Note to Add MS 4929 (British Library)
Transcription
These Sermon notes are the handwriting of Tho: Lord Fairfax, the Generall
Those of Mr Bowls1 & Mr Cartwright2 (at the other end) were writ by the Lady Mary Fairfax, dau'ter to the Lord Vere.3
The persons yt preached were Mr Topham,4 Mr Stretton,5 Mr Barret,6 Mr Byard,7 Mr Wales8 & Mr Blackberd,9 besides several without names wch I presume are his chaplain's Mr Stretton, some of wch I have afterwards heard him preach at Leedes particularly from 29 Prov. 1.
Note 1. Mr Bowls. Edward Bowles (1613–1662), a Presbyterian minister, former chaplain of the forces, and minister at All Hallows in York. Markham records that he "was constantly at Nunappleton" (p. 368).[back to text]
Note 2. Mr Cartwright. Christopher Cartwright (1602–1658), one of the Puritan ministers in York and author of A practical and polemical commentary or exposition on the whole fifteenth Psalm (1658).[back to text]
Note 3. Lady Mary Fairfax, dau'ter to the Lord Vere. There may be some confusion here. The Mary who was daughter to Lord Vere (Horace Vere, 1565–1635) married, first, Sir Roger Townshend and, second, Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, so she was never "Lady Mary Fairfax". Her sister, Anne Vere (1617/18–1665), however, married Thomas Fairfax, so was a Lady Fairfax and daughter of Vere but not a Mary. Anne and Thomas had a daughter called Mary (1638–1704), who married George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and so became Mary Villiers. It is most likely that the "dau'ter to the Lord Vere" referred to here was actually Thomas's wife, Anne. [back to text]
Note 4. Mr Topham. Probably William Topham (c. 1635–1721), minister of Bilbrough (one of Fairfax's estates; see Markham, p. 397). [back to text]
Note 5. Mr Stretton. Richard Stretton (1632–1712), Fairfax's domestic chaplain from 1660. He preached Fairfax's funeral sermon and afterwards led a congregation of dissenters in Leeds for six or seven years. See Matthew Henry, "A Concise Account of the Life of the Rev. Mr Richard Stretton, in The Complete Works of the Rev. Matthew Henry, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, London and Dublin, 1853), pp. 403–406. [back to text]
Note 6. Mr Barret. John Barret (1631–1713), a Presbyterian minister and religious writer who preached at St Peter's in Nottingham in 1656. After the Act of Uniformity 1662, Barret preached in various buildings in Nottingham. [back to text]
Note 7. Mr Byard. Henry Byard, Rector of Wheldrake, York, between 1650 and 1662. [back to text]
Note 8. Mr Wales. Elkanah Wales (1588–1669), Presbyterian minister at Pudsey, Yorkshire. [back to text]
Note 9. Mr Blackberd. James Blackbeard (d. 1698), minister of Sutton upon Derwent, York, in the 1660s. [back to text]
Modernized Text
These sermon notes are [in] the handwriting of Thomas Lord Fairfax, the General.
Those of Mr Bowles and Mr Cartwright (at the other end) were written by the Lady [Anne] Fairfax, daughter to the Lord Vere.
The persons that preached were Mr Topham, Mr Stretton, Mr Barret, Mr Byard, Mr Wales and Mr Blackbeard, besides several without names which I presume are his [i.e. Thomas Fairfax's] chaplain's Mr Stretton, some of which I have afterwards heard him preach at Leeds, particularly [the sermon] from 29 Prov. 1.
