Sir John Oglander's Notes and Accounts

Isle of Wight Record Office and Archive: OG/AA/29

ff 35v–6 (of ff 1–73)

If any in ffutor times showld desire to knowe whye ye inclosure of 2 Oakes weare made in his Maiesties fforest of Parkehurst. Lett this followinge giue him satisfaction Sir George Carey afterwardes Lorde Hunsdon and Chamberlen to Queen Elizabeth wase lange Captayne of ye Isle of Wight. and after his ffathors death beinge to leaue ye Island and to goe to ye Courte to succeede his ffathor in ye Office of Lord Chamberlen wase desirous as ye last expression of his love to ffeast all ye Gentlemen of ye Island and there wyves (beinge in ye heate of Summer in Awgust 1596) in ye sayd fforrest and ther to take his leave of them and so take boate to goe presently for London/ Whereupon these 4 inclosures weare made one for a kytchen ye other for a Buttery and those with ye 20 Oakes in them ye one wase my Ladyes Oake where my Lord Chamberlen and his Lady had many Tables and there Entertayned all ye Gentery of this Island ye other wase Called my Lady Elizabeth Oake, a brave virgin Ladye where she Entertayned all ye younge Gentlewomen of ye Island (She wase afterwards marryed to ye Lord Bartlett," her mother my Lady Hunsdon wase a Spencer and one of ye handsomest women in England, There wase all ye magnificent expressions that arte Could devyse, The youth of ye Island had framed a stage play which wase ther acted before them all ye Trayned Bandes wayghted on them. Ye ffyld peeces wanted not theyre vtterance to euery health of which there weare not ffewe there weare ye Cheyfe youth of ye yeomandrye that Dawnced ye morreyce (then in request) all kind of musike, and Dawncinge and want of no provisions, in grate aboundance wase all kinde of wyne, and Cakes. but one thinge is remarkable, the trees weare then excedinge spredinge and thicke, and euery Seuerall Arme and bodyes of the trees were all stucke ouer with Gilliflowers, in ye Toppe of my Ladye Oake wase bifore hand placed obscurely one John Barbor of Nuporte whose office wase after Grace wase sayd to powre downe sweete waltor in to a yewor | There beinge all thinges for it prepared, as If ye Tree in thankfulnes, woold haue sent downe his sape for to wasch withall and so Bleed himselue to death to doo them Service, but this John Barbor of Nuporte ffell fast a sleepe, and Grace beinge sayd ye tree wase Barren no waltor Came they stoode vppe expectinge waltor to wasch but none Came, whereupon one with a picke thrust him into ye Briche he then beinge Sensible and suddenly wakinge instead of lettinge ye waltor Descend Guttatim fitt for them to wasche he threwe it all downe hastely on theyre hedes So all this fayre shewe ended in a Commedy with great laughtor. This Lord Hunsdon wase a braue Gentleman, and Greate howsekepor at ye Castle of Carrsbrooke, where he kept a howse no Nobleman in England like vnto him hauinge all Musike as well lowde as still. One Mr John Hervye of Auington whose first wyfe wase my Aunte, wase ye Actor, and, disposer of all that shewe where ye myrth Coulde not extinguish ye sorrowe yat ye Country tooke at theyre departure: One thinge I am willinge to recorde here to futor Adges, which is yat from ye first rysinge of ye hill which is next beyond Honye hill Commonly Called ye wood Oues, the trees then grewe so thicke there all alonge ye forrest euen to Gournord Gate and so to ye westward of ye fforrest where ye pond now standeth, that a Good Climber mygght safely Goe all alonge ye forest from bough to Bowgh. And all this for ye Greatest parte wase destroyed by ye poore of Nuporte and the knauery of ye kepors, for they Sowld mutch and wood waxinge deare at Nuporte ye poore at first ffotte for theyre owne vse, then to sell to ye richer sorte insomutch as it now without ye face of a fforrest:

(signed) John Oglander

f 38 (of ff 1–45)

...

...His weekely Expence in wheate Corne ffor Bred and Pasterye wase Consta⸢nt⸣ly thre Quartors, but when Lordes and Ladies weare there, (as he wase seldome or nevor without the Greatest and Most Honorablest in ye Kingdome as my Lord of Leyster, Essex, Darby, Mountioye, South=Hampton, with many others, and all ye sowldiors of ye kingdome, as Generall Norris etc.) he spent Treble as mutch, for then woold he haue all ye Gentlemen of ye Island and theyre wyfes olso there, He wase a most ffree Man in his howse kepinge, and his Meate wase alwayes serued upp to his Table with a Consorte of wynde and still Musicke....

  • Footnotes
    • (She...Bartlett: closing parenthesis missing
    • ffoote: forsotte (?); ie, 'sought'(?)
    • Leyster: second r written over another letter
  • Glossed Terms
    • briche n breech; here, the buttocks
    • cheyfe adj chief
    • fyld n in phr fyld peece cannon
    • mores n morris; morec; morece; moreys; morreyce
    • nevor adv never
    • olso adv also
    • oues n pl eaves, the edge of a forest; oveis; oves
    • yewor n ewer
  • Endnote

    The Oglander family was resident at Nunwell House.

    On ff 35–6 Oglander is writing about George Carey (1547–1603), 2nd Baron Hunsdon, captain of the island, whose residence there was at Carisbrooke Castle. His daughter Elizabeth Carey (1576–1635) married Sir Thomas Berkeley (1575–1611), son and heir of Henry, 7th Baron Berkeley (1534–1613), in February 1595/6 (that is, earlier in the year of the festivity described here). John Harvey was the owner of Alvington manor in Carisbrooke parish (VCH: Hampshire, vol 5, pp 221–35, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol5/pp221-235 [accessed 26 April 2017]). This is likely to have been the John Harvey who was married Dowsabel Oglander, daughter of Sir George Oglander and sister of Sir William Oglander, John Oglander's father (Oglander, Oglander Memoirs, pp 165, 169).

  • Document Description

    Record title: Sir John Oglander's Notes and Accounts
    Repository: Isle of Wight Record Office and Archive
    Shelfmark: OG/AA/29
    Repository location: Newport

    Sir John Oglander (1585–1655) was deputy governor of the Isle of Wight and represented the island borough of Yarmouth in parliament. He lived at Nunwell House near Brading. This is one of a series of notebooks in which he entered accounts, memories, maxims, quotations, and observations on people and things of the Isle of Wight.

    This manuscript was formerly identified by the shelfmark OG/90/4.

    December 1631–21 December 1633; English; paper; i + 118 + i; 288mm x 192mm; modern pencil foliation from both ends (no clear indication which end is the front, except that counting from the end with a crest on cover the foliation runs from 1 to 73; from the other end of the MS the foliation runs from 1 to 45, and the text is written upside down from that at the 'crest' end); good condition; brown leather cover with gold lines on front, back, and spine and gold crest in the middle of front and back, cloth ties have been cut off very short, so no longer usable, cover damaged at corners.

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