Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

Richard Hooker

1554–1600

Introduction

Autograph Manuscripts and Principal Manuscript Copies

Several autograph manuscripts of Hooker have survived. Perhaps the most important are, first, the printer's copy of Book V of the Ecclesiastical Polity containing Hooker's autograph additions (*HkR 10) and, secondly, twenty-seven pages of autograph notes for the Polity (*HkR 8). An autograph draft of part of the Sermon on Pride (*HkR 6) and a scribal copy of the Sermon of the Certainty and Perpetuity of Faith in the Elect containing autograph additions (*HkR 23) are extant; so also is Hooker's annotated printed exemplum of the anonymous Christian Letter, a pamphlet attacking his doctrine (*HkR 53).

In view of the mystery surrounding the fate of most of Hooker's manuscripts and the delay in the posthumous publication of his works, a number of early scribal manuscripts are of special significance in establishing the text, particularly of Books VI-VIII of the Polity: see, for instance, W. Speed Hill, Hooker's Polity: The Problem of the Three Last Books, Huntington Library Quarterly, 34 (1970-1), 317-36. The number of known copies of the problematical Book VIII now stands at eight (HkR 14-21). The number of copies of the even more problematical Book VI (apart from the Cranmer-Sandys notes on the original version: HkR 11) stands at two (HkR 12-13).

The single most important collection of manuscripts of Hooker's works is at Trinity College, Dublin. This collection belonged to Archbishop Ussher and probably came to him via Lancelot Andrewes. It is described in P.G. Stanwood, The Richard Hooker Manuscripts, Long Room (Spring-Summer 1975), 7-10. One other notable collection that contains relevant manuscripts is the so-called Fairhurst Papers at Lambeth Palace. These papers are ecclesiastical documents belonging to the official archives of the Church of England. They were removed for safe keeping by John Selden during the Civil War and were re-acquired by Lambeth Palace, principally at a sale at Sotheby's in 1963. The collection is described by Geoffrey Bill in Lambeth Palace Library, The Library, 5th Ser. 21 (1966), 192-206 (pp. 201-3), and in the Catalogue of Manuscripts in Lambeth Palace Library: MSS 1907-2340 (Oxford, 1976), pp. 29-66.

The Hooker-Travers Controversy

In addition to the manuscripts of Hooker's theological tracts, the entries below include documents relating to the major controversy in which he was engaged: that is, his doctrinal dispute with Walter Travers (1548?-1635) in 1585-86 (HkR 28-52). Travers's Supplication to the Council and various reports of his doctrinal objections to Hooker are included, as well as Hooker's Answer to Travers and Hooker's accounts of his own preaching. Travers's letter to Lord Burghley of 28 March 1586 and his arguments for being reinstated as minister in the Temple following the success of Hooker's defence are preserved in official copies annotated by Archbishop Whitgift (1530/1?-1604) in the British Library (Lansdowne MS 50, ff. 169r, 178r-v). The whole debate is treated in S.J. Knox, Walter Travers: Paragon of Elizabethan Puritanism (London, 1962), pp. 70-88.

The Ecclesiastical Polity: Quoted, Translated, and Annotated

Hooker's Polity was frequently quoted, sometimes extensively, and almost invariably from printed editions, in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century miscellanies. A number of these are included in entries below (HkR 65-78).

In addition, printed exempla of the Polity are often found containing marginal annotations by early readers. Volumes of this kind are found, for instance, in the British Library and in Corpus Christi College, Oxford (William Fulman's annotated exemplum of Books VI and VIII is mentioned in Keble (1888), I, xxxiii).

For the Latin translation of the Polity, Books I-V, which John Earle made for continental use during the Interregnum and which was thought to have been lost since Earle's original manuscript was destroyed by his servants after his death, see EaJ 85.

Letters

Only three letters by Hooker are currently known, one of them autograph (HkR 56-58).

Miscellaneous

The Inventarie of the goodes and chattells (including the library) left by Hooker at his death — a document dated 26 November 1600 — is preserved (HkR 59), as is his will (HkR 60).

Reports of the proceedings in the case of Hooker versus Sandys — documents of major importance in establishing what happened to Hooker's Polity after his death — are in the National Archives, Kew (C 24/390/100 and C. 24/394/73). These and other documents relating to the legacies of Hooker's daughters are edited in C.J. Sisson, The Judicious Marriage of Mr Hooker and the Birth of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Cambridge, 1940), pp. 127-73.

Certain other manuscript works which are found ascribed to Mr Hooker appear to be writings by another Hooker (? Thomas Hooker (1586?-1647)). For instance, in the British Library there is a manuscript Treatise of the Will of Man written by Mr Hooker, sometime Preacher of God's Word at Chelmsford in Essex (Harley MS 6828, ff. 65r-82r), and in York Minster a collection of manuscript transcripts of anti-episcopal tracts surreptitiously printed in the 1630s (MS XVI. L. II) includes A Briefe discourse touchinge kneeling in the Act of receiuinge the Lords Supper: Written by Mr. Hooker.

