to give of it. And thô it be long since it has pleased God, to reduce us to a very moderate Fortune, and so little Care has been taken to preserve the Actions of our Ancestors, that I have not been able, with all my Diligence, to recover so much, as I could wish, of them. Yet somewhat there will occur, even in what is come down to us, that may serve to set us some domestick Examples, of Valour and Piety, and to inspire us, with a Desire of reviving again the Honour of a Name, that was once so great in the Annals of our Country.

I was the rather disposed, at this time, to do this, for that now the unhappy Season is again returned, that seems once more to threaten our elder House, with Disgrace and Ruine, So miserable is the present Condition, and so much yet the future Prospect of it, that I can hardly see what can be expected less than the final Desolation of it. And it ought not to be thought much, if any Affection towards an ancient and honourable Family, And in the Fortunes of which I am so nearly concerned; has not only moved me with some Regret to behold its Fall, but has put me upon thinking how, what is just ready to sink in one Part, may possibly be raised and restored in an Other,

When the Honour and Estate of our House fell with Thomas Lord Wake; after it had flourish'd for almost 300 Years in great Riches and Dignity, it pleased God to continue it by Hugh, his Uncle in a much more moderate, but yet still, in a very plentifull Condition, from thence forth even to our present times. Who can tell, but that the same Providence, which has once before preserved this honourable Family, by a younger Branch, may now again by the same Means, if not raise it up to its ancient Greatness, yet, (at least) continue it on in the same moderate Estate in which it has stood since; And do that by a second Brother, from whom we are descended, which it before did, by that second Brother from whom Sr. William Wake is lineally descended.

Some advance my Father, by Gods Blessing, has made towards it: And I hope, what he has begun, may be yet farther increased, by the Accession, which I shall be able to make to it. It will be your part for whom I chiefly design this following Relation, to endeavour still to increase both the Honour and Estate of our Family. And the more to engage you so to do, I shall now give you a short Prospect of what it once was, and to which, if you act worthy of

your Name, you may have the Honour, in good Measure again to raise it. It will be a Matter of great Pleasure to me to see you inclined to endeavour so to do, as it is my present Comfort that I hope from what I already see in you, that you will want neither Parts nor Vigour, in order thereunto. Let me therefore raise this Ambition, betimes, in you: And that I may the better do it, Let me desire you diligently to read, and carefully to consider, what you will here meet with, concerning the Family, from which you are descended, and of which I shall now proceed to give you such an Account, as I have been able to recover concerning it.

Whosoever were the first Inhabitants of this Country, certain it is, that the Brittains are those of which we have the most ancient Accounts remaining in History. To these successively, came in the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans: and from some or other of these Nations, whatsoever is of any real Antiquity among us, must be derived. And to which of them it is, that we owe our Original, must, in the first place, be considered by us. Now this, it will be no difficult matter to determine: the very Name of Wake being not only apparently

2 Verstegan Ant: 8vo. pag. 334.

of a Saxon Original; but having a proper Signification in that Language, and of which I shall speake more particularly by and by.

But thô it be certain therefore from the very Name itself, that we must look for the first Original of our Family among the Saxons; yet will not this be of any great Help to us, in our Search after the Antiquity of it: nor carry us farthur back than to the Norman Conquest, about which Time the Names of Familys first began to be fixed, and descend from Father to Son; which before they were not wont to do. Here therefore we must recurr to such Accounts as we can derive from our ancient Historys, and see what Light they will afford us in the pursuit of our present Enquiry.

Were there any Credit to be given to those Copies which remain to us of Battle Abby Roll, in which the Conquerour is said to have Registred the Names of the most eminent of those who came over out of Normandy with him, and fought in that famous Battle which gave Denomination to the Abby founded by King William 1st. in memory of it; We should in these find

3 Holingshead Chr: P. 5h. Stow Pag: 207. Fuller Church Hist: lib: ii Pag: 161.

a very publick and authentick Record, not only of the Antiquity, but of the Honour of our Family, in those Days. But as in the best of these Copys, our Name does not appear; So the many Grounds I have to suspect altogether the Credit of Them (at least as they have been transmitted down to us) make me unwilling to lay any Stress upon so weak, and uncertain an Authority.

There is indeed, an old piece of Poetry to the same purpose, preserved in the Chronicle ascribed to *John Brompton, which pretends to give us a List of the great Men, who came over out of Normandy upon this Expedition, and to whom the Conquerour gave Lands for that Service, And in this also our Family has the Honour to be mentioned. But I must confess that this Piece is to me of as little Credit as the Rolls of Battle Abby: And had we the good Fortune to be found in that third Piece of the like kind, preserved by Mr. Fuller, of the Coats of Arms of those forty Worthies whom the Conquerour quarter'd upon the Monks of Eli, to secure that Island to his Interests, I should still think, that these three Monuments

4 Script: X Coll: 963.

5 Church Hist: lib: ii pag: 168.