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 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
 1891 
 
Si Cornell University 
 J Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029841552 
 
AN ADDRESS 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF 
 
 THE TERCENTENARY OF THE DEATH 
 OF RICHARD HAKLUYT 
 
 23 NOVEMBER, I916 
 
 WITH A NOTE 
 
 ON THE HAKLUYT FAMILY 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBERT GRAY, C.B., K.C. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY 
 
 BY THE CHISWICK PRESS 
 
 1917 
 
AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED TO THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY ON 
 
 THE OCCASION OF THE TERCENTENARY OF 
 
 THE DEATH OF RICHARD HAKLUYT 
 
 23 November, 1916 
 
 THE public celebration of the three hundredth anni- 
 versary of the death of Richard Hakluyt has been 
 anticipated by some months, owing to its association with 
 the greater names of Shakespeare and Cervantes. In the 
 speeches and writings which have constituted that celebra- 
 tion the life-work of Hakluyt has had generous recognition, 
 as worthy to be commemorated along with that of two of 
 the greatest masters in literature. Little doubt need be 
 felt that the fame of Hakluyt has been enhanced by the 
 association. The commemoration began, on 23 May and 
 has continued till now. I notice two articles on Hakluyt 
 in this month's magazines, 1 and only two days ago there 
 was an address by Professor Foster Watson at the Royal 
 Colonial Institute. It is thus fitting that at the annual 
 meeting, on the day of his death, of the Society which 
 bears his name, a few words should be said here by way of 
 epilogue. 
 
 Before proceeding to the subject in hand, I propose to 
 summarize the position and prospects of the Hakluyt 
 Society in this Tercentenary year. During the seventy 
 years of our existence we have published about 140 
 volumes, that is, an average of two a year, and our work 
 
 1 "The Tercentenary of Richard Hakluyt," by E. Hallam Moor- 
 house, in the "Cornhill Magazine," and "Richard Hakluyt and his 
 debt to Spain," by Professor Foster Watson, in the " Fortnightly 
 Review." 
 
proceeds without further interruption than the exigencies 
 of the time demand. We have ample material in the hands 
 of our editors for some years ahead. The dark cloud of 
 war is still over us, and the year has been further saddened 
 for us by the lamented death of our late President, Sir 
 Clements Markham, an irreparable loss to the Society. In 
 his annual Report, which is before you, the Secretary has 
 incorporated the unanimous vote of condolence passed by 
 the Council at a special meeting. 1 It is well for us on this 
 occasion to remember that in the long list of those who 
 have laboured for the Society, two names stand pre- 
 eminent, Sir Henry Yule and Sir Clements Markham. 
 Both were devoted students and followers of Hakluyt, 
 sharing his ardent patriotism, and animated with the same 
 zeal for the public good. The Report bears witness to our 
 continuing debt to those distinguished men ; for this year 
 will see the completion of the new edition by M. Cordier 
 of Sir H. Yule's " Cathay," while we have also in the press 
 one of the two remaining volumes of Cieza de Leon's 
 " Wars of Peru," edited by Sir Clements Markham. 2 
 
 With regard to other current work, I am happy to con- 
 
 ' " The Council desire with deep regret to place on record their 
 sense of the loss sustained this year by the Society in the death of Sir 
 Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., who became a member in 
 1853, and held the offices of Secretary from 1858 to 1887 and of 
 President from 1889 to 1909. 
 
 "Besides filling these offices with the highest efficiency, he edited for 
 the Society a large number of their most valued works, chiefly trans- 
 lations from the Spanish and Portuguese, in which languages he was 
 a proficient scholar. 
 