Apart from the annotated Christian Letter (*HkR 53) no printed books owned or annotated by Hooker have been identified. Elsie Smith, in Hooker at Salisbury, TLS (30 March 1962), p. 223, intimated that a number of theological books in the library of Salisbury Cathedral were heavily annotated by Hooker. Although Hooker certainly had access to this library, no annotations in his autograph have yet been identified, however.

Abbreviations

  • Elrington — The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Vols 1-14 ed. Charles Richard Elrington; Vols 15-17, ed. James H. Todd (Dublin, 1847-64).
  • Folger edition — The Folger Library Edition of the Works of Richard Hooker, general editor W. Speed Hill (Cambridge, Mass, & London):Volume I: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Books I-IV, ed. George Edelen (1977). Volume II: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Book V, ed. W. Speed Hill (1977). Volume III: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Books VI, VII, VIII, ed. P.G. Stanwood (1981). Volume IV: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity: Attack and Response, ed. John E. Booty (1982). Volume V: Tractates and Sermons, ed. Laetitia Yeandle and Egil Grislis (1990). Volume VI, Part 1: Introduction, Commentary, Prefaces Books I-IV, ed. W. Speed Hill, Egil Grislis et al. (1993). Volume VI, Part 2: Introductions; Commentaries Books V-VIII (1993). Volume VII: Index, ed. W. Speed Hill and Thane Doss (1998).
  • Keble — The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, ed. John Keble [first published 1836], 7th edition revised by R.W. Church and F. Paget, 3 vols (Oxford, 1888).

Prose

(1) Prose Works by Hooker

Answer to Walter Travers's Supplication to the Council

See HkR 36-9.

The Causes of the continuance of these Contentions concerning Church-government

First published in Certain briefe Treatises, written by diverse learned men, concerning the ancient and modern Government of the Church (Oxford, 1641). Keble, III, 460-5. Folger edition, Volume III, pp. 455-9.

HkR 1

Copy, in the predominantly italic hand of a scribe who worked for Archbishop Ussher and who also wrote HkR 2, HkR 6 and HkR 12, with corrections and annotations in Ussher's hand.

This MS used as the printer's copy in 1641. Its authenticity discussed in Keble, I, xlviii-xlix. Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume III, with a facsimile of f. 56r on p. 450.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

Fragments of an Answer to the Letter of certain English Protestants

First published in Keble (1836). Keble (1888), II, 537-97.

HkR 2

Copy of untitled fragments of a treatise on Grace, the Sacraments and Predestination partly or wholly intended as a reply to the Christian Letter published 1599 (see HkR 53), in the italic hand of a scribe who worked for Archbishop Ussher and who also wrote HkR 1, HkR 6 and HkR 12.

Edited from this MS in Keble and in Folger edition, Volume IV, pp. 99-167, with facsimile examples on pp. 100, 114, 122, and 164. Facsimiles of ff. 55r and 57r in DLB, vol. 132, Sixteenth-Century British Non-Dramatic Writers. First Series, ed. David A. Richardson (Detroit, 1993), pp. 202-3.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in several hands, 91 leaves, in old vellum boards.

Owned by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar. Old pressmark B. 1. 13.

A Learned Discourse of Justification, Works, and How the Foundation of Faith is Overthrown

First published in Oxford, 1612. Keble, III, 483-547. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 105-69.

HkR 3
Copy, in three small secretary hands, with a few annotations in another hand, untitled but for a quotation from Abak. 1. 4, iii + 22 quarto leaves, imperfect, in 19th-century calf.
Late 16th-early 17th century

Formerly A. 5. 6.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, liii). Edited in Folger edition, Volume V, pp. ??, with a facsimiles of ff. 1r-2r, and 21r on pp. 86, 107-8, and 163.

HkR 4 Late 16th century

Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed Abak. 1. 4..

This MS collated in Folger edition, Vol. V.

In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, speeches and miscellaneous papers, in several hands, vi + 361 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt.
HkR 5
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on 50 quarto leaves (plus four blanks), in contemporary vellum.

Untitled (but for the text from Abak: Cap: 1 verse .4.); inscribed Mr: Hooker by the second Earl of Bridgewater (1622-86).

Late 16th-early 17th century

This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V.

A Learned Sermon of the Nature of Pride

First portion published in Oxford, 1612. Additional portion first published in Keble (1836). Keble (1888), III, 597-642. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 309-61.

*HkR 6 c.1586
Autograph

Autograph draft of the first portion as published in 1612.

Edited from this MS in Folger Edition, Vol V, with a facsimile of f. 42v, 34r, 35r, 36r and 41v on pp. 301, 316, 323, 330, and 359. Described also in Laetitia Yeandle and P. G. Stanwood, An Autograph Manuscript by Richard Hooker, Manuscripta, 18 (1974), 38-41.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in several hands, 91 leaves, in old vellum boards.

Owned by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar. Old pressmark B. 1. 13.

HkR 6.5 c.1630s-40s

A fair copy of the portion othe work not published in 1612, in the italic hand of a scribe who worked for Archbishop Ussher and who also wrote HkR 1, HkR 2 and HkR 12.

Edited from this MS in Keble and in Folger edition, Vol. V, with a facsimile of f. 43r on p. 298.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in several hands, 91 leaves, in old vellum boards.

Owned by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar. Old pressmark B. 1. 13.

