Skipton 1907

Skipton, H. P. K. The Life and Times of Nicholas Ferrar. London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd., 1907.

Robert Ferrar, great-uncle to Nicholas Ferrar, killed in Marian persecutions

• story told in Foxe (14)

as a child, Ferrar read and memorized Scriptures and passages from the Book of Martyrs each day (25)

• could read and repeat Biblical chapters by age 5

traveled with the Princess Elizabeth

• Francis Quarles, author of Pious Emblems, may have been on board the same ship (36)
• traveled with his own concordance and the New Testament (45)

involvement in the Virginia Company

• William Crashaw (father to Richard Crashaw) was an early supporter of the plantations (61)

extrication of family from problems of Virginia Company, commemorated with a prayer of thanksgiving, read every year at Little Gidding until September 1657, possibly longer (81)

"Wonderful indeed hath been Thy goodness towards us: while the wise have been disappointed in their counsels, while the full of friends have been left desolate, while the men whose hands were mighty have found nothing, while the strong on every side have fallen, we, O Lord, have been by Thy power raised up, by Thine arm have we been strengthened, guided by Thy counsels, and relieved by the favour of Thy mercies. and that we might know that it was Thy doing, by those ways and means which we thought not of, Thou hast brought us into a wealthy place, and to the many comforts which we now enjoy."

intention to found Little Gidding; announcement took the form of a solemn vow, formally recorded on parchment:

"That since God had so often heard his most humble petitions, and delivered him out of many dangers; and in many desperate calamities had extended His mercy to him; he would therefor now give himself up continually to serve God to the utmost of his power, in the office of a deacon, to be the Levite himself in his own house, and to make his own relations, which were many, his cure of souls." (85)

description of the church as the Ferrars rebuilt it

• "fair island seat" set aside for Mrs. Ferrar and the women
• description of furniture: green cloth for week days, rich blue cloth decoarded with lace and silver for festivals; new brass font and lectern (89)

layout of the house

• one large room for family oratory, two smaller for night oratories for men and women respectively
• each niece and nephew had separate rooms, with three more set aside for schoolmasters

education

• large dovecote converted into a schoolhouse for neighboring children, educated without expense in reading, writing, arithmetic and Christianity
  • three schoolmasters: one to teach English to strangers, and English and Latin to the family; the second to teach good writing; the third to instruct in singing and playing music
• women taught the same as men "except where the difference of sex made a different employment or recreation proper" (?) (94)
• Ferrar himself taught the older children in religious studies
  • learning passages of the Bible by heart, including the entirety of the Book of Psalms
• daily catechetical lectures, according to Anglican doctrine (9405)

Psalm-children

• children from surrounding parishes, encourages to memorize the Psalms
• each was given a Psalter by the Ferrars
• each went to Gidding every Sunday morning to repeat his psalm, until they could repeat the whole book
• each received a penny for every psalm they could repeat perfectly, and their dinner (97)

Sunday service (97-8)

• Psalm-children served by Mrs. Ferrar
• family dined in the great dining-room
• sang a hymn as dinner was being served
• during dinner a younger person would read from a chapter in the bible; after that, a story from the Book of Martyrs or Ferrar's short histories