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Additions to the Biographies of Sir John Cheke and Sir Thomas Smith. 99 time the scholars of King Henry the Eighth in the university of Cambridge ; they were also at one and the same time his regius professors, Cheke of Greek and Smith of Civil Law ; and they both afterwards rose to be privy councillors and secretaries of state. As late as the year 1565 Cheke and Smith were still regarded as the two great ornaments of the university of Cambridge ; for Dr. "Wilson (afterwards himself a secretary of state) writing to Haddon, ambassador at Bruges, then remarked, with reference to the Queen's intended visit to Oxford, that she would not find there anyone equal to Smith or Cheke nee Smithi ibi simile quicquam aut Cheki occurret. Sir John Cheke is, in many respects, one the most interesting personages of the century, a man of great erudition, unblemished morals, a gentle temper, and sincere religion deficient only, like Cranmer, in that firmness and intrepidity of soul, and that unflinching faith by which some of his contemporaries were enabled " the threats of pain and ruin to despise," and to contemplate without dismay the pangs of martyrdom. As with Cranmer, when put to that awful trial, the reso- lution of Cheke failed him ; and, like Cranmer, his apostacy was followed by the bitterest reproaches of an afflicted conscience. He did not again fall, like Cranmer, into the hands of the tormentors ; but he died, a victim of shame and regret, at the premature age of forty-three. I have first to present you with some fresh particulars of this memorable man. They have been suggested by the remarks of the Italian physician Girolamo Cardano, who visited England in 1552, and resided with Cheke during his stay in London. Cardano was a great astrologer, and was always desirous to cast the nativities of his friends." To humour this fancy, Cheke furnished him with the dates of some of the most important events of his own life, and these were subsequently printed and published by Cardano. They consist of the exact date, to a minute, of Cheke's birth ; b the dates of two illnesses he had encountered from fever and inflammation of the lungs, the date of his appointment to be prince Edward's schoolmaster, the date of his marriage, and another date, of his nearly losing his a Cardano cast the King's nativity, and contemplated a long life for him. After the age of fifty-five years, three months, and seventeen days, he was to be attacked by several diseases. See the details at length in my memoir of the King, prefixed to The Literary Remains of Edward VI. p. ccxv. b The scheme of Cheke's nativity published by Cardano shows that he was born at Cambridge, on the 16th of June, 1514, at five hours and fifteen minutes after mid-day. Another horoscope of Cheke's nativity, calculated by Sir Thomas Smith, and published in Strype's Life, (from the book now the MS. Sloane 325,) states his birth to have occurred on the same day, but at five minutes past 2 p.m. o 2