 "Thus for nearly 60 years the Society enjoyed the direct benefits of 
 his unwearied labour, while his name added lustre to its public repu- 
 tation — a lustre created by his varied accomplishments in geographical 
 science, by his achievements in exploration and by his other and 
 manifold services to the State and humanity." 
 
 s The Society will look forward with interest to the forthcoming 
 biography of Sir C. Markham, by his cousin Admiral Sir A. Mark- 
 ham, K.C.B., member of the Council of the Society. 
 
gratulate Mr. Maudslay and the Society on the completion 
 of his monumental edition of Bernal Diaz's " True History 
 of the Conquest of New Spain." Mr. Maudslay has brought 
 to his task immense labour, accurate scholarship, and an 
 intimate knowledge of Mexico and its history. 
 
 All that is known of the life of Hakluyt has already 
 been written, and it would not serve any good purpose if 
 I were to repeat to-day what has been sufficiently well told 
 by others. On some points, his parentage, his place of 
 birth, and his marriages, our information is lamentably 
 deficient, and as yet no portrait of him has been dis- 
 covered. I have myself made some notes on disputed and 
 doubtful matters connected with his family, which may be 
 useful in prompting further research. 1 To-day I propose 
 no more than to offer some observations on the place of 
 Hakluyt and his great work in the political and literary 
 history of England. 
 
 The " Principal Navigations " may be regarded from the 
 point of view of history, from that of literature or from 
 that of empire building, and it is notable in all these 
 aspects. But was Hakluyt himself either a great historian 
 or a great man of letters? Can the editor of a compila- 
 tion of travellers' tales, mostly transcribed, perhaps partly 
 written to dictation, be classed as a historian? Or can he, 
 whose first-hand contributions to the work were little 
 beyond the prefaces and dedicatory epistles, admirable 
 pieces of writing as these are, be placed in the world of 
 letters in the rank of authors? If we answer these ques- 
 tions in the negative, we need not harbour any compunc- 
 tion, as if we were dethroning Hakluyt, as Homer has been 
 dethroned by some of his critics. He never claimed to be 
 more than the humble editor, who rescued from oblivion 
 1 See below, p. 13. 
 
records that "lay so dispersed, scattered and hidden in 
 severall hucksters hands that I now woonder at my selfe to 
 see how I was able to endure the delayes curiosity and 
 backwardnesse of many from whom I was to receive my 
 originals." 1 The ardent love of his country devoured all 
 difficulties, and the result is the prose epic of the English 
 nation, which takes a high place both in history and in 
 literature, as the record of noble deeds performed on the 
 world's wide stage in one of the great epochs of history, 
 nobly told in the simple but vivid language which has 
 made the English Bible so precious an inheritance of the 
 British race. 
 
 One may sometimes wonder what the result would have 
 been if Hakluyt, instead of publishing the travellers' tales 
 as they told them, had himself written a history on the 
 same materials. How would he have criticized the earlier 
 travellers such as the Friars Carpini and Odoric? what 
 would he have said of the country where the men had the 
 feet of oxen and the faces of dogs, who spake two words 
 as men and at the third barked like dogs? I am inclined 
 to think he would have been lenient. He would certainly 
 have written a story which would have had the charm 
 and naiveti of Herodotus, whose outlook upon foreign 
 countries indeed of all writers most resembles his own. 
 In one of his introductions, he tells us that the early 
 Britons were accustomed to go to the Holy Land prin- 
 cipally for devotion, " although I read in Joseph Bengorion 
 a very authenticall Hebrew author a testimonie of the 
 passing of 20,000 Britains valiant souldiours, to the siege 
 and fearefull sacking of Jerusalem under the conduct of 
 Vespasian and Titus the Romane Emperour." a He believed 
 with his travellers (and no blame to them) that the sand- 
 
 1 Hakluyt, vol. i, p. xix. The references to Hakluyt in this paper are 
 to the edition of Messrs. Maclehose and Sons, 12 vols., Glasgow, 1903. 
 3 Hakluyt, vol. i, p. xxv. 
 
covered ruins in Mesopotamia were in fact the remnant of 
 the tower of Babel. The contemporary records which com- 
 prise the bulk of Hakluyt's collection deal with matters of 
 sober fact and experience, but the popular knowledge of 
 the distant world, its geography, kingdoms and peoples, 
 was so limited, that a sense of wonder pervades the relation 
 of new manifestations of the Divine power in nature, 
 whether the subject in hand be the newly ploughed South 
 Sea or the Frozen North; while the descriptions of the 
 courts of the Russian Emperor and the Great Mogul have 
 about them the atmosphere of romance which still en- 
 veloped the mysterious East. 
 
