This choice of Mr. Hooker’s—­if it were his choice—­may be wondered at:  but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says, “There is a wheel within a wheel;” a secret sacred wheel of Providence,—­most visible in marriages,—­guided by his hand, that “allows not the race to the swift,” nor “bread to the wise,” nor good wives to good men:  and He that can bring good out of evil—­for mortals are blind to this reason—­only knows why this blessing was denied to patient Job, to meek Moses, and to our as meek and patient Mr. Hooker.  But so it was; and let the Reader cease to wonder, for affliction is a divine diet; which though it be not pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath often, very often, imposed it as good, though bitter physic to those children whose souls are dearest to him.

[Sidenote:  At Drayton-Beauchamp]

And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tranquillity of his College; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of peace, and a sweet conversation, into the thorny wilderness of a busy world; into those corroding cares that attend a married Priest, and a country Parsonage; which was Drayton-Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire, not far from Aylesbury, and in the Diocese of Lincoln; to which he was presented by John Cheney, Esq.—­then Patron of it—­the 9th of December, 1584, where he behaved himself so as to give no occasion of evil, but as St. Paul adviseth a minister of God—­“in much patience, in afflictions, in anguishes, in necessities, in poverty and no doubt in long-suffering;” yet troubling no man with his discontents and wants.

[Sidenote:  Res augusta domi]

And in this condition he continued about a year; in which time his two pupils, Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, took a journey to see their tutor; where they found him with a book in his hand,—­it was the Odes of Horace,—­he being then like humble and innocent Abel, tending his small allotment of sheep in a common field; which he told his pupils he was forced to do then, for that his servant was gone home to dine, and assist his wife to do some necessary household business.  But when his servant returned and released him, then his two pupils attended him unto his house, where their best entertainment was his quiet company, which was presently denied them:  for Richard was called to rock the cradle; and the rest of their welcome was so like this, that they staid but till next morning, which was time enough to discover and pity their tutor’s condition; and they having in that time rejoiced in the remembrance, and then paraphrased on many of the innocent recreations of their younger days, and other like diversions, and thereby given him as much present comfort as they were able, they were forced to leave him to the company of his wife Joan, and seek themselves a quieter lodging for next night.  But at their parting from him, Mr. Cranmer said, “Good tutor, I am sorry your lot is fallen in no better ground, as to your parsonage;