imself was very uneasy, those about him studied every method
to quiet and amuse the one, to entertain and divert the other[5]. In
order to this, at the entrance of Christmas holidays, Mr. Ferrars
was proclaimed Lord Misrule, that is a kind of Prince of sports and
pastimes, which office he discharged for twelve days together at
Greenwich with great magnificence and address, and entirely to the
King's satisfaction.

In this character, attended by the politest part of the Court, he made
an excursion to London, where he was splendidly entertained by the
Lord Mayor, and when he took his leave he had presents given him in
token of respect. But notwithstanding he made so great figure in
the diversions at court, yet he was no idle spectator of political
affairs, and maintained his reputation with the learned world. He
wrote the reign of Queen Mary, which tho' published in the name of
Richard Grafton, in his chronicles; yet was certainly the performance
of Ferrars, according to the annals of Stow, p. 632, whose authority
in this case is very high. Our author was an historian, a lawyer, and
a politician even in his poetry, as appears from these pieces of his
which are inserted in the Mirror of Magistrates, and which are not
inferior to any others that have found a place there[6]. In the early
part of his life he wrote some tracts on his own profession, which
gained him great reputation, and which discover that he was a lover
of liberty, and not disposed to sacrifice to the crown the rights and
properties of the subject. It seldom happens that when a man often
changes his situation, or is forced to do so, that he continues
to preserve the good opinion of different parties, but this was a
happiness which Ferrars enjoyed. He was consulted by the learned as a
candid critic, admired and loved by all who conversed with him.

With respect to the time of our author's death, we cannot be
absolutely certain; all we know is, that he died in the year 1579, at
his house in Flamstead in Hertfordshire, and was buried in the parish
church; for as Wood informs us, on the eighteenth of May the same
year a commission was granted from the prerogative, to administer the
goods, debts, chattles, etc. of George Ferrars lately deceased[7].
None of our authors deliver any thing as to Mr. Ferrars's religion,
but it is highly probable that he was a zealous Protestant: not from
his accepting grants of Abbey-lands, for that is but a precarious
proof, but fr