 Hakluyt's volumes have, however, an interest for us 
 transcending that which attaches to them as history or litera- 
 ture. He was not one of those compilers who engage in 
 book making for the sake of daily bread. His collection 
 was the fulfilment of a task in the interest of his country 
 and humanity, to which his life was devoted from the day 
 when as a Westminster boy he left his cousin's chambers 
 in the Temple, where he had been introduced to " certain 
 books of Cosmographie with an universall mappe." J As 
 he grew up he "waded," as he quaintly observes, "still 
 farther and farther in the sweet study of cosmographie," 2 
 but the direction was given on that day in the Temple 
 when his cousin pointed with his wand on the map not 
 only the seas, gulfs, bays, kingdoms, etc., but also " with 
 declaration of their special commodities and particular 
 wants which by the benefit of trade and intercourse of 
 merchants are plentifully supplied." This cousin Richard 
 was a remarkable man and the extent of his influence on 
 the career of Hakluyt has hardly been sufficiently recog- 
 nized. The nature and scope of the lecture at the Temple 
 can be fairly surmised from a reading of his contributions to 
 
 1 Vol. i, p. xvii. ' Vol. i, p. xxxi. 
 
Hakluyt's book. He was as deeply versed in all matters of 
 foreign trade as was possible with existing knowledge, and 
 seems to have been interested in weaving and the woollen 
 trade, the dyeing of fabrics, and in the acclimatization of 
 plants and animals. He first, as the younger man did later, 
 " became familiarly acquainted with the chiefest captaines 
 at sea, the greatest merchants and the best mariners of our 
 nation." l He contributes letters from himself to travellers 
 and factors, instructing them in the matters to which their 
 attention should be specially given in the countries they 
 were to visit. Some of the letters from foreign parts are 
 addressed to him. Hakluyt also specially thanks him for 
 his assistance in the compilation of the third part of his 
 book, that concerned with the American voyages. 
 
 Cousin Richard was an excellent guide in matters relat- 
 ing to trade, but as Hakluyt grew his horizon widened, 
 From traffic with the distant parts of civilized Europe and 
 Asia he turned to the great unoccupied lands of the west 
 and became an apostle of colonization. He made no 
 prophecy that England would become the greatest colon- 
 izing power in the world, he merely pointed to the lands 
 that were open, and proclaimed the great opportunity. 
 The age in which he lived, as he says, was " an age wherein 
 God hath raised so general a desire in the youth of this 
 realm to discover all parts of the face of the earth." Every 
 year was marked by voyages which were in contemplation 
 or prosecution, or had either gloriously failed or happily 
 ended. His pride in the exploits of his countrymen is 
 eloquently proclaimed in his Epistle to Sir F. Walsingham, 
 where, with glowing patriotism, he summarizes the exploits 
 of contemporary Englishmen : 
 
 "To speake a word of that just commendation which our nation 
 doe indeed deserve; it can not be denied, but as in all former 
 
