The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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John Lake, Bishop of Sodor and Man (5 Dec 1624 - 30 Aug 1689)

Clergyman, ordained in 1647 and graduated D.D. at Cambridge in 1661. He was Vicar of Leeds, 1661–1663 and held various offices in Yorkshire, London, and elsewhere in England, including the bishoprics of Bristol and of Chichester. He was Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1682 to 1684, retaining residency at York until 1684 (having spent one summer on the Isle of Man), when he became Bishop of Bristol. Thoresby records attending a service at his own parish church where he heard Lake preach (1 June 1684, Diary, 1.175 and 2.432). It was probably around this time that the Bishop gave Thoresby some curiosities from the Isle of Man. He almost certainly the "Right Reverend Bishop of Man" whom Thoresby names as donor of a travel permit issued by the "Divan" of Algiers in 1663.
Dictionary of National Biography entry: ttps://doi-org.cyber.usask.ca/10.1093/ref:odnb/15902 Other biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lake_(bishop) Donator of object(s)
Relevant locations: Birth place in Hallifax, West Yorkshire
Educated at St John's College (Cambridge), Cambridge University
Lived at or near Leeds, Leeds Parish
Lived at or near York, Yorkshire
Linked print sources: as Mentioned or referenced by - The Diary of Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S. author of the topography of Leeds. (1677-1724).
as Mentions or references - Ducatus Leodiensis; or the topography of the town and parish of Leedes and parts adjacent ...
References in Documents:
Thoresby, Musaeum Thoresbyanum (1713)

A Plate of the Palmetto-Leaf writ upon, or more properly engraved or impress'd with a Stile; it is above half a Yard long, and but an Inch broad: Others, not writ upon, are an Inch and half deep, and near 12 in Length; these by a Hole punched at both Ends appear to have been designed for a Book, and to be filed upon Strings. A small Writing or Ticket upon a darker coloured Paper-Reed from the Bay of Bengall Of a different one from Malabar, see the various Editions of the Bible. The Chinese Characters and Language upon transparent Paper, with two Pictures. Indian Writing upon different Sorts of Paper with Red Ink and Black, one in Gold upon blew made up into a Fan, of which and others upon a Cane, see before. A different Character upon white Paper. An Example of the Sclavonian Character in a Roll of Paper about 14 Foot long. Don. D. Sam. Ibbetson Merc. A Book or Scroll of 17 Yards two Foot long, wrap'd up in Quarto eight Inches broad, from Onar in the Kingdom of Canara in the East-Indies; it is to be writ upon with a Slate Pen. Don. D. Tho. Wilson Merc. Part of a Letter writ by the King of Bantam upon a reddish Paper. Don. D. Sa. Speering. Several Lines in Arabick writ in the Lord H.'s Lodgings in Cambridgeshire, An. 1700, by Hamet Cardanash, Ambassador from the Emperor of Moroco. Don. D. Jac. Talbot D. D. An Autograph of Seraphim's, a Native Græcian, whose Translation of the New Testament into modern Greek, was printed Anno 1693. Don. Rev. Jo. Hardy. A Jewish Philactery in Hebrew, in a single Scroll of Parchment, with the four Sentences of the Law mentioned by Dr. Grew, amongst the Curiosities of the Royal Society, writ at my Request, and given by that learned Gentlewoman, Mrs. Eliz. Bland of Beeston in this Parish, who hath taught that Primitive Language (wherein she was instructed by the Lord Van Helmont) to her Son and Daughter. A Turkish Commission, given me by the said Mrs. Bland, the Paper is thick and smooth, and the Seal very large, viz. three Inches broad, and above half a Foot in Length. The Divan of Algiers's Pass to Sir John Lawson the Admiral 1663, in Arabick gilded. Don. D. Rob. Stephens Arm. This has a small Seal, but note, the Turks seal not with Wax, but Ink; the Emperor's Name being usually written with Flourishes, and in perplexed Characters; nor have they any Coat of Arms upon their Seals, there being no such Thing as Gentility among them. (Dr. Smith's Observa. of Contantinople, Phil. Trans. N° 155.) So the Manx Warrant or Token is not to be understood of one under Hand and Seal upon Paper, but of a blew Slate, about the Bigness of a Crown-Piece,with the Deemsters Mark upon it, which being delivered to the Defendant, he is obliged to appear. (Vide Cambd. Brit. N. E. p. 1066.) This hath upon one Side T S M (Tho. Sodor & Man), and upon the other the Governor's Mark, for the Person charged thereby, being a Soldier, was not to be forced from his Post by any Power but the Governor's. The Right Reverend Bishop of Man, from whom I received this Curiosity, writes they are now as much in Use as ever, and the People pay a readier Obedience to them, than to an Order under Hand and Seal.

Thoresby, Musaeum Thoresbyanum (1713)

Mr. Camden takes Notice of British Brass Swords found in England and Wales, to which I may add that others are digg'd up in Ireland, and the Isle of Man, that which I received from Dublin is mentioned already, pag. 473. Since which I have been honoured with some valuable Curiosities from the Learned Bishop of Sodor and Man, amongst which is one of the Brass Swords, of which several have been found in that Island.