mberlain lent him two fair cloths of state, one hung up in the hall
under which he dines, the other in his privy chamber; he is served on
the knee, and all that come to see him kiss his hand on their knee. My
lord of Salisbury hath sent him pole-axes for his pensioners. He sent
to my lord of Holland, his justice in Eyre, for venison, which he
willingly sends him; to the lord mayor and sheriffs of London for
wine, all obey. Twelfth-day was a great day, going to the chapel many
petitions were delivered him, which he gave to his masters of the
requests. He hath a favourite, whom with some others, gentlemen of
great quality, he knighted at his return from church, and dined in
great state; at the going out of the chambers into the garden, when he
drank the King's health, the glass being at his mouth he let it fall,
which much defaced his purple satten suit, for so he was clothed that
day, having a cloak of the same down to his foot, for he mourns for
his father who lately died. It cost this prince L2,000 out of his own
purse. I hear of no other design, but that all this is done to make
them fit to give the prince elector a royal entertainment with masks,
dancings, and some other exercises of wit, in orations or
arraignments, that day that they invite him.'

"The writer, or narrator, of the events connected with the Christmas
Prince of St. John's was Griffin Higgs, who was descended of a
respectable and opulent family in Gloucestershire, though he was
himself born at Stoke Abbat, near Henley on Thames, in 1589. He was
educated at St. John's, and thence, in 1611, elected fellow of Merton
college, where he distinguished himself, in the execution of the
procuratorial duties, as a man of great courage, though, says Wood, of
little stature. In 1627 he was appointed chaplain to the Queen of
Bohemia, by her brother Charles the First, and during his absence, in
the performance of his duties, was created a doctor of divinity at
Leyden by the learned Andrew Rivet. He returned, after a residence
abroad of about twelve years, when he had the valuable rectory of
Clive or Cliff, near Dover, and shortly after the deanery of
Lichfield, conferred upon him. During the civil wars he was a sufferer
for the royal cause, and, losing his preferment, retired to the place
of his birth, where he died in the year 1659, and was buried in the
chancel of the church of South Stoke.

"Thomas Tucker, the elected Prince, was born in London, in 1586,
entered