ciently popular that a second edition appeared in 1601, and a third in 1613. In 1598 Topsell gave up the living of East Hoathly for that of Datchworth, Hertfordshire, where he remained till 1601. In 1599 he issued ‘Time's Lamentation, or an exposition of the prophet Joel in sundry [427] sermons or meditations’ (London, by E. Bollifant for G. Potter, 4to). This he dedicated to Charles Blount, lord Mountjoy, whom he described ‘as the meane of his preferment.’ Many passages in the volume denounce fashionable vices and frivolities. On 7 April 1604 he was licensed to the perpetual curacy of St. Botolph, Aldersgate (Newcourt, Repertorium, i. 916; Hennessy, Novum Repertorium, p. 105), and retained that benefice till his death. But he accepted other preferment during the period. From 5 Aug. 1602 to 1608 he was vicar of Syresham, Northants; in 1605–6, of Mayfield, Sussex; from May 1610 to May 1615 of East Grinstead, on the presentation of Richard Sackville, earl of Dorset (Sussex Archæol. Collec. xx. 147, cf. xxvi. 69; Stenning, Notes on East Grinstead, 1885). He described himself in 1610 as ‘chaplain’ of Hartfield in ‘The Householder, or Perfect Man. Preached in three sermons’ (London, by Henry Rockyt, 1610, 16mo). Topsell dedicated the volume to the Earl of Dorset and his wife Anne, as well as to four neighbouring ‘householders,’ Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague of Cowdray, Sampson Lennard of Hurstmonceaux, Thomas Pelham of Halland, and Richard Blount of Dedham.
Topsell's chief title to fame is as the compiler of two elaborate manuals of zoology, which were drawn mainly from the works of Conrad Gesner. Topsell reflected the credulity of his age, but his exhaustive account of the prevailing zoological traditions and beliefs gives his work historical value. The quaint and grotesque illustrations which form attractive features of Topsell's volumes are exact reproductions of those which adorned Gesner's volumes. Topsell's first and chief zoological publication was entitled ‘The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes, describing the true and lively Figure of every Beast … collected out of all the Volumes of C. Gesner and all other Writers of the Present Day,’ London, by W. Jaggard, 1607, fol.; this was dedicated to Richard Neile, dean of Westminster. On some title-pages a hyena is figured, on others a gorgon. A very long list of classical authorities is prefixed, but the English writer Blundeville is quoted in the exhaustive section on the horse. Topsell's second zoological work was ‘The Historie of Serpents. Or the Seconde Booke of living Creatures,’ London, by W. Jaggard, 1608, fol.; this was also dedicated to Richard Neile, dean of Westminster. Topsell's two volumes, his histories of ‘Foure-footed Beasts’ and ‘Serpents,’ were edited for reissue in 1658 by John Rowland, M.D. ‘The Theatre of Insects,’ by Thomas Moffett [q. v.], was appended.
Topsell seems to have died in 1638, when a successor was appointed to him as curate of St. Botolph, Aldersgate. A license was granted him on 12 Aug. 1612 to marry Mary Seaton of St. Ann and Agnes, Aldersgate, widow of Gregory Seaton, a stationer (Chester, Marriage Licenses, 1351).
[Topsell's Works; Brydges's British Bibliographer, i. 560; authorities cited.]
TORKINGTON, Sir RICHARD (fl. 1517), English priest and pilgrim, was presented in 1511 to the rectory of Mulberton in Norfolk by Sir Thomas Boleyn (afterwards Earl of Wiltshire), father of Anne Boleyn. In 1517 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and of his journey he has left an account. He started from Rye in Sussex on 20 March 1517, passed through Dieppe, Paris, Lyons, and St. Jean de Maurienne, crossed the Mont Cenis into Italy, and, after some stay in Turin, Milan, and Pavia, reached Venice on 29 April. Here he embarked for Syria on 14 June, after witnessing the ‘marriage of the Adriatic’ and observing the activity of the Venetian arsenal in the building of new ships. Twenty-three new galleys were then being constructed; more than a thousand workmen were employed upon these, and a hundred hands were busy at ropemaking alone. The Venetian artillery, both naval and military, Torkington describes as formidable. Torkington's voyage from Venice to Jaffa was by way of Corfu, Zante, Cerigo, and Crete. He sighted Palestine on 11 July, and landed (at Jaffa) on the 15th; reached Jerusalem on the 19th, and stayed there till the 27th. He was lodged in the Hospital of St. James on Mount Sion, and visited all the places of Christian interest in or near the holy city, including Bethlehem. His return to England was more troubled than his outward passage. He was detained a month in Cyprus; was left behind ill at Rhodes, where he had to stay six weeks; had a stormy voyage from Rhodes to South Italy, and, though he left Jaffa on 31 July 1517, did not reach Dover till 17 April 1518. He considered his pilgrimage ended at the shrine of St. Thomas in Canterbury, and reckoned that it took him a year, five weeks, and three days. While sick
