sig Aiij verso (The Preface to the Reader)
...
And afterwardes the sayd Doctor Ridley called our Bradford to London, gaue him a Prebend in Paules church, lodged hym in his own house there, and set hym on worke in preaching. And besides often preachyng in London, and at Paules crosse, and sundry places in the countrey, and specially in Lankeshire, he preached before King Edward the sixt, in the Lent the last yeare of his raygne, vpon the second Psalme, and there in one Sermon, shewing the tokens of Gods iudgement at hand for the contempt of the Gospell, as that certayne Gentlemen vpon the Sabboth day, going in a whirry to Paris garden to the Barebayting, were drowned...
Record title: John Bradford, Two notable Sermons
Publication: STC
Publication number: 3500.5
John Bradford (c 1510-55),
protestant preacher, writer and Marian martyr, was born in
Manchester but by 1551 had 'come to be regarded as a member of a
protestant preaching 'elite,' thanks to the encouragement of Bishop
Ridley. The 'Preface to the Reader' was written by Thomas Sampson, a
protestant clergyman and reformer as well as a friend of Bradford,
with whom he was ordained deacon by Bishop Ridley in 1550. See D.
Andrew Penny, 'Bradford, John (c 1510-1555),
evangelical preacher and martyr,' ODNB, and Alec
Ryrie, 'Sampson, Thomas (c 1517-1589), Church
of England clergyman and reformer,' ODNB, accessed 22
November 2022.
The accident described most likely refers
to a bearbaiting on Bankside where early bearyards are known to have
existed by the 1550s. The manor of Paris Garden lay further west,
but the Paris Garden stairs at the Thames landing near Bankside may
have been the destination of the ill-fated gentlemen's wherry.
Two no= | table Sermons. | Made by that wor= | thy Martyr of Christ Mai- | ster Iohn Bradford, the one | of Repentance, and the o= | ther of the Lordes sup= | per neuer before | imprinted.| Perused and allowed accor- | ding to the Queenes Ma= | iesties Iniunction, | 1574.| Imprinted at London | by Iohn Awdely, and | John Wyght. STC: 3500.5.