 1 Vol. i, p. xviii. 
 
ages, they have bene men full of activity, stirrers abroad, and 
 searchers of the remote parts of the world, so in this most famous 
 and peerlesse governement of her most excellent Majesty, her 
 subjects through the speciall assistance and blessing of God, in 
 searching the most opposite corners and quarters of the world, 
 and to speake plainly, in compassing the vast globe of the earth 
 more then once, have excelled all the nations and people of the 
 earth. For, which of the kings of this land before her Majesty, 
 had theyr banners ever seene in the Caspian sea? Which of them 
 hath ever dealt with the Emperor of Persia as her Majesty hath 
 done, and obtained for her merchants large and loving privileges? 
 who ever saw before this regiment, an English Ligier in the 
 stately porch of the Grand Signor at Constantinople? who ever 
 found English Consuls and Agents at Tripolis in Syria, at Aleppo, 
 at Babylon, at Balsara, and which is more, who ever heard of an 
 Englishman at Goa before now? what English shippes did here- 
 tofore ever anker in the mighty river of Plate? passe and repasse 
 the unpassable (in former opinion) straight of Magellan, range 
 along the coast of Chili, Peru, and all the backside of Nova 
 Hispania, further than any Christian ever passed, travers the 
 mighty bredth of the South sea, land upon the Luzones in despight 
 of the enemy, enter into alliance, amity, and traffike with the 
 princes of the Moluccaes, and the Isle of Java, double the famous 
 Cape of Bona Speranza, arive at the Isle of Santa Helena, and 
 last of al returne home most richly laden with the commodities 
 of China, as the subjects of this now flourishing monarchy have 
 done?" 
 
 Hakluyt's views on colonization were set forth in his 
 " Discourse concerning Western Planting," his only essay 
 in authorship, which has as yet been published only in the 
 records of the Maine Historical Society ( 1 877). 1 When Hak- 
 luyt wrote this treatise in 1584 the privateer war was in full 
 swing and there was little chance of the peaceful coloniza- 
 tion of Virginia, a coast so near to the Spanish main. Thus 
 while he states the contemplated benefits of colonies by 
 
 1 The MS., which had belonged to the late Sir Thomas Phillips, was 
 sold by Messrs. Sotheby in 1913 to Mr R. H. Dodd of New York. 
 
 A 2 
 
IO 
 
 arguments that are fairly sound for all time, the new mar- 
 kets for English goods, the increase of the royal revenues 
 by customs dues, new material for the growth of the navy, 
 relief for the surplus population of England, etc., he is fully 
 aware that these ends cannot be won without fighting. 
 Colonies on the American coast will give occasions and 
 opportunities for driving the Spaniards from the New- 
 foundland fisheries and for intercepting the treasure ships 
 coming from New Spain. "If you touch him {i.e. the King 
 of Spain) in the Indies, you touch the apple of his eye." 
 
 When the " Principal Navigations " was published five 
 years later the first attempts at colonizing Virginia had 
 failed, and the Queen could not be said to possess a square 
 mile of territory beyond the Four Seas, but the power of 
 Spain had been broken in the great Armada fight in 1588. 
 That date fitly marks the commencement of the structure 
 which has become the British Empire. The ground was 
 cleared, and the foundations had been well and truly laid 
 by the valiant deeds of our seamen, and by the enterprise 
 of our explorers and commercial agents. In that prepara- 
 tion of the ground Hakluyt took a notable part, and by 
 his book he may be said to have fashioned and trimmed 
 the foundation stone itself. 1 
 
 What would be the position and reputation of Hakluyt 
 and his book, if there had been no British Empire? The 
 question is not a fatuous one, if it helps us to trace with 
 due appreciation the links which bind the Elizabethan 
 age to our own. This book would still be a record of great 
 deeds, but those of a world in which our share was sub- 
 ordinate or insignificant. In what a far different spirit do 
 we now regard the Elizabethan age, seeing, as we clearly 
 
 1 In Fuller's opinion Hakluyt's was " a work of great honour to 
 England, it being possible that many ports and islands in America 
 which, being base and barren, bear only a bare name for the present, 
 may prove rich places for the future" ("Worthies of England," 1662). 
 
