21 having on a private coate, with some wicked assistants, before he was aware, gave him some cutls on the head and hi s lefl hand that was upon the boa.Le; but he full of courage d rew his sword, runnc at Poole and broke his weapon, which could not enter his fa lse armor, whereupon he runne in to him, resolv'd no Lto be murther'd without leavi ng some marke on Lhe villa ine; he bitt of his nose, and then, by Lhe ass istance God sent him of an hones t watermnn, being rescued, he was carried away, so sorely wonndcd that his life was in some danger : but the fact being made publick, his honorable carriage in it procur'd him a g reat deale of glory, and his adversary carried the marke of his shame to the grave.' After this returning into the country, he there liv'd with very much love, honor, and repute ; but hav ing bene toss'd up and downe in his youth, and interrupted in his studies, he grew into such an excessive humor of bookes, that he wholly addicted himselfe to them, and deeply engaging in schoole divin ity, spent even his houres of meate and sleepe among his bookes, with such eagernesse, that though he himselfe attain' cl a higli reputation of leaming thereby, and indeed a greate improvement in wisedome and pietie, yell he too much depriv'd his deare fr iends and relations of his comersaLion. When he was enter'd into this stud ious life, God tooke from him his deare wife, who left him only two weake ch ildren; and then being extreamly afi icLed for so deplorable a losse, he entertain'd his melancholy Y This is a singular taleJ and savours almost tco much of the ridiculous for the gravity of an historian: however Rushwo rth rec ite s a story of this same man not a little resembli ng it. In the append ix to his Qd vol. (C Sir German Poole vowed revenge against a Mr. Brighthou~e, shot two pistol s at h im ou t of a window, set two ser- ''nnls on him with swords, who ran him through th e cloak between tl1e arm and body, but ki1lcd him not, he defending himse lf effectually till Si r Germ::t n came on , who wounded hi m, and for which he and anothe r were committed to the Fleet, fined 11001. &c ." T hi s does not seem to have eurPcl him; perhaps the mark set on hi m by Sir Thomas H. succeeded better. Did Cha rl es tbe Second tnkc the hint from thi s when he set assassins to s1it l\1r. Coventry's nose, which caused the Coventry act to pass?
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