GILES TOMSON
This good man was a native of “famous London town.” In 1571, he entered University College, Oxford; and, in 1580, was elected Fellow of All Souls’ College. A few years later, he was out in a shower of appointments, “with his dish right side up.” He was, at that lucky season, made divinity lecturer in Magdalen College; chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, as was his friend, Dr. Richard Eedes; Prebendary of Repington; Canon residentiary of Hereford; and Rector of Pembridge in Herefordshire. He was a most eminent preacher. He became Doctor in Divinity in 1602; and was, in that year, appointed Dean of Windsor. In virtue of this latter office, he acted as Registrar of the most noble Order of the Garter. Dr. Tomson took a great deal of pains in his part of the translation of the Bible, which he did not long survive. He was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester, June 9th, 1611; and a year after, June 14th, 1612, he died, at the age of fifty-nine, “to the great grief of all who knew the piety and learning of the man.” Man is like the flower, whose full bloom is the signal for decay to begin. It is singular that Bishop Tomson never visited Gloucester, after his election to that see.
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