HkR 7

A few notes taken from the first part of the sermon (that published in 1612) in the hand of Archbishop Ussher.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

HkR 7.5

Extracts by Stanford.

In: A quarto miscellany, 79 pages (including some blanks), compiled by Henry Stanford (d.1616), household tutor to the Paget and Carey families.
c.1590s-1600s

Discussed, with facsimiles of pp. 1 and 49, in Steven W. May, Henry Stanford's God Knows What, EMS, 16 (2011), 70-81.

Berkeley Castle (Gen. Ser. Misc. Papers 30/72 p. 78)
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity

Book VII first published in John Gauden's edition of the complete Polity (London 1662). For publication of other Books see individual Books below.

*HkR 8 c.1597-8
Autograph

Autograph notes and drafts for the Polity, principally for Book VIII but also for Books V, VI and VII, with corrections and emendations in the hand of Archbishop Ussher, on sixteen folio and quarto leaves.

Edited in Folger edition, Vol. III, pp. 463-538, Ussher's transcriptiion of Hooker's notes on ff. 68v-71r edited on pp. 540-4, with facsimile of f. 71 on pp. xxii-xxiii. Described, with a facsimile of f. 71r, in P.G. Stanwood, The Richard Hooker Manuscripts, Long Room (Spring-Summer 1975), 7-10. Facsimile of f. 75r in IELM, I.ii (1980), Facsimile XXI (p. 225).

In: A folio composite compilation of legal and ecclesiastical tracts and notes, in several hands, written from both ends, 84 leaves, now bound in two volumes, in modern boards.

Old pressmark D. 1. 10.

HkR 9

Notes made by Archbishop Usser from Hooker's autograph notes (HkR 8), chiefly relating to Lib. VIII.

Facsimile of f. 68v in Folger edition, Volume III, p. 541.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

HkR 9.5

Extracts from Books I and V, headed From Mr Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.

In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single hand, 85 leaves, in modern quarter blue crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.

Volume IX of the collections of Basil Kennett (1674-1715), antiquary and translator

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 932 ff. 65r-74v) | Catalogue
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V

First published in London, 1597. Keble, II, 1-533. Folger edition, Volume II.

*HkR 10
Autograph
Fair copy in the hand of Benjamin Pullen, with Hooker's autograph marginal notes and corrections, iii + 228 folio leaves.

Bearing the signature and licence of Archbishop Whitgift and used as the printer's copy in 1597.

c.1595-7

Inscribed (f. 173v) Margaret Keynes. Later owned by the Rev. William Woolston (d.1817), of Adderbury. Purchased on 4 December 1878 from Mrs Mary M. Morison.

Edited from this MS in Folger edition, VII. Described in Keble (1888), II, v-xvii, and in Percy Simpson, Proof-Reading in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (London, 1935) pp. 76-9. Various facsimile examples in Folger edition; in Keble, II, v; in Greg, English Literary Autographs, plate LXXVIII; and in Simpson, facing p. 78. Also discusse, with a facsimile of f. 60r, in W. Speed Hill, Casting off Copy and the Composition of Hooker's Book V, SB, 33 (1980), 144-61.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Add. C. 165)
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book VI

First published (with Book VIII) in London, 1648. Keble, III, 1-107. Folger edition, Volume III, pp. 1-103.

HkR 11
Notes made by George Cranmer and [Sir] Edwin Sandys on the original version of Book VI, 18 folio leaves.

A MS sent to Hooker; inscribed Mr. S. and Mr. Cr. Notes upon the 6 and 7 bookes and by William Fulman (1632-88) Written with their own hands and given me by my friend M. Isaac Walton 1673. W.F.

c.1594-6

Edited from this MS in Keble, with facsimile examples in I, after p. cxxii. Folger edition, Volume III, pp. 107-30 (Cranmer) and 130-40 (Sandys), with facsimiles of ff. 3r and 15r on pp. 109 and 131.

HkR 12

Copy in the italic hand of a scribe who worked for Archbishop Usser and who also wrote HkR 1, HkR 2 and HkR 6, with corrections or emendations in Ussher's hand.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, xxxiv). Facsimile pages in Folger edition, Volume III, pp. xxxviii and lxxx.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in several hands, 91 leaves, in old vellum boards.

Owned by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar. Old pressmark B. 1. 13.

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book VIII

First published in an incomplete form (with Book VI) in London, 1648. Some additions published in Nicholas Bernard, Clavi Trabales (London, 1661), and in John Gauden's complete edition of the Polity (London, 1662). Keble, III, 326-455 (and pp. 456-60 for a passage found in MSS but not in the first edition, possibly part of a Sermon on Civil Disobedience). Edited by Raymond Aaron Houk, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Book VIII (New York, 1931). Folger edition, Volume III, pp. 315-448.

HkR 14
Copy, in a neat secretary hand, with corrections and additions in the hand of Archbishop Ussher, untitled, 167 quarto leaves, in old speckled leather (rebacked).
Early 17th century

Old pressmark C. 3. 11.

Edited from this MS in Keble (see I, xiv-xlvi), in Houk, and in Folger edition, Volume III, with facsimiles of ff. 1r, 21v-2r on pp. 313-14

HkR 15 c.1630s

Copy of Chapters 6 and 8, in a minute secretary hand, headed Of the autoritye of making Lawes.