II 
 
 see, that the struggle then won determined the course of 
 civilization, and that from it issued two of the dominant 
 factors of the modern world, the British Empire and the 
 great American Republic. That Empire is now assailed, 
 and Great Britain, though with more than ten times the 
 population of Elizabethan England, has to meet a foe im- 
 measurably more dangerous than ever Spain was. In the 
 gigantic struggle now proceeding we have full confidence 
 in our cause, our allies, and ourselves. One source of that 
 confidence may fitly be referred to here. The past two 
 years have taught us, what we had doubted before, that our 
 race has suffered no deterioration, and that our youth and 
 manhood, now arrayed under Jellicoe and Haig, are 
 fashioned in the same mould as the men who fought with 
 Drake apd Grenville, endowed with the same resource in 
 difficulties, and inspired by the same loyalty and high 
 courage. The men who are defending the Empire are 
 in truth of the same stamp as those that made it: for 
 indeed, as Andrew Marvell wrote : 
 
 The same arts that did gain 
 A power, must it maintain. 
 
 At the commencement of this address I alluded to 
 Hakluyt's share in the credit of empire building. I do not 
 advance it as a claim to a place in any select or exclusive 
 list. For as we survey the rise and development of the 
 British Empire, we must look not only to the great 
 names such as Drake and Chatham, Clive and Wolfe, 
 but also to those whose courage or loyal service con- 
 tributed to make the great names illustrious, not only to 
 those who have fought for the Empire, but also to those 
 who have worked for it in its days of peace, not only to 
 those who have done their part abroad, but also those who, 
 like Hakluyt, have laboured for it at home. 
 
 We may, indeed, regard the empire builders as a great 
 
12 
 
 brotherhood or corporation, endowed like other corpora- 
 tions with perpetual succession, to which each generation 
 has contributed its quota of freemen, drawn first from one 
 kingdom, then from three, and lastly from the great 
 daughter States themselves. Some have seen the comple- 
 tion of their life's work and the results in part: others with 
 half-accomplished tasks have fallen out, stricken in battle 
 or by disease; to others again time brings an award of 
 posthumous honour after lives of apparent failure. But 
 whatever be the fortunes of the individual members, those 
 who have gone before, or those who are now making good 
 their claims to admission, we recognize as the mark or 
 characteristic of the brotherhood : — 
 
 One equal temper of heroic hearts 
 
 Made weak by time or fate, but strong in will 
 
 To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 
 
A NOTE 
 
 OF SOME DOUBTFUL MATTERS RELATING TO 
 RICHARD HAKLUYT AND HIS FAMILY 
 
 THE principal authorities for the life of Hakluyt are 
 Oldys' article in "Biographia Britannica," 1757 
 (founded partly on Fuller's "Worthies of England" and 
 Wood's " Athen. Oxon."); Winter Jones' " Introduction to 
 Divers Voyages" (Hakluyt Soc, 1850); C. H. Coote in 
 " Encyclopaedia Britannica," as revised by E. R. Beazly 
 in the nth edition; Sir J. Laugh ton in "Diet. Nat. Biog."; 
 Sir W. Raleigh in Introduction to the Glasgow edition of 
 the " Principal Navigations," vol. xii. 
 
 The following authorities may be consulted as to the 
 Hakluyt family: "Visitation of Herefordshire," 1569, 
 privately printed for F. W. Weaver, 1 886 ; " Collections 
 towards the History and Antiquities of the County of 
 Hereford," by John Duncumb, 1804; "History of the 
 Castles of Herefordshire, etc.," by the Rev. C. J. Robinson,, 
 1869 ; " History of the Mansions, etc., of Herefordshire," by 
 the Rev. C. J. Robinson, 1873 ; " Fasti Herefordenses," by the 
 Rev. F. T. Havergal, 1869; " Historical and Topographical 
 Account of Leominster, etc.," by John Price, 1795 ; " Leo- 
 minster Guide," 1808. For these references I am indebted 
 to the researches of Mr. J. H. Reynolds. 
 
 Richard Hakluyt, according to his best early biographer, 
 Oldys (" Biog. Brit."), " was descended of an ancient and 
 genteel family." The Hakluyts were indeed distinguished 
 in the County of Hereford from the time of Edward II 
 down to Hakluyt's own day, both by their possessions and 
 by the public offices which they filled. They were divided 
 
 13 
 
in branches, not yet clearly distinguished, which held at 
 different times or together properties known as Dorming- 
 ton, Eton Roster, Yatton, Kintley, Eaton, Eyton, Pixley, 
 and Wharton. Several of them were Sheriffs and members 
 of Parliament; one was Chancellor of Hereford, another 
 was King's Escheator, and some were knighted. The name 
 was variously spelt Hakelut, Hackluit, etc.; Hakluyt's 
 own spelling is now accepted, though " Hackluyte " was 
 also used in his day. 
 
