Alexander Hyde

fourth Son ((n))((n)) Wiltshire visitation book in the Heralds Office an. 1623. fol. 118. of Sir Laurence Hyde of Salisbury Knight, second Son of Laur. Hyde of Gussage S. Michael in Dorsetshire, third Son of Robert Hyde of Northbury in Cheshire, was born in S. Maries Parish within the said City of Salisbury, educated in Wykehams School near Winchester, admitted perpetual Fellow of New Coll, after he had served two years of Probation, an. 1617 aged 20 years or thereabouts, and took the degrees in the Civil Law, that of Doctor being compleated in 1632. In the month of May 1637 he was made Subdean of Salisbury on the death of Giles Thornborough, and on the 5 of Jan. 1638 he was collated to the Prebendship of South Grantham in the said Church, upon the resignation of Dr. Humph. Henchman, he being then possest of a Benefice elsewhere. What were his sufferings in the time of the rebellion, (if any), or his merits afterwards, to be advanced to a Bishoprick, let others speak, while I tell you that after his Majesties restauration, he was by the endeavours of his kinsman Sir Edw. Hyde Lord Chanc. of England, not only made Dean of Winchester, an. 1660, in the place of Dr. Joh. Yonge some years before dead, (who had succeeded in that Deanery Dr. Thomas Morton, an. 1616) but also advanced upon the death of Dr. Joh. Earle to the See of Salisbury: To which receiving consecration in New Coll. Chappel, 31. Dec. 1665 (the K. and Qu. with their Courts being then in Oxon) from the Hands of the Archb. of Cant, assisted by the Bishops of Winchester, Gloc, Peterb, Limerick and Oxon) enjoyed it but a little while to his detriment. In his Deanery succeeded Will. Clark D. D. of Cambridge, who dying in the Parish of S. Giles in the Fields near London, Rich. Meggot D. D. of Qu. Coll. in Cambridge, Canon of Windsore, Rector of S. Olaves in Southwark and Vicar of Twittenham in Middlesex, was installed in his place, 9. Oct. 1679. As for Dr. Hyde, he died to the great grief of his Relations,1667. on the 22 day of August in sixteen hundred sixty and seven aged 70 years, and was buried in the South isle near the Choir of the Cath. Church of Salisbury. Afterwards was a black marble stone laid over his grave, with an inscription thereon, the beginning of which is this. Siste viator, hac itur in patriam hisce vestigiis in coelum, &c. His eldest Brother Laur. Hyde Esq, was of Heale, near Salisbury, whose Widow Mrs. Mary Hyde did for a time conceal in her house there, K. Ch. 2. in his flight from Worcester battle, an. 1651, when then he removed incognito from place to place till he could obtain a passage over Sea into France. The next was Sir Rob. Hyde, who, by the endeavours of his kinsman Sir Edw. before mention’d, was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common pleas. He died suddenly on the Kalends of May 1665 aged 70, and was buried in the said Isle. Soon after was erected on the wall, near his grave, a splendid monument with his bust in white marble, and a large inscription thereon beginning thus. H. S. E. ordini par paterno, fraternoque Robertus Hyde Eq. aur. Laurentii Hyde militis filius secundus, &c. Another Brother he had called Sir Hen. Hyde, who adheering to his Maj. K. Ch. 2 in his exile, was by him sent Ambassador to the Grand. Seignior at Constantinople, and demanding audience in his name, he was (by bribes given) delivered to some of the English Merchants there, who shipping him in the Smyrna Fleet, was conveyed into England. Soon after he being committed to the Tower of London, he was brought before the High Court of Justice, where he desired to plead in the Italian Language, which, he said, was more common to him than the English. But it being denied him, he was at length condemned to die: whereupon he lost his head on a Scaffold erected against the Old Exchange in Cornhill, on the fourth day of March an. 1650. It was then said by the faction in England, that he did, by vertue of a Commission from Charles Stuart as K. of Great Britaine, act in the quality of an Agent to the Court of the Great Turk, with intent to destroy the trade of the Turkey Company, and the Parliaments interest, not only in Constantinople, but also in Mitylene, Anatolia and Smyrna. That also he had a Commission to be Consul in that matter, with an aim likewise to seize upon the Merchants goods for the use of Charles King of Scots: For the effecting of which design, he presumed to discharge Sir Tho. Bendish of his Embassie, being Leiger there for the state of England, &c. The said faction also reported, and would needs perswade the People in England, that those that abetted Sir H. Hyde at Smyrna had the heavy hand of judgment fell upon them. This Sir Hen. Hyde after his decollation, was conveyed to Salisbury and buried there in the Cathedral among the graves of his Relations. Another Brother, younger than him, was Edward Hyde D. D sometimes Fellow of Trin. Coll. in Cambridge, and afterwards Rector of Brightwell near Wallingford in Berkshire: From which being ejected in the time of Usurpation, he retired with his Wife and Children to Oxon, and hiring an apartment within the precincts of Hart Hall, lived there several years, studied frequently in Bodlies Library, and preached in the Church of Halywell in the suburbs of Oxon to the Royal Party, till he was silenc’d by the Faction. In 1658 he obtained of his exil’d Majesty by the endeavours of Sir Edw. Hyde before mention’d his kinsman, (then, tho in banishment, Lord Chancellour of England) Letters Patents for the Deanery of Windsore (in the place of Dr. Chr. Wren deceased) dated in July the same year; but he dying at Salisbury of the Stone, a little before the restauration of K. Ch. 2, he was never installed in that Dignity. He hath written and published several books which were taken into the hands of, and perused by, the Royal Party, as (1) A Christian [•] egacy, consisting of two parts: preparation for and consolation against death. Lond. 1657. oct. (2) Christ and his Church: or, Christianity explained, under seven Evangelical and Ecclesiastical heads Oxon. 1658. qu. (3) Vindication of the Church of England. Ibid. 1658. qu. (4) Christian vindication of truth against errour. Printed 1659. in tw. (5) The true Catholick tenure, &c. Cambr. 1662. oct. and other things, as you may see in Joh. Ley among these Writers, an. 1662. Another Brother, the tenth in number, was Sir Frederick Hyde Knight, the Queens Serjeant, an. 1670, and one of the chief Justices of South Wales, who dyed in 1676. Also another called Francis, who was Secretary to the Earl of Denbigh Embassador, and died at Venice without issue. And among others must not be forgotten Dr. Thomas Hyde Fellow of New Coll, afterwards Judge of the Admiralty, and also the eleventh and youngest Brother of them all, named James Hyde, Dr. of Physick, lately Principal of Magd. Hall.