This MS collated in Houk.

In: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous papers on theological matters, in various hands, 213 leaves, in 18th-century half-calf.
HkR 17

Copy, in a predominantly secretary hand, headed Mr. Hooker Lib. 8: v: 9. Eccle: poli. c.1620s-30s.

This MS collated in Houk.

In: A folio composite volume comprising two independent tracts, one ecclesiastical, the other legal, in different hands, 58 leaves, in modern mottled leather gilt.
The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 2750 ff. 1r-50r)
HkR 18 Early 17th century

Copy.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, xlv) and in Houk.

In: A large folio volume of ecclesiastical and historical tracts, in a mixed hand, 418 pages (including numerous blanks, plus many blanks at the end), in modern calf.
Early-mid-17th century

Given by William Moore.

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (MS 291/274 pp. 241-72)
HkR 19 Late 16th-early 17th century

Copy, in the italic hand of William Woodhouse, public notary, headed Mr Hooker's 8th Book.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, xlv) and in Houk.

In: A folio composite volume of state and miscellaneous papers, in various hands, 296 leaves, in modern half-morocco.

Among the collections of Thomas Tenison (1636-1715), Archbishop of Canterbury.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 711 ff. 10r-42r) | Catalogue
HkR 20 c.1630s

Copy of part of Book VIII, headed in the margin Lib. 8: v: 9. Eccle: pols:.

In: A folio guardbook of ecclesiastical tracts and papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 224 leaves, in modern quarter-calf marbled boards.

Among the Fairhurst Papers: state and ecclesiastical papers, many once belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, acquired by John Selden, MP (1584-1654), lawyer and historical and linguistic scholar, and his executor Sir Mathew Hale (1609-76), judge and writer, purchased c.1939 by James Fairhurst (d.1999), of Oxford.

Sotheby's, 15 October 1963, lot 502.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 2014 ff. 1r-46r) | Catalogue
HkR 20.5

Extracts, headed Kings subject to God alone, subscribed Hooker's Ecclesiastical Policy 8 book prserv'd by Arch Bp Usher publ: by Dr Bernard in his Clavi Frabalos p. 93. 94.

In: A quarto composite commonplace book of extracts chiefly from religious works, in probably several hands, one predominating, ff. 115r-27r occupied by a sporadic journal for 1715-21 in later hands, 131 leaves (including blanks), in old half-calf.

Compiled by Dr Thomas Lewis (d.1746), of the Royal College of Physicians.

c.1700s
HkR 21 Early 17th century

Copy, in a cursive secretary hand, with inserted leaves of corrections by Thomas Barlow.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, xliv-xlv) and in Houk.

In: A folio composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts and letters, in various hands, 239 pages, in contemporary vellum boards.
The Queen's College, Oxford (MS 292 pp. 1-79)
A Remedy against Sorrow and Fear: Delivered in a Funeral Sermon

First published in Oxford, 1612. Keble, III, 643-53. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 367-77.

HkR 22

A few brief references to the sermon, in the hand of Archbishop Ussher, beginning Mr. Hookers Remedye against sorrow....

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

A Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect

First published [in Oxford], 1612. Keble, III, 469-81. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 69-82.

*HkR 23 c.1584-5
Autograph

Copy, made by two or possibly three amanuenses, with Hooker's autograph corrections and additions to the portion copied by the first amanuensis, headed Whether the prophet Abacuk by admitting this cogitation into his mind, the law doth fail did therebie shew him selfe an vnbeliever.

Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V, with facsimiles of f. 59v as frontispiece and f. 55v on p. 62.

In: A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical and state tracts, in various hands, v + 397 leaves, in half-vellum boards.

Owned, and partly written, by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary.

Sermon on Hebrews ii. 14, 15

A sermon beginning God gave his people, the Jewes, a law, which law is set down in the 25th of Leviticus.... First published in Elrington, XVII (1864), xxvii-xxxviii. Folger edition, Volume V. pp. 402-13.

HkR 24

Copy, in the hand of Archbishop Ussher.

Edited from this MS in Elrington. Discussed and attributed to Hooker in Laetitia Yeandle and P.G. Stanwood, Three Manuscript Sermon Fragments by Richard Hooker, Manuscripta, 21, No. 1 (March 1977), 33-7.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

Sermon on Justification

See HkR 3-5.

A Sermon (on Matthew vii. 7, 8) found among the papers of Bishop Andrews

First published in Izaac Walton, Life of Dr. Sanderson (London, 1678). Keble, III, 700-9. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 385-94.

HkR 25 c.1675

Copy, in a roman hand, with a few corrections in another hand, headed Ric. Hooker Math. 7. 7, and docketed by Izaak Walton (f. 223r) Sermon mr Hooker.

This MS presumably Walton's copy-text in 1678. Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile of f. 223r on p. 382.

In: A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical and state tracts, in various hands, v + 397 leaves, in half-vellum boards.

Owned, and partly written, by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary.

Sermon on Matthew xxvii. 46

A sermon beginning There is a dereliction of probation and reprobation, of utter refuseal, and a dereliction of triall onely. First published in Elrington, XVII (1864), xxiv-xxvi. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 399-401.