 The suggestion that the family is of foreign origin is 
 modern and baseless. The true origin is probably to be 
 found as traced in a passage in Leland's " Itinerary," which 
 curiously has escaped the notice of Hakluyt's biographers. 
 The discovery, or rather rediscovery — the passage being 
 cited in two old Leominster guide-books — has been made 
 by Mr. J. H. Reynolds and published in the " Geographical 
 Journal" (December 1916). It throws light not only on 
 the family in general, but also on the contemporary mem- 
 bers of it who were closely related to Hakluyt; and it was 
 written only a few years before Hakluyt's birth. Mr. Rey- 
 nolds quotes from Hearne's 2nd edition of the " Itinerary i: 
 (Oxford, 1744). I give here the more authentic text of 
 Miss L. Toulmin Smith (1908, vol. ii, p. 75): 
 
 " From Leonminster to Eyton a mile of by west northe west. 
 One William Hakcluit that was with Kynge Henry the 5 at the 
 battle of Egen Courte set up a house at this village, and purchasyd 
 lands to it. He had one St. George, a nobleman of France, to his 
 prisoner. Hakcluit now lyvynge is the third in descent of the 
 house of Eiton. The chefe and auncientest of the Hakcluiths 
 hathe bene gentlemen in tymes out of memory, and they toke theyr 
 name of the Forest of Cluid in Radnorland, and they had a castle 
 and habitation not far from Radnor. There were 3 knyghts of the 
 Hakcluiths about the tyme of Kynge Edward the 3. whereof one 
 was namyd Edmund. It chauncid in Kynge Edward the 3. tyme 
 that one of the Hakcluits toke parte withe Llewelin, Prince of 
 Walys, agayn Kynge Edward the 3. Whereupon his lands were 
 
15 
 
 attayntyd and devolvid to the Kynge or to Mortimer lord of Rafle- 
 nor, and never were restoryd. 
 
 "There was at that tyme one of the Hakcluiths that fiedd into 
 the mountains of Walis, and livyd as a banishid man, but he aftar 
 was pardonyd, and havynge a knyght that tenderyd hym because 
 he was his godsonne or kynesman, and had noe ysswe, he made 
 hym his heire, and those lands yet remayn to the elder howse of 
 the Hakcluiths. 
 
 "From Eyton I ryd a mile and half toward Ludelawe and there 
 I saw ... the manor place of Cornwall. . . . Thence 4 miles 
 ... to Richardes Castle. . . . From Richardes Castle to Ludlow 
 a 2 miles." 
 
 From an observation on a previous page that " Mr. 
 Hackluit tould me that the body of Kinge Merewald was 
 found in a wall in the old church of Wenlock," we may 
 infer that the details respecting the Hakluyt family were 
 given orally by the living representative of it. His Christian 
 name is not stated, but he was probably the father of 
 Hakluyt's cousin Richard, who in the " P. N." is described 
 as " of Eiton in the County of Hereford." It may well be 
 that he was Richard Hakluyt, M.P. for Leominster in 
 1557, who is described as "Lord of Yatton near Aymstry 
 and Eton near Leominster" (Price's "Leominster," 1795). 
 
