. Laudavi mortuos magis quam viventes, & faliciorem utro{que} judicavi qui nec dum na∣tus est. And speaking of Queen Mary her high Parentage, Her bountifull dispositi∣on, Her great gravity, Her rare devotion, (praying so much as he affirmed that her knees were hard with kneeling, Her Ju∣stice and Clemency in restoring Noble Houses to her own privat losse and hind∣rance.

And lastly her grievous yet pati∣ent death: He fell into such an unfaign∣ed weeping, that for a long space he could not speak. Then recovering him∣self, he said she had left a Sister to succeed her, a Lady of great worth also whom they were now bound to obey; for saith he melior est Canis vivus Leone mortuo, & I hope so shall raign well and prosperously over us, but I must say still with my Text, Laudavi mortuos magis quam vi∣ventes; for certain that is, Maria optimam partem elegit: thus he, at which Queen E∣lizabeth taking just indignation, put him in prison, yet would proceed no further then to his deprivation, though some would have made that a more haynous matter. He was a man of austere life, and much more mortified to the World, than his Predecessor Gardiner, who was noted for ambitious, but vet to his Prince very obsequious. But if Doctor White had had a true propheticall spirit, he might have urged the second part of his Text. Sed faeliciorem utroque judicavi qui nec dum na∣tus et; for that may seem verified indeed in the Kings Majesty that now is, who was then unborn, and hath since so hap∣pily united these Kingdoms; yet least that

which I would make in him a Prophecy, others will take in me for flattery; I will proceed to the next, or rather I should say to another, for of the two next I need add nothing, my Authour having testifi∣ed by both their Epitaphs, that they li∣ved and died well.