HkR 26

Copy, in the hand of Archbishop Ussher.

Edited from this MS in Elrington and in Folger, Volume V. Discussed and attributed to Hooker in Laetitia Yeandle and P.G. Stanwood, Three Manuscript Sermon Fragments by Richard Hooker, Manuscripta, 21, No. 1 (March 1977), 33-7.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

Sermon on Proverbs iii. 9, 10

Part of a sermon, beginning Unto the precept of honouring the Lord with our riches.... First published in Elrington, XVII (1864), xxxix-xli. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 414-17.

HkR 27

Copy of part of a sermon, in the hand of Archbishop Ussher, imperfect, lacking the ending.

Edited from this MS in Elrington and in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile on p. 415. Discussed and attributed to Hooker in Laetitia Yeandle and P.G. Stanwood, Three Manuscript Sermon Fragments by Richard Hooker, Manuscripta, 21, No. 1 (March 1977), 33-7.

In: A tall folio composite volume of ecclesiastical writings chiefly by Hooker, in various hands and paper sizes, with an index at the end, 85 leaves (plus some blanks), in contemporary vellum boards.

Collected, and sometimes annotated, by James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, scholar.

c.1640

Old pressmark D. 3. 3.

Supposed Fragment of a Sermon on Civil Obedience, hitherto printed as part of the Eighth Book

Keble, III, 456-60.

See HkR 14-21.

(2) Documents Relating to the Hooker-Travers Controversy

Walter Travers's Supplication to the Council

First published in Oxford, 1612. Keble, III, 548-9. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 189-210.

HkR 28 c.1605

Copy, closely written in Dr Clay's hand.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, liii).

In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in English and Latin, in various hands, 155 leaves, in limp vellum.

Inscribed (several times), by the principal compiler, ex dono D. Clay: i.e. Dr Robert Clay (1576?-1628), vicar of Halifax.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS e. Mus. 55 ff. 83r-6v) | Catalogue
HkR 29

Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with alterations in another hand, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V, with facsimile of f. 66r and 69v on pp. 188 and 199.

In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, speeches and miscellaneous papers, in several hands, vi + 361 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt.
HkR 30
Copy, in a neat secretary hand, with corrections, untitled, endorsed Mr Travers &c, on nineteen pages of ten folio leaves, imperfect.
Late 16th century

Acquired in November 1934 from Colbeck Radford & Co., London. Formerly MS 4119.

This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile of f. 8r on p. 175.

HkR 31 c.1585-1600s

Copy, in a neat secretary hand, subscribed Walter Trauers minister of the Word of god, inscribed on the front wrapper by Sir William Fitzwilliam the younger (d.1618)Mr Travers to the LL of the Counsell in purginge him self as touchinge Hooker.

This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: Copy of two items relating to the Travers-Hooker dispute, in a professional secretary hand, six folio leaves, in paper wrappers, unbound.
Late 16th century
Northamptonshire Record Office (F(M) P 139 ff. [1r-5v])
HkR 32 c.1585 -1600s

Copy, in a secretary hand.

This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: A folio composite volume of late 16th-century ecclesiastical tracts, in various hands, 338 leaves, in marbled boards.
Dr Williams's Library (MS Morrice A Part I, ff. 109r-16r)
HkR 33 Late 17th century

Copy, transcribed from HkR 32 by an amanuensis for Roger Morrice (1628-1701/2).

This MS recorded in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: A folio composite volume of late 16th-century ecclesiastical tracts, in various hands, 338 leaves, in marbled boards.
Dr Williams's Library (MS Morrice A Part II, ff. 244v-51v)
HkR 34 Late 17th century

Copy, transcribed from HkR 32 by an amanuensis for Roger Morrice.

This MS recorded in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: A folio volume of ecclesiastical tracts, in a single hand, 898 pages (plus numerous blanks), in rough calf.
Late 17th century
Dr Williams's Library (MS Morrice C pp. 805-13)
HkR 35
Copy, in a folio volume containing three other theological tracts (one by John Rainolds, 1593).
Late 16th century?

Later owned by W. Bromley-Davenport, of Baginton Hall, Warwickshire. Not apparently among other recorded collections or sale catalogues of Bromley-Davenport MSS, it may have perished in a fire at Baginton in 1884.

Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 78, and in Folger edition, Volume V.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Baginton Hooker MS])
Hooker's Answer to Walter Travers's Supplication to the Council

First published, with Travers's Supplication, in Oxford, 1612. Keble, III, 570-96. Folger edition, Volume V, pp. 225-57.

HkR 36 c.1586-1600s

Copy, in two or more secretary hands, untitled.

This MS collated in Keble (see I, liii) and in Folger edition, Volume 5, with facsimiles of ff. 1r, 4v-5r, 9v-10r on pp. 214, 233-4, 243-4.

In: A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts, in several hands, including printed material, 70 leaves, in later vellum boards.

Old pressmark A. 5. 22.

HkR 37 c.1605

Copy, closely written in Dr Clay's hand.

This MS collated in Keble and in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, in English and Latin, in various hands, 155 leaves, in limp vellum.