 In Hearne's edition of Leland the Hakluyt place is 
 spelt Eaton; in Miss Toulmin Smith's edition, it is Eyton 
 and Eiton. In many cases, variety of spelling is un- 
 important, but a difficulty has been raised in this present 
 case, owing to the fact that there is now a village called 
 Eaton about a mile to the south-east of Leominster, while 
 Eyton is about two miles to the north-west of that town. 
 There can, however, be no doubt which place Leland was 
 writing of. He was riding from Leominster to Ludlow, i.e. 
 in a north-west direction, and as appears above he men- 
 tions other places, Cornwall and Richard's Castle which he 
 passed on his way, and it thus seems certain that the place 
 where he met and talked with " Mr. Hackluit," was that 
 
i6 
 
 now known as Eyton (Eyton House, now possessed by- 
 Mrs. Coates.) Leland's only error is that he makes it one, 
 whereas it is about two miles from Leominster. To clear 
 away any remnant of doubt I requested Mr. Madan,' Bod- 
 ley's Librarian, to appeal to Leland himself for a decision, 
 and he courteously replies as follows : 
 
 "The original MS. of Leland has perished in the particular part 
 to which you refer, but the Tanner transcript which is very care- 
 ful and is in the handwriting of Stowe the chronicler (late sixteenth 
 century) is the authority which takes the place of the original. 
 Eyton seems to occur three times in the Leland Itinerary under 
 'Herefordshire,' and Miss Toulmin Smith is right and Hearne 
 wrong.'' 
 
 He adds that the variances Eyton and Eiton are as they 
 appear in Miss T. Smith's edition. 
 
 Leland does not say where the lands were to which the 
 banished Hakluyt became heir, though they were in his 
 time still in the possession of the elder house of the 
 Hakluyts. From this information and the statement that 
 Hakluyt of Eyton was third in descent of the House of 
 Eiton, it may be inferred that the Eyton family, descend- 
 ing from the warrior of Agincourt, was the younger branch. 
 The Hakluyts had been prominent in Herefordshire long 
 before Henry V, but it was only then that William Hakluyt 
 "setup a house at this village (Eyton) and purchased lands 
 to it." If we accept Leland's account, as I think we may, 
 Hakluyt and his cousin Richard were lineal descendants, 
 probably great grandsons, of William, one of the " band of 
 brothers " who fought with Henry on St. Crispin's Day. 
 
 Both Price (" Historical account of Leominster ") and the 
 " Leominster Guide" (1808) say that Eaton (to the south- 
 east of Leominster) belonged to the Hakluyts, a statement 
 perhaps partly traceable to Hearne's edition of Leland. The 
 Guide however.also says that another branch of the Hakluyts 
 
17 
 
 "settled at Eaton or Yatton near Aymstry and of this 
 family was Richard Hakluyt author of the ' Collection of 
 Voyages.' " Here Eyton is probably intended, for Eyton 
 and Yatton are not far apart, and both near Aymstry. 
 Price ineptly confuses Richard Hakluyt, M.P., in 1557 
 with our Hakluyt then aged only four. 
 
 If the proof here given is admitted, that Hakluyt's branch 
 of the family was that settled at Eyton, 1 the pedigrees and 
 possessions of the other branches become of secondary 
 interest. The field is open for further antiquarian re- 
 search. The property called Dormington passed out of the 
 family on the marriage of Sir Leonard Hakluyt's only 
 daughter and child to Thomas Welwyn in 1438 ( Visita- 
 tion). Richard Hakluyt, M.P., in 1557 is described as lord 
 of Yatton and Eton ; John Hakluyt who, according to Price, 
 placed a recording inscription on the wall of Leominster 
 Church, as of Eaton. The Eaton property was sold after 
 1613 and before 1630 to the Brabazons (Robinson, "Man- 
 sions," p. 175). Thus if Richard Hakluyt, M.P., was the 
 father of Hakluyt's cousin, Yatton was probably held with 
 Eiton or Eyton, while Eaton would seem to have been 
 owned by John, a member of another branch. 
 
 As yet only three monumental records of the family 
 have been reported from Leominster and neighbourhood: 
 (1) in Leominster Church, Ralph and Elizabeth Hackluyt, 
 1526 (Price, p. 104); (2) in Ludlow Church, " Mary daughter 
 of Thomas Hackluit of Eyton Esquier," the only date given 
 being that of the burial of her husband Edmund Walter 
 1592 (Thomas Hackluit was probably the M.P. for Leo- 
 minster in 1558); (3) in Leominster Church, Miles Hackluyt, 
 1621, who lived at Wharton (Robinson's " Mansions," 
 p. 176). 
 
