Doct. of Div.
John Colet the most learned and religious Dean of S. Pauls Ca∣thedral in London.—I have largely mention'd him before.
John Adams of Merton Coll.—He was afterwards a Dignitary in the Church.
This year was a Supplicat made in the ven. Congregation of Regents in behalf of Father William Byrd a Benedictine Monk, to be admitted Bach. of Div. or licensed to proceed in that Faculty; but whether either was granted, I cannot tell. I take this Father to be the same William Byrd who was elected Prior of the Mona∣stery of Benedictines at Bathe in Aug. 1499, after the death of John Cantlo•• the preceeding Prior. For what Benedictine of both those Names it should be, but he, I cannot tell. It is reported by onem who pretended to know him well, that this Will. Byrd was given much to Chemistry and chemical Operations, that he found out the Stone, or discovered the Elixir, and at the Sup∣pression of Abbeys he hid it in a Wall,
And ten days after he went to fetch it out, And there he found the stople of a Clout.
This put the Father into so great an Agony, that he became almost frantick, as the same Author tells us; who adds, that he ever after wandred about, had no setled place, that he became blind, had a Boy to lead him about, lost his Ecclesiastical Prefer∣ments, and died poor; with other the like fabulous Tales, which are commented upon forsooth by a certain Rosacrucian, as if they were as true as Gospel. I find this Person Will. Byrd to have ex∣pended much money in finishing his Church at Bathe, which is now the great Church there, dedicated to S▪ Peter and S. Paul, but before he could finish it, he gave way to Fate; which hap∣ning on the 22. of May 1525. John Holway of the same Order was elected Prior on the first of July the same year, and was Prior thereof at the dissolution or suppression of Abbeys, and not W. Byrd as severaln Authors report. Towards the upper end of the Choir of the said Church dedicated to S. Peter and Paul, was, by the Appointment of this Person, erected, between two of the South Pillars, a neat tabernacular Edifice, which, I presume, he intended to be the Seat of the Prior at Divine Service. His Arms on the Roof of it are curiously carved out in Stone, which are a Chevron between three Spread Eagles, on a chief a Rose between two L••zenges; and on the outside of the said Seat is a Memorial of his name, viz. a W and a Bird carved in Stone: in which Seat, or else near to it, he was, as I conceive, buried. As for John Cant∣low beforementioned, who was his Predecessor, and graduated in this University, he built in a certain Village near Bathe, called Holloway, in the Parish of Widcomb, a pretty little Chappel dedica∣ted to S Mary Magd. as also, as 'tis said there, the little Hospital adjoyning for Lunaticks.