Inscribed (several times), by the principal compiler, ex dono D. Clay: i.e. Dr Robert Clay (1576?-1628), vicar of Halifax.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS e. Mus. 55 ff. 87r-92r) | Catalogue
HkR 38 c.1585-1600s

Copy, in Casaubon's hand, inscribed Given mee by Mr. Jervis, 26 Feb. 1640 sn.

This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: A quarto composite volume of MSS collected by the classical scholar Meric Casaubon (1599-1671), 140 leaves, in modern binding.
The British Library: other MSS (Burney MS 362 ff. 96r-114v) | Catalogue
HkR 39 Late 16th century

Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed Mr Hookers answer to the Supplication.

This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V.

In: A folio composite volume of state tracts, speeches and miscellaneous papers, in several hands, vi + 361 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt.
A shorte note of sundrie vnsounde pointes of Doctrine at diuers times deliuered by Mr: Hooker in his publicke sermons

These statements edited in Keble I, 59-60, and in Folger edition, p. 282.

HkR 40 1585

Copy, in a secretary hand, on the first two pages of two conjugate folio leaves, endorsed (f. 51v) 30: Martij 1585 Certaine pointes of doctrine deliuered by Mr: Hooker.

Edited in part from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile of f. 50r on p. 280.

In: A folio composite volume of state and ecclesiastical papers in various hands, 159 leaves, in modern half-calf.

Among papers probably of Lord Burghley. Bookplate of Shelburne.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 96 f. 50r-v) | Catalogue
HkR 41 Late 16th century

Copy, in a secretary hand, headed A short note of sundry vnsound points of Doctrine at diurs delured By Mr Hooker in his publicke sermons, on one side of a single folio leaf, once folded as a letter or packet.

In: A folio guardbook of ecclesiastical and state papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 939 pages, in half black morocco gilt.

Comprising mainly papers of William Laud (1573-1645), Archbishop of Canterbury.

HkR 42

Copy.

In: Copy of two items relating to the Travers-Hooker dispute, in a professional secretary hand, six folio leaves, in paper wrappers, unbound.
Late 16th century
Northamptonshire Record Office (F(M) P 139 f. [6r])
Doctrin preached by mr Hooker in the Temple the fyrst of Marche 1585

Folger edition, Volume 5, pp. 283-7.

HkR 43 c.1585-1620s

Copy, the first folio page in the same professional secretary hand as HkR 44, the second page and endorsement in the hand of Ralph Starkey and on a folio leaf of a different stock of paper.

This MS is a different version of the statements printed in Keble, I, 59-60 (see HkR 40-2). Recorded in Keble's footnotes and in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile of f. 184v on p. 281.

In: A folio composite volume of state papers and tracts, chiefly relating to transactions between England and Scotland, in various hands, 212 leaves (plus blanks), in modern morocco gilt.
Propositions taught and maynteined by mr Hooker the same breefly confuted by L.T. [Lawrence Tomson] in a privat letter the 20th of marche 1585

Folger edition, Volume V. pp. 289-91.

HkR 44 c.1585

Copy, in a professional secretary hand.

This MS is a different version of the statements printed in Keble, I, 59-60 (see HkR 40-2). Recorded in Keble's footnotes (and see also HkR 50) and in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile of f. 183r on p. 260.

In: A folio composite volume of state papers and tracts, chiefly relating to transactions between England and Scotland, in various hands, 212 leaves (plus blanks), in modern morocco gilt.
Notes of Mr Hookers Sermon

Hooker's account of what he preached in his Temple sermons on Habakkuk, beginning I doute not but that god was mrcifull to thousandes of or fathers.... Keble, I, 60-4.

HkR 45

Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on the last six pages of a quarto booklet of six leaves (plus wrapper), endorsed (f. 177v) by Lord Burghley 28. Mart. 1586 Inter Hookar. et Travers. 1586.

This MS conforms to the text edited in Keble (see also HkR 49).

In: A folio composite volume of tracts letters and papers, in various hands, 212 leaves, in modern half-calf on cloth boards gilt.

Papers of Lord Burghley.

Bookplate of shelburne.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 50 ff. 174-6v) | Catalogue
HkR 46 Late 16th century

Copy of Hooker's account of his sermon on 28 March 1585, untitled, docketed (f. 9r) in the hand of Archbishop Whitgift notes of Mr. Hookers sermon, in an octavo booklet (occupying ff. 1r-31v, including blanks) almost entirely in a single secretary hand.

This MS is a version of the account printed in Keble, I, 60-4. This MS collated in Folger edition, Volume V, with a facsimile of f. 9r on p. 275.

In: A folio guardbook of ecclesiastical letters and tracts, in various hands and paper sizes, 287 leaves, in modern quarter-calf.

Among the Fairhurst Papers: i.e. state and ecclesiastical papers, many once belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, acquired by John Selden, MP (1584-1654), lawyer and historical and linguistic scholar, and his executor Sir Mathew Hale (1609-76), judge and writer, which were found and purchased c.1939 by James Fairhurst (d.1999), of Oxford.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 2006 ff. 9r-13r) | Catalogue
Hooker's vindication of his preaching in the Temple
HkR 47 Late 16th century

Copy of an untitled passage by Hooker defending his doctrine and identifying some of his references in the Sermon on Justification (see HkR 3-5), beginning I have bene greuouslye vsed openly/secretly and for boulstringe of Heresye..., in an octavo booklet (occupying ff. 1r-31v, including blanks) almost entirely in a single secretary hand.