 1 Mrs. Coates informs me that a meadow in the parish of Eyton is 
 still known as " the Hackletts." 
 
The arms of the family as borne by Sir Leonard Hakluyt 
 {temp. Hen. IV), were "gules, three battle axes or." As 
 borne by Hakluyt's cousin Richard they were " azure, three 
 battle axes gules." In this form they are emblazoned on 
 one of the windows of the Middle Temple Hall, and are 
 figured in Dugdale ("Orig. Jurid.," 1671, p. 226). 
 
 Hakluyt's father, of whose personality nothing is known, 
 though a younger son, must have been well off, as he gave 
 all his four sons a good school and college education. 
 They were 1, Thomas; 2, Richard; 3, Oliver, (a physician 
 " celebrated for his practice in that faculty " says Wood, 
 " Athen. Ox.") and 4, Edmund, tutor to Lord William 
 Howard. Two daughters, Mrs. Morer and Mrs. Bacon, 
 living in 161 2, are mentioned in Hakluyt's will. 
 
 The birthplace of Hakluyt is still uncertain. There 
 seems no evidence that he was born in or near London, or 
 that he was left an orphan at an early age, or was under 
 the guardianship of his cousin Richard. Nor is anything 
 known of his first wife, except that she died about 1597. 
 This appears from the licence for the second marriage 
 which runs as follows: " Mar. 30 [1604]. Richard Hakluyt 
 one of the chaplains of the Savoy, who hath been a widower 
 about 7 years, aged about 52, and Frances Smithe, of St. 
 Lawrence, Old Jury, about 50, widow of William Smithe 
 while he lived of St. Botolph, Bp'sgate, gent, deceased about 
 8 months since; at St. Michael's, Wood Street, London." 
 (Chester's " London Marriage Licenses.") Hakluyt's only 
 son and child Edmund, was entered at Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, in 161 1, and was therefore the son of the first 
 marriage ; Oldys erroneously makes him the son of 
 Frances. 
 
 By his will, dated 20 August 161 2, which is set out by 
 Winter Jones in the app. to the " Divers Voyages, " Hakluyt 
 left all his property to his son, subject to a bequest of .£300 
 to his widow, and others of smaller amount. It included 
 
19 
 
 the manor of Bridge Place in Suffolk, some houses in 
 Tothill Street, Westminster, and a tenement and lands at 
 " Leominster Oare," 1 then under lease to his brother 
 Oliver at sixteen nobles a year. Edmund was a spend- 
 thrift and squandered the good estate. He was evidently 
 in haste to get it, as the will was proved on the very day 
 of his father's death. 
 
 Although Hakluyt had three brothers and also cousins, 
 the family seems to have died out in the male line. The 
 last members of whom mention is made are (i) a Captain 
 Hakluyt who assisted Lady Brilliana Harley in the defence 
 of Brampton Brian Castle against the Royalists in 1643, 
 and was taken prisoner in 1644; he is described as a " brave 
 and able soldier," who had served in the German wars 
 (Camd. Soc, vol. lviii, 1853); (2) John Hakluyt of Whar- 
 ton, who married Anne Hare in 165 5 (Robinson, " Mansions," 
 p. 176); and (3) Oliver Hackluit, to whom, according to 
 the borough records, the town clerk of Leominster in 1665 
 paid the sum of £1 2s. for " horse hire and carriage of my 
 cloathes to London." 
 
 1 Perhaps from ora, region. " Thus Lempster's ore is that fertile 
 part of Herefordshire which lyes about two miles round that Town " 
 Blount, "Glossog." 1661). The name was applied to the fine wool for 
 which Leominster was celebrated ("New Eng. Diet." s.v. "ore"). 
 
CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
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