Unpublished.

In: A folio guardbook of ecclesiastical letters and tracts, in various hands and paper sizes, 287 leaves, in modern quarter-calf.

Among the Fairhurst Papers: i.e. state and ecclesiastical papers, many once belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, acquired by John Selden, MP (1584-1654), lawyer and historical and linguistic scholar, and his executor Sir Mathew Hale (1609-76), judge and writer, which were found and purchased c.1939 by James Fairhurst (d.1999), of Oxford.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 2006 ff. 13v-15v) | Catalogue
[Answer to Hooker's Account]

A series of paragraphs, beginning Our fathers are no precidentes for vs to followe in error, apparently written in answer to Hooker's account of his preaching in the Temple (see HkR 45-6).

HkR 48

Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on the first six pages of a quarto booklet of six leaves (plus wrapper), endorsed (f. 177v) by Lord Burghley 28. Mart. 1586 Inter Hookar. et Travers. 1586.

In: A folio composite volume of tracts letters and papers, in various hands, 212 leaves, in modern half-calf on cloth boards gilt.

Papers of Lord Burghley.

Bookplate of shelburne.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 50 ff. 171r-3r) | Catalogue
Statement on the Hooker-Travers Controversy

Yale, Vol. V, pp. 271-7.

HkR 49 Late 16th century

Copy of a statement of doctrinal differences between Hooker and Walter Travers arising from a sermon delivered at The Temple in 1585, in an octavo booklet (occupying ff. 1r-31v, including blanks) almost entirely in a single secretary hand.

Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V. One paragraph corresponds with the footnote in Keble, I, 61 (see HkR 45-6).

In: A folio guardbook of ecclesiastical letters and tracts, in various hands and paper sizes, 287 leaves, in modern quarter-calf.

Among the Fairhurst Papers: i.e. state and ecclesiastical papers, many once belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, acquired by John Selden, MP (1584-1654), lawyer and historical and linguistic scholar, and his executor Sir Mathew Hale (1609-76), judge and writer, which were found and purchased c.1939 by James Fairhurst (d.1999), of Oxford.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 2006 ff. 6r-8v) | Catalogue
Lawrence Tomson's Letter on the Hooker-Travers Controversy
HkR 50

A letter written from Laleham by Lawrence Tomson to Mrs Crane discussing Hooker's propositions concerning the salvation of Papists, in a secretary hand, on a folio leaf, dated 26 February 1585/6.

This MS believed to be unpublished. Recorded in The Seconde Parte of a Register, ed. Albert Peel (Cambridge, 1915), II, p. 48, No. 197. A late 17th-century copy of this letter is in MS Morrice C, pp. 640-1.

In: A folio composite volume of late 16th-century ecclesiastical tracts, in various hands, 338 leaves, in marbled boards.
Dr Williams's Library (MS Morrice A Part I, f. 35r-v)
Christopher Tayler's Letter on the Hooker-Travers Controversy
HkR 51
A letter from Christopher Tayler To the godlie and his louinge brother in Christe Mr Houldesworth preacher of gods holie woord at Newcastle in which he records and comments on Hooker's opinions in his Temple sermons.
6 April 1586

Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V.

National Archives, Kew (SP 12/188/5, f. 11)
Sr Hew Herberts treatise against Hooker
HkR 52 c.1588

Copy of a treatise discussing at length the Hooker-Travers controversy.

This MS believed to be unpublished. Recorded in The Seconde Parte of a Register, ed. Albert Peel (Cambridge, 1915), II, p. 48, No. 198.

In: A folio composite volume of late 16th-century ecclesiastical tracts, in various hands, 338 leaves, in marbled boards.
Dr Williams's Library (MS Morrice A Part I, ff. 178r-83r)

Annotations in Printed Books and Manuscripts

Thomas Cartwright, A Christian Letter of certaine English Protestants [Middelburg, 1599]
*HkR 53
Autograph
Hooker's extensive autograph annotations towards a self-vindication, in his interleaved exemplum of Cartwright's printed pamphlet.

This MS collated in Heber (see I, xviii-xxv). Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume IV, pp. 1-79, with facsimile examples on pp. 2, 12, 20, 50, 54, 56, 62, 66, and 74.

c.1599

Independent early 17th-century transcripts of Hooker's annotations are to be found in two other interleaved exempla of this pamphlet: (i) Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS 215A (Thomas Norgrove's transcript); (ii) Trinity College, Dublin, MS 119, ff. 20-70v (anonymous). All three texts collated in Keble (see I, xviii-xxv), and the annotations cited in footnotes, with facsimile examples of Hooker's autograph notes on pp. 20, 22, 24 of the pamphlet in I, after p. cxxii. The annotations discussed in Vincent Mahon, The Christian Letter: Some Puritan Objections to Hooker's Work; and Hooker's Undressed Comments, RES, NS 25 (1974), 305-12.

Facsimile example in DLB, 132, Sixteenth-Century British Non-Dramatic Writers. First Series, ed. David A. Richardson (Detroit, 1993), p. 198.

HkR 55 Early 17th century

A transcript of Hooker's annotations in HkR 53.

This MS collated in Heber (see I, xviii-xxv).

In: A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts, in several hands, including printed material, 70 leaves, in later vellum boards.

Old pressmark A. 5. 22.

Letters and Documents

Letter(s)
*HkR 56 Late 16th century
Autograph

Hooker's autograph copy of an undated letter in Latin to John Rainolds.

Edited from this MS in Folger edition, Volume V, 423-428, with a facsimile of f. 20r on p. 420.

In: A tall folio composite volume of verse and some prose, chiefly translations from Latin, in various hands and paper sizes, 133 leaves, mounted on guards, in half red morocco.

Volume XVIII of papers of the families of Browne, Mariett and West, of the manor of Alscot, in Preston-on-Stour, Gloucestershire.

Portions once owned by Henry Jackson (1586-1662), Hooker's first editor; by Anthony Wood (1632-95), Oxford antiquary; by Thomas Coxeter (1689-1747); and probably by James West, FRS, FSA, MP (1703-72), politician and antiquary.

HkR 57 Mid-late 17th century

Copy of an undated letter by Hooker to John Rainolds, 5 September [c.1590], made by William Fulman.

Edited in Keble, in I, 112-14.

In: A quarto volume of miscellaneous papers, collected by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary, 245 leaves.
HkR 58 Mid-late 17th century

Copy of an undated letter by Hooker to Richard Rainolds, made by William Fulman.

Edited in Keble, in I, 109-14.

In: A quarto volume of miscellaneous papers, collected by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary, 245 leaves.
Document(s)
HkR 59
The Inventarie of the goodes and chattells (including the library) left by Hooker at his death, 26 November 1600.
1600

Edited in Rosemary Keen, Inventory of Richard Hooker, 1601, Archaeologia Cantiana (Kent Archaeological Society), 70 (1956), 231-6.

Miscellaneous

The Examination of Mr Hookers doctrine
HkR 62
An anonymous draft, in a cursive secretary hand, with revisions, the last page in another secretary hand, headed The Examinaa of Mr Hookers doctrine, on ten leaves, imperfect.
c.1650s

Miscellaneous Extracts from Works by Hooker, principally Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity

Extracts
HkR 63
In: A volume of state treatises, copied for, and annotated by, Sir Robert Southwell (1635-1703), diplomat and government official, vi + 420 pages.
Late 17th century

Thomas Thorpe's sale catalogue for 1834, item 245. Later owned by J.R. Magrath. Donated in 1930 by Miss Lefroy.

Bodleian Library, Eng. misc. MSS (MS Eng. misc. c. 144 pp. 152-63) | Catalogue
HkR 65

Extracts, headed Hooker Ecles. Pol.

In: A quarto miscellany of extracts chiefly from historical works, in Latin and English, in a single small mixed hand, compiled by one Thomas Gybbons, armiger, 237 leaves, in modern quarter-morocco gilt.
Mid-late 17th century
HkR 66

Extracts from Hooker and Locke, on the subject of the Liberty of the Will.

In: A volume of collections of Basil Kennett (1674-1715), antiquary and translator.
The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 924 ff. 1r-24r) | Catalogue
HkR 68

Extracts, headed Mr Hooker's opinion of Government, extracted by Mr Abraham Hill from his Ecclesiastical Polity.

In: A folio volume of state tracts, speeches and papers, in a single hand, 230 leaves.
1700s

Once owned by John Somers (1651-1716), Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 3828 ff. 92r-5r)
HkR 70

Extracts, including entries on pp. 75, 86, 136, 154, 224, 258, 352, 355, 442, 455, and 607.

In: A folio commonplace book of entries arranged under subject headings, in a single hand, written from both ends, 652 pages (plus some unnumbered), in modern cloth.
Mid-17th century

A modern pencil note on a flyleaf claims to identify the compiler as one Raworth.

HkR 71
In: A commonplace book, in English and Latin, arranged under headings, compiled over a period.
Late 17th-early 18th century
Chetham's Library, Manchester (Mun. A.6.34 pp. 62, 65, 220) | Catalogue
HkR 75
Copy of Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V, chapter LXXVI.
17th century
National Archives, Kew (SP 12/246/112 (ff. 317-20))
HkR 77

Extracts, headed Out of Mr Hookers preface and (f. 11r) Lib 1.

In: An octavo commonplace book, in a single cursive italic hand, written from both ends, 151 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf.
c.1650s

Owned by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.

Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the Bacon-Tottel Commonplace Books, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000). Facsimile of f. 132 in Sharpe, p. 194.

University College London (MS Ogden 7/17 ff. 3r-18v)
HkR 78

Extracts, headed Time. Hooker.

In: An octavo commonplace book of prose extracts, many under subject headings, written from both ends on rectos only, in contemporary calf.

Inscribed, evidently by the compiler, Henry Harpur An: Do: 1674.

c.1675
Yale, Osborn, others (Osborn MS Hey 7 ff. [14r